CVS and Rite Aid kicked off the Apple Pay War last week by disabling Apple’s mobile wallet solution from working at stores, even though it was supported at launch, but a team of class action lawyers are helping fanboys fight back by hitting the companies with an antitrust investigation.
Schubert, Jonckheer & Kolbe announced that it is launching an investigation into the conduct of CVS and Rite Aid, and if they violated federal antitrust laws by colluding with one another and other MCX members to boycott competing payment systems at the same time.
The two pharmacy companies unexpectedly disabled Apple Pay because they’re part of the MCX consortium behind a rival mobile payments platform called CurrentC. Companies that sign up for CurrentC are held to an exclusivity agreement not to support competing mobile wallets like Apple Pay and Google Wallet, but a coordinated effort to block Apple Pay at the same time could land the companies in hot water.
MCX CEO Dekkers Davidson claims the ban on Apple Pay will only last for ‘months, not years,’ so that CurrentC has some breathing room, even though he swears they have nothing to fear. CurrentC won’t be released until next year, but the app has already been scorched with thousands of bad reviews for being less secure than Apple Pay.
The law firm says that cusumers with Apple Pay supported iPhone will be able to participate in the the class action lawsuit process that seeks to restore Apple Pay service to CVS and Rite Aid retail stores. If you have an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus tried to use Apple Pay at either stores, you can contact the Schubert law firm on their website or at415-788-4220.
Source: ClassActionLawyer
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
22 responses to “CVS, RiteAid face antitrust investigation after Apple Pay ban”
Good work, consumers are the life blood of these companies. They should accept all forms of payments. CurrentC is garbage and will flop anyway.
I don’t think this deserves and antitrust investigation. It would be one thing if all retailer did, but we as customers have plenty of choice to choose non MCX merchants. Also, stores don’t have to accept anything except cold hard cash if they don’t want to. I guess the specific issue here is the collusion. Was there a discussion that said “Yes, let’s all turn of Apple pay to force them out” or was it instead “Um, you guys said you’d be exclusive and you’re not holding up your end of the bargain, turn it off,” when Apple Pay hadn’t even been announced when this agreement was stuck.
At what point does premeditated or contract exclusive become anti-trust collusion? That’s the question.
If you believe anything that MCX or the pharmacies have said, than this is just meeting their contractual obligation to be exclusive, not colluding to cut out Apple Pay.
I think Schubert, Jonckheer & Kolbe is just trying to get publicity and this is a non-case (as much as I want Apple Pay to be available everywhere and I’ll boycott MCX merchants in the meantime.)
“…but we as customers have plenty of choice to choose non MCX merchants.”
That depends on where you live. There’s a possibility that a CVS or Rite-Aid that banned Apple Pay might be the closest pharmacy/convenience store some of these iPhone users have. There could be a Walgreens or Duane Reade miles away making the “choice” less convenient.
“If you believe anything that MCX or the pharmacies have said, than this is just meeting their contractual obligation to be exclusive…”
If that’s true then Google Wallet must not be part of the exclusivity agreement since CVS and Rite-Aid — along with many other merchants like Meijer — have been accepting contactless payments years before Apple Pay (Google Wallet debuted in 2011). But disabling the NFC readers cuts out Google Wallet too so that theory doesn’t hold much water.
“I think Schubert, Jonckheer & Kolbe is just trying to get publicity…”
No argument there but that’s what lawyers do: they look for opportunities to make a buck. Don’t hate the player, hate the game.
I’m all for this lawsuit if it means more coverage about how horrible MCX and the CurrentC system is to the point that they have no choice but to abandon this foolish endeavor.
“That depends on where you live.”
really?
dont you have credit cards?
