With class-action suit looming, refunds offered for Showtime customers

[bsaambl]

For Showtime customers that had problems ordering “The Money Fight,” refunds are being offered.

In a prepared statement, Showtime rep Chris DeBlasio told MMAjunkie that the premium cable channel takes seriously the ordering issues reported online, which reportedly has led to a class-action lawsuit filed by an angry fan.

“We received a very limited number of complaints,” the statement read. “We’re reviewing all of them carefully, and we will respond accordingly. Refunds are handled at the point of sale, so with regard to Showtime’s direct to consumer, our online offering of ShowtimePPV.com and Showtime PPV app, for those that could not see the fight on those platforms, Showtime will issue a full refund. Of course, the goal is to deliver at the highest quality all of the content.”

Showtime was just one of the providers hit with a wave of complaints over the delivery of the mega-event this past Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Oregon fight fan Zach Bartel paid for a high-definition version of the event, only to see “grainy video, error screens, buffer events, and stalls.”

“Defendant intentionally misrepresented the quality and grade of video consumers would see using its app, and knowingly failed to disclose that its system was defective with respect to the amount of bandwidth available, and that defendant’s service would materially fail to conform to the quality of HD video defendant promised,” wrote Bartel’s attorney, Michael Fuller, in the federal complaint filed late Saturday in Oregon.

The source of most complaints centered around the UFC’s website and app run by its New York-based streaming partner NeuLion. One frustrated fan, Trevor Sarver, told MMAjunkie an online customer service rep told him he would not receive a refund for the event and advised him to watch an illegal stream on Facebook. The stream eventually came back online – minutes before Floyd Mayweather (50-0 boxing) knocked out Conor McGregor (21-3 MMA, 0-1 boxing) in the 10th round.

Variety on Monday reported massive piracy stemming from the event, with 239 illegal streams reaching an estimated 2.93 million viewers.

As Showtime’s statement indicates, fans who got shortchanged by other providers will need to follow up with the provider from which they purchased the event; the channel has technology that allows it to determine the source of the purchase.

Meanwhile, other providers have tried to deflect the fallout from the technological disaster.

“Unfortunately, we are receiving a huge number of complaints from a large number of customers who are not using our services but a different provider (UFC),” provider PPV Live Events told The Reporter. “We can only express that we understand your pain for not being able to see the special event, but again, we are not the company that provided the stream or actual event. You will need to contact the actual provider such as Xfinity, Showtime, HBO, UFC.tv, etc., to request your refund.”

The UFC and NeuLion have yet to issue a decision on how or whether they will process refunds for those affected by outages on UFC.tv. On Sunday, an investor relations rep from NeuLion denied there were any issues with the website and declined comment to USA TODAY Sports. Some fans reported online they were able to receive refunds through bank charge-backs.