GREENSBORO, N.C. — Anthony Rojas is a second year graduate student now suing his school to get back fees for services he says he can't access while under the stay at home order.
"These last few months have been a matter of, you know, scrounging money and just trying to find a way to pay rent, pay for food," he said.
He's the lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit, one of at least 28 demanding refunds from colleges and universities around the country.
"We've gotten a lot of complaints from consumers and that's really why we started looking into this issue," said Bonnie Patten of TruthInAdvertising.org
Her organization has tracked more than 50 class action lawsuits since coronavirus concerns started. The bulk are against colleges, but 21 percent of them deal with membership fees for clubs and gyms, 13 percent are against airlines and 12 percent are about tickets to live events.
"Unfortunately, there are a lot of companies out there who don't seem to be doing the right thing when it comes to who should bear this finical risk at this time," Patten said.
TruthInAdvertising.org has contact information for you to join each class action. Click on the lawsuit and on the last page of the court filing will be the attorney's phone number. But you should know:
"Class action lawsuits take years to get through the court system, so it could be years before anyone sees money from those actions," Patten said.
So it's best to try and get a refund yourself first.
"Be persist in pursing these refunds. If it doesn't work with the company, complain to your credit card company, the BBB, state agencies. You've got to file complaints far and wide and be creative about it," Patten said.
And if that doesn't work, there's always the court system to help you get justice.