I doubt anything will come of this, as the suit isn’t coming from the government, but I still really hope CurrentC gets what it deserves in the end. It’s a terrible method of payment that makes it much more difficult for the users than Apple Pay or even Google Wallet. More importantly, it’s painful obvious that the entire point is so that retailers can mine even more data from every customer fro advertising purposes. It’s disgusting that a retailer hurts the customer’s experience just for the sole purpose of exploiting them even harder.
who gives a F !
i just dont shop there anymore (CVS). i just take my business elsewhere to Walgreen where they happily accept ISIS softcard wallet and apply pay.
EX-CELL-ENT!
Could CurrentC be sued out of existence considering that it is based on anticuated technology that has little to no security to protect our accounts? It also could be considered a violation of HIPA(Healthcare Information Privacy Act)…..
This is not an “investigation” – this is a frivolous lawsuit by lawyers who want another class action by gory that give pennies to consumers and most of the money to lawyers.
Ease of use + security, and multi platform shared with nfc payments. People like apple pay and Google wallet, not some clunky pos qr code system.
Actually people like Apple Pay and couldn’t care less about Google Wallet. But I get your point.
The only reason you hear people whining about apple pay is because apple pays for those ads.
No wonder pos products from apple cost a lot.
People like gwallet also. Ever since apple pay was activated and released there has been a 50% increase in gwallet tap and pay payments. Iv’e been using google wallet since 2012 and now i can use in many other places and my wife can use apple pay on her iphone. Google never advertised gwallet because it was a side project for them. Now that apple pay has thrusted gwallet into being used more it looks like google is finally setting up a marketing campaign.
apple fanatics are on an overdrive.
apple pay only works with iphone 6 and since on 20 million of them are in the market ( out of which only 1.5 million have actually signed up for apple pay) how will customers dictate a business what to do and what not?
no one said a thing when verizon dropped google pay from their network because they were supporting softcard.
I know many stores that do not accept AMEX does that mean they will be sued too?
BTW do the apple supporters know that apple has been rejecting all apps that compete with apple pay?
get a life people. Just because you own apple stock does not mean that you need to root for apple pay because apple have never succeeded in the software side of things.
They need to concentrate on hardware only.
“apple have never succeeded in the software side of things.
They need to concentrate on hardware only.”
Wow that takes the cake for stupidest comment I’ve read in months. I can’t believe there are people like yourself who feel compelled to ‘weigh in’ on websites while at the same time typing such nonsense.
It’s Apple’s software which allows their marketing to be so successful… I don’t even know where to begin with a statement like that. Just… don’t comment on websites anymore. Take a break.
> no one said a thing when verizon dropped google pay from their network because they were supporting softcard.
The type of person who is still with Verizon at this point is exactly the type of person to take whatever stupid decisions they make and swallow them whole without ever considering an alternative.
People EXPECT verizon to act like shitbags, so for them to pull that sort of move surprised absolutely no one, and anyone who would possibly take a stand on the issue had already left a LONG time ago.
There aren’t any ethical people left who still use Verizon. Sure, there are pockets of people in “captive audience” areas with no other choice, but a lot of people just don’t care, and their behavior will not be swayed no matter how much dishonest shit a company does.
Absolutely deserves antitrust. They are delaying on purpose and admitting to it. There is no reason they can’t accept apple pay now and introduce their later as a competing platform. That is the definition of anti-trust.
wow, people are just looking for any reason to sue. Apple pay is blocked? PULL OUT YOUR CREDIT CARD. Is the merchant now responsible too to supply you with a charging station incase your phone dies and you can’t get to your Apple Pay or Google Wallet? Geez people stop feeling so damn entitled and stop crying because you could not get something your way all the time as if you are still 3 years old.
Buster, you do understand that this “article” is pretty much a reprint of a law firm’s press release, right? The short version is “we’re investigating whether or not we can file a class-action lawsuit.” CVS doesn’t accept Diner’s Club, either, and I don’t see anyone filing suit over that.
Its not only Apple Pay that is not working Google wallet was also excluded.
here how good CurrentC is: http://www.businessinsider.com/currentc-hacked-2014-10