contract-law terms-of-service is-x-legal
How often can a paid service be unavailable without breaching contract?
<p>I'm curious about the theory and practice behind paying for a monthly subscription and not being able to use it for no fault of your own. I had purchased a 4 month gym pass. The gym is part of a school and there is a 30 day period where it is unavailable between semesters. This was not explained to me before I paid. Is this legal? What if certain parts are still available?</p>
<p>What if a phone or internet provider has weekly outages? I once heard that a particular ISP had in their contract, if you get 1% of the advertised speed for your plan, it's still considered to be working. Is this legal?</p>

<p>There is no hard and fast rule and the language of the contract (usually drafted by the provider of the service) matters. A breach of contract must be &quot;substantial&quot; or &quot;material&quot; to be actionable, something that is determined on a case by case basis by the judge or jury.</p>
<p>But the dollar amounts involved in consumer contracts are often too small to make it economic to litigate over. Most of the time consumers &quot;vote with their feet&quot; instead.</p>
