Two men who bought Sling Media Inc.’s Slingbox device filed a class action against the company in New York federal court, alleging that when they purchased the devices to stream television content onto their mobile devices, they never consented to original advertisements.
The two men, Michael Heskiaoff and Marc Langenohl, claim that when they are travelling they are confronted with commercials popping up on their mobile devices, to which they never consented. The ads started appearing on March 17.
“Sling Media failed to disclose that the use of the product would be contingent upon and subject the purchaser to unrequested advertising from defendant. Since approximately March 17, 2015, Sling Media suddenly began broadcasting such unrequested spam advertisements to users of its Slingboxes,” they said, arguing that no customer prior to March 17 bought a Slingbox with the understanding that they would have to deal with Sling Media ads.
“Slingbox has perpetuated a massive ‘bait and switch’ upon thousands of unsuspecting consumers, each of whom spent as much as $300 or more for these products, but who now need to watch the defendant’s ads to use their devices as promised.”
