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Feb. 19, 2018 By Tara Law
The lawsuit filed by the New York State Attorney General against Charter Communications’ Spectrum unit for allegedly misleading customers about Internet speeds will move forward despite the company’s attempt to dismiss it.
A New York Supreme Court judge rejected Charter’s motion last week to throw out the lawsuit, which seeks damages and restitution on behalf of Charter’s Spectrum subscribers worth hundreds of millions of dollars, according to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
Schneiderman’s office alleges that Spectrum executives knew that the company’s hardware and technology were incapable of delivering the speeds promised to subscribers. The complaint covers the subscription plans of 5 million subscribers/households since 2012.
Charter Spectrum, according to the attorney general, earned billions of dollars in profits by selling the high-margin Internet service to New Yorkers but did not make investments to improve the network or give customers the necessary hardware.
Charter Spectrum claimed that the attorney general failed to show that the company had short-changed and misled customers. Justice O. Peter Sherwood rejected this argument.
The suit alleges that Internet speeds for the company’s premium plan were up to 70 percent slower than promised and that some customers were getting speeds that were more than 80 percent slower.
Some customers paying up to $109.99 a month for the premium plan were getting speeds slower than promised in cheaper plans, according to the suit.
“The allegations in our lawsuit confirm what millions of New Yorkers have long suspected— Charter-Spectrum has been ripping you off, promising internet speeds it simply could not deliver,” said Schneiderman in a statement.
Charter Spectrum told Reuters that the company “delivers its advertised internet speeds,” and will continue to vigorously contest the Schneiderman’s claims about practices at Time Warner Cable, which Charter bought in 2016.
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it is happening everywhere… I have had issues for months… internet dropping, slow speeds… choppy graphics and I have a laptop with a GPU with NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M (2GB DDR3, 128-bit) Ran two speed tests yesterday while connected to modem by ethernet cable the first was the results of the first test was 30.1 mbps. I rebooted the modem and the speed increased to 31.7 mbps… I,m paying $80.00 a month for 100mbps
Not only do Time Warner Spectrum lie about the high-speed internet they lied about the price they’re going to charge their charge you for the first month $44.99 is what they promised me for two years then they said they didn’t say that and then they also tried to get me to go with a 2 week promotion I told them no I only wanted the high speed Internet and still they gave me the 2 weeks promotionand started charging me for it after the two weeksand then they told me I wasn’t eligible for the $44 and 99 cent promotion dealI started charging me $69 and some change a monththey say anything to get you to sign up and then renege on it and I’ve been bamboozled. my name is Darren Williams at 44 Osborne Street Albany New York.
.73 N Manning Blvd, ALBANY, NY 12206
For Sale: $5,900
Zestimate®: —
Beds: 6, Baths: —
Sqft: 1,880, Lot size: —
Type: Lots/Land
Year Built: 1906
Last Sold 8/5/11
Days on Zillow: 120
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/29646000_zpid/73 N Manning Blvd, ALBANY, NY 12206
For Sale: $5,900
Zestimate®: —
Beds: 6, Baths: —
Sqft: 1,880, Lot size: —
Type: Lots/Land
Year Built: 1906
Last Sold 8/5/11
Days on Zillow: 120
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/29646000_zpid/ that
I am a spectrum customer being charged $69 a month for a 100 MG and my internet is so slow and freezes and Boots me off all the time I have called Spectrum many many times to complain about this they have come out to my house replaced equipment checked my lines they are not providing me with the service I am paying for and I’m furious as a paying customer they lie about the service that they claim they can provide an order to charge people and outrageous amount of money knowing that they are one of the only internet providers it is ridiculous that people are being forced to pay for a service that is inadequate and yet they expect to get their money they still have not fixed the problem I am constantly calling them I’m tired of calling them and getting credited $20 here and there is just not enough
Thanks to the NY AG for bringing this law suit. My internet speed with TWC (now Spectrum) has always been slower than the DSL it replaced (which finally failed because Verizon – another ripoff company – is not maintaining its underground phone cables.) It is lots slower than the Verizon jetpack I used after the DSL failed and before I added internet to my cable TV package (which I’d had since at least 2002.) My “triple play” has almost doubled in price in the couple of years I’ve had it. It’s as though Spectrum has taken a page from the book it advertised as “the bad” Verizon Fios, which it accused of forcing customers to sign a two year contract with prices guaranteed for only one year. Yeah, Spectrum does not require customers to sign a contract, but its prices increase just as rapidly without one. (I believe Verizon, perhaps in response to Spectrum’s ads, now offers a price guarantee for the full two year contract term, but Verizon reneged on the deal it made with NYC government to make FIOS available throughout the city by a certain year – was it 2014? So, which company is worse? The jury’s still out on that one.) I just hope the law suit against Spectrum is not one of those class action things where the payoff for the customers is some discount voucher and the lawyers make the only serious money in their fees.