MONTREAL - Shoppers Drug Mart, which operations in Quebec as Pharmaprix, is facing a class action lawsuit claiming that the company changed the terms of its Optimum loyalty card, impacting the 1.4 million Quebecers who use the cards.
First filed in 2010, a Quebec Superior Court judge agreed to hear the case last Friday.
Option Consommateurs alleges that the company broke Quebec's consumer protection laws by changing the conditions of the chain's loyalty program, increasing the number of points necessary for savings.
"It's a question of principal," said Option Consommateurs spokesperson Stephanie Poulin. "When an enterprise offers you a program, a program which is really a contract, it has to respect the terms of the contract and it has to respect the representation it does."
On July 1, 2010 the company told cardholders that if they had 7,000 points on their Optimum cards they could exchange those points for $10 in savings. After July 1, 2010 it required an extra 1,000 points for the same savings.
All of the points-based savings on the card were raised at that time, lowering the value of points on the card by up to 13 per cent.
"We will vigorously defend our position," said Tammy Smitham, a spokesperson for the Alberta-based company.
A clause in the terms and conditions of the loyalty program states: "Shoppers Drug Mart may restrict, suspend or otherwise alter any aspect of the Shoppers Optimum Program, without notice."
Despite the clause, Option Consommateurs is arguing that the change was sudden, unilateral and caught many customers off guard who had been saving points and giving Pharmaprix personal information on their personal spending habits.
The lawsuit is seeking $50 for each of the 1.4 million members affected.
A similar class action lawsuit was approved last week against Air Canada's loyalty program, Aeroplan. That lawsuit claims Aeroplan changed its point plan without notice and is representing the 4.5 million cardholders across Canada.
