Remember that massive Rogers’ 2021 outage? More than two years later, a class-action lawsuit was approved by the Superior Court of Quebec in February 2024 — and now Canadians are finding out whether they’re eligible for a piece of the potential payout.
This month, Rogers customers may receive an SMS text message about a national class action lawsuit against Rogers for their April 2021 service outage that means you might be entitled to compensation.
“We’re continually investing to bring Canadians the best network experience. We have already credited our customers and look forward to defending the case,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
Rogers confirmed that messages sent from the number 26624 about the lawsuit are legitimate. According to David Assor, founding partner of the law firm Lex Group who is handling the lawsuit, it was court-ordered for Rogers to send a list to the company who would distribute the text. Assor said they’re sending about 1.57 million texts a day, so about 9 million texts this week.
What happened
On April 19, 2021, there was a countrywide Rogers’ outage — during this time, customers of Rogers and Chatr and Fido, brands the company owns, were unable to make phone calls, send texts or access online services.
That meant businesses and banks were unable to complete transactions, while others couldn’t access medical appointments and some police services, including Peel, put out a notice at the time that its 911 operators communicators would not be able to call people back if they hung up.
Rogers said it was a software update that had disrupted its services for nearly a full day.
On April 20, the initial class action lawsuit application was filed by the law firm Lex Group Inc.
About a year later, Rogers’ network suffered another outage on July 8, 2022, which lasted until about July 9 as services were gradually restored, but impacted about 12 million users according to an assessment by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTTHC). One of those millions of users was The Weeknd, whose tour stop in Toronto at the Rogers Centre was postponed because of the outage.
“Rogers apologized and said they’d make sure it would never happen again,” said David Assor, founding partner of the Lex Group Inc.
“Then 15 months later a more significant outage happened. It’s important to send a message to cellphone carriers that they have an obligation to our country and our consumers to make sure these things don’t occur.”
Lex Group’s class action lawsuit was authorized to proceed in February 2024 by the Superior Court of Quebec. The firm alleges that class members — Rogers customers affected by the outage — suffered damages as a result of the service interruption to the Rogers, Fido and Chatr networks.
Who is eligible
You’re considered a class member if you are a Rogers customer in Canada who had and/or were using an existing Rogers, Rogers for Business, Fido and/or Chatr account, wireless line or contract, and who had their services interrupted on or about April 19, 2021.
You may receive an SMS text message to your phone — it’s not a scam. It’s a court-ordered notice sent to anyone who may be eligible to be a class member of the lawsuit.
What you need to do
Nothing. If you want to be included in the class action and are eligible, you have nothing to do and nothing to pay — attorney fees will be paid from the damages that could be awarded through the class action if it’s successful.
But if you don’t want to be a part of the class action, you do have to notify the clerk of the Superior Court of Quebec, District of Montreal that you wish to be excluded no later than Nov. 23 — and you have to do it by mail.
What comes next
In court, the law firm must prove a few things: that Rogers, its brands Chatr and/or Fido were at fault for the April 19, 2021 service outage, that they owe customers compensation beyond the credits already provided, and that affected users deserve additional damages — whether compensatory, moral, or punitive — and in what amount. If successful, people considered members of the class action may receive compensation for damages.
