internet canada consumer-protection
Is this Bait and Switch?
<p>I have been a CRAVE TV subscriber for years. This morning I received my annual notice of renewal and noticed it went up a few dollars, no big deal. I shrugged and went to watch CRAVE on my SmartTV and it wouldn't let me in. I went to the website and I couldn't get in to my subscriber's account. It was when I was then that I noticed that CRAVE had momentously changed their subscriptions. Now they had one tier, the one I was on, that only allowed you to watch on a smart phone or a table. The upper tier was double the price that would allow me to watch on my SmartTV. There was no notice or warning about this change and it was only when I was on the phone with a service agent that they admitted the change. They also informed me that the subscription area (where you have to go to change your subscription status or cancel) was down for maintenance. CRAVE has a policy that if it automatically renews and charges you (which it would do tomorrow) you cannot get a refund, so I would either have to pay the extra $100 or have a service that is useless to me for a year. Not giving fair warning seems to be the biggest issue. If there were going to so momentously change their service, shouldn't they have at least warned their subscribers? There are no notices or warnings in my email prior to my sudden subscription notice and I can find no mention of this change on the internet, it was actually by accident that I stumbled across it and need the call agent to confirm it.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.crave.ca/en/terms-and-conditions-84360459" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Here</a> is the online contract. It says in §6</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We reserve the right to change the offerings, features and Content of
your subscription, from time to time in accordance with these Terms
and Conditions. Further, we may change the offerings and features
available at any time.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It also informs you that</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You can find the specific details regarding your subscription at any
time by logging in to our website at <a href="http://www.crave.ca" rel="nofollow noreferrer">www.crave.ca</a> and viewing your
account details.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There is no requirement that they send you an email, latter, or phone call informing you of changes – you have been told in the contract where to look to see what your obligations under the contract are. §8 states that</p>
<blockquote>
<p>we reserve the right, in our sole and absolute discretion, to modify
all or any portion of these Terms and Conditions, the Service, and
your subscription including the Subscription Fees, at any time without
incurring any liability or obligation whatsoever to you or any other
person or entity. We will post changes to these Terms and Conditions
at least thirty (30) days before the modification comes into effect,
and will indicate at the top of this page the date these Terms and
Conditions were last modified.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Under 6(B) it also describes the various payment plans and obligations, including the auto-renewal clause. If you have a monthly plan, you can end your contract at the end of the month, and it does say that subscription fees are non-refundable.</p>
<p>&quot;Bait-and-switch&quot; refers to the practice of fraudulently offering a product or service at a lower price, and when the customer goes to the store they find that the product is not available (does not exist, not just that they ran out), and the customer is pressured into buying a more expensive alternative. That does not apply to your scenario, so it is not &quot;bait-and-switch&quot;.</p>
