Rogers Class Action —
This proposed privacy breach class action is brought against Rogers Communications Inc. for its practice of conducting soft credit checks on its customers for marketing and promotional purposes, without their consent.
Class Actions
Case Overview
Waddell Phillips has launched a proposed privacy breach class action against Rogers Communications Inc.
The proposed class is: all persons currently or previously residing in Ontario, Quebec and Alberta who had consumer service contracts for post-paid services with Rogers between May 1, 2011, and the date that this action is certified as a class proceeding (the “Class Members”), and a Sub-Class of all Class Members to whom Rogers Bank issued a Rogers Bank-branded credit card without first receiving express written consent from the Sub-Class Member or without providing confirmation in writing that Rogers Bank had received the Class Member’s prior express oral consent to be issues such a credit card.
The Fifth Amended Statement of Claim alleges that Rogers regularly accesses its customers’ personal credit information through soft credit checks, without obtaining the customers’ consent. These soft credit checks are performed to support Rogers’ marketing and promotional activities, as it helps Rogers evaluate customers’ eligibility to be offered a Rogers Bank credit card, and in some cases Rogers Bank credit cards were issued to customers without their consent. These credit checks are unrelated to customers’ payment history or legitimate credit issues, and were only to promote Rogers’ business enterprises.
The claim asserts that Rogers has breached customers’ rights under Canadian privacy laws, as well as breaching its contracts with its customers. It alleges that snooping into customers’ credit records is an invasion of privacy, which is referred to as an intrusion upon seclusion. The plaintiff seeks, among other things, recovery of damages and an injunction prohibiting Rogers from further collecting, using, storing, or disclosing the credit information of the proposed Class without their express, informed, and prior consent.
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada found this this practice is a breach of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act in respect of a different communications provider.
The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada has also found that Rogers Bank breached subsections 3(1) and (2) of the Regulations under the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada Act by issuing Rogers-branded credit cards to consumers without their express consent and without providing written confirmation when consent was alleged to have been provided orally. To view the decision, click here.
The plaintiff was a Rogers customer who discovered that six separate soft credit checks (also known as “account review inquiries”) had been initiated by Rogers, despite his account always having been in good standing for many years. Rogers admitted that it conducted the credit checks for marketing and promotional purposes. It continued to conduct further soft credit checks even after the plaintiff expressly told Rogers to stop – that it did not have his consent.
A soft credit check includes information such as the subject’s name, age, occupation, place of residence, previous places of residence, marital status, particulars of education or professional qualifications, places of employment, previous places of employment, estimated income, paying habits, credit score, and more.
There is no cost to you to participate in this proposed class action. The lawyers are working on a contingency fee arrangement, and will only be paid from the proceeds of the litigation, if successful.
Contact Us
If you believe you are member of the proposed Class because Rogers has conducted soft credit checks through Trans Union or Equifax, we would like to hear from you.
All information you provide to us will be treated as privileged and confidential and will not be used for any purposes unrelated to this action. The information will be collected to assist in the prosecution of the action and in an effort to assist the proposed class members in obtaining recovery from Rogers.
Case Overview
Waddell Phillips has launched a proposed privacy breach class action against Rogers Communications Inc.
The proposed class is: all persons currently or previously residing in Ontario, Quebec and Alberta who had consumer service contracts for post-paid services with Rogers between May 1, 2011, and the date that this action is certified as a class proceeding (the “Class Members”), and a Sub-Class of all Class Members to whom Rogers Bank issued a Rogers Bank-branded credit card without first receiving express written consent from the Sub-Class Member or without providing confirmation in writing that Rogers Bank had received the Class Member’s prior express oral consent to be issues such a credit card.
The Fifth Amended Statement of Claim alleges that Rogers regularly accesses its customers’ personal credit information through soft credit checks, without obtaining the customers’ consent. These soft credit checks are performed to support Rogers’ marketing and promotional activities, as it helps Rogers evaluate customers’ eligibility to be offered a Rogers Bank credit card, and in some cases Rogers Bank credit cards were issued to customers without their consent. These credit checks are unrelated to customers’ payment history or legitimate credit issues, and were only to promote Rogers’ business enterprises.
The claim asserts that Rogers has breached customers’ rights under Canadian privacy laws, as well as breaching its contracts with its customers. It alleges that snooping into customers’ credit records is an invasion of privacy, which is referred to as an intrusion upon seclusion. The plaintiff seeks, among other things, recovery of damages and an injunction prohibiting Rogers from further collecting, using, storing, or disclosing the credit information of the proposed Class without their express, informed, and prior consent.
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada found this this practice is a breach of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act in respect of a different communications provider.
The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada has also found that Rogers Bank breached subsections 3(1) and (2) of the Regulations under the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada Act by issuing Rogers-branded credit cards to consumers without their express consent and without providing written confirmation when consent was alleged to have been provided orally. To view the decision, click here.
The plaintiff was a Rogers customer who discovered that six separate soft credit checks (also known as “account review inquiries”) had been initiated by Rogers, despite his account always having been in good standing for many years. Rogers admitted that it conducted the credit checks for marketing and promotional purposes. It continued to conduct further soft credit checks even after the plaintiff expressly told Rogers to stop – that it did not have his consent.
A soft credit check includes information such as the subject’s name, age, occupation, place of residence, previous places of residence, marital status, particulars of education or professional qualifications, places of employment, previous places of employment, estimated income, paying habits, credit score, and more.
There is no cost to you to participate in this proposed class action. The lawyers are working on a contingency fee arrangement, and will only be paid from the proceeds of the litigation, if successful.
Contact Us
If you believe you are member of the proposed Class because Rogers has conducted soft credit checks through Trans Union or Equifax, we would like to hear from you.
All information you provide to us will be treated as privileged and confidential and will not be used for any purposes unrelated to this action. The information will be collected to assist in the prosecution of the action and in an effort to assist the proposed class members in obtaining recovery from Rogers.
The Plaintiff has filed a motion to certify this claim as a class proceeding in May 2023. The certification motion will be heard by the case management judge, the Honourable Justice Akbarali, on September 9-11, 2024.
Rogers is seeking to have the Plaintiff’s case dismissed by a motion for summary judgment, relying upon various terms in its Terms of Service. The Plaintiff argues that these terms should not be interpreted as Rogers argues and that some of the terms are not enforceable because they are unconscionable.
That motion is scheduled to be heard at the same time as the certification motion. Anyone who would like to view the motion should contact us in the week prior to the hearing, and they will be provided with the viewing link.
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