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AT&T To Pay $700,000 For Overcharging Consumers

Posted by Soulskill on from the two-thousandths-of-a-percent-of-quarterly-revenue dept.

An anonymous reader writes "CNet reports on an agreement between AT&T and the FCC which will require the telecom company to pay $700,000 to the federal government to resolve overcharging complaints. AT&T will also refund charges to customers who were switched from pay-as-you-go data plans to monthly plans after AT&T said they could keep the old plans. 'AT&T has also agreed to an extensive compliance plan (PDF), which includes: consumer notification, training of customer care representatives, and periodic compliance reports to the FCC. AT&T must also conduct additional searches of its records to identify improperly switched consumers and ensure appropriate refunds.'"

4 of 74 comments (clear)

  1. 700,000 dollar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    an ink dot on himalayas, when compared to unjust profits of telecom vultures

    1. Re:700,000 dollar by Mitreya · · Score: 5, Insightful

      an ink dot on himalayas, when compared to unjust profits of telecom vultures

      I assume they get to write off 700K as losses when filing federal taxes? Plus another 2-3 million as a cost of locating and refunding the affected customers, so that the penalty is fully offset by a decreased tax liability.

  2. Re:wow... by Mitreya · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They'll make enough by lunch time to cover it.

    Quoth TFA -- "He added that AT&T had already discovered and corrected the issue by Nov. 2010, and had given refunds to customers who contacted AT&T."

    Whatever their fine is, it should be increase by 100-fold because AT&T discovered the issue 2 years ago, but only refunded customers who contacted them and complained. You'd think that if they discovered unfair customer overcharging, they would refund every affected customer?

  3. Re:wow... by jd2112 · · Score: 5, Funny

    That would be a violation of the Ferengi rules of acquisition: Once you have their money never give out back.
    AT&T is run by Ferengi right?

    --
    Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.