By Ahmad Hathout
MONTREAL – The Quebec Superior Court approved two class action cases against Videotron last month after plaintiffs alleged they did not consent to being charged for SIM cards.
The two related cases involve allegations that Videotron bundled a SIM card with the purchase of new phones and then charged customers $10 for it without them consenting to that additional purchase.
The plaintiffs allege this action violates Quebec’s consumer protection law, which lays out the obligations of the merchant.
The court said the plaintiffs have a chance at winning their case.
“Under article 224 [of consumer protection law], the merchant cannot charge a price higher than that announced for the purchase of a good or service,” the decision said. “This price must include the total amount payable and clearly show the sums of which it is composed, which may have to include, in this case, the costs of the SIM card.
“However, here, Videotron failed to mention and describe precisely the amount of these fees, even though they are ultimately billed to the consumer. This appears to contravene section 224 c),” it added.
The court also posited that because the SIM card is an integral part of the device –in that it links the handset to the network – Videotron potentially violated section 228 of the law, which says merchant cannot leave out important information about a product.
Videotron argued there are insufficiencies in the plaintiff’s argument, suggesting that they must show that the telecom withheld information to push the consumer to purchase the product – rather than simply learning after that they had been charged extra for the SIM card.
The court disagreed, saying the plaintiff only needs to show that they were deprived of complete information and was unable to make an informed choice as a result.
The court set the class as customers living in Quebec and sold services from February 6, 2018.
The class action process does not make judgment on the arguments, which is determined by a trial court.
Videotron told Cartt it cannot comment on ongoing legal matters.
