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AT&T To Repay $80 Million In Shady Phone Bill Charges
First time accepted submitter dibdublin writes The Federal Trade Commission announced today that AT&T will pay $105 million for hiding extra charges in cellphone bills. The best part of the news? $80 million of it will go back into the pockets of people bilked by AT&T. The FTC announcement reads in part: "As part of a $105 million settlement with federal and state law enforcement officials, AT&T Mobility LLC will pay $80 million to the Federal Trade Commission to provide refunds to consumers the company unlawfully billed for unauthorized third-party charges, a practice known as mobile cramming. The refunds are part of a multi-agency settlement that also includes $20 million in penalties and fees paid to 50 states and the District of Columbia, as well as a $5 million penalty to the Federal Communications Commission."
My bill showed my data and voice plans each as $20 more than the agreed-upon (in writing) rates selected back in January of this year. I had to argue on the phone for about half an hour, but they finally agreed to refund the money. I had to stay on the line while the CS rep filed a separate refund form for not only each month this happened, but for each of the charges. Since it was 9 months of wrongful billing it took an hour for her to refund me the 18 charges -- $360. In less than a year. I've been telling everyone I know who uses AT&T to double-check their bills because of this. Something similar happened to me with an insurance company which over-billed me by $600; by the time I got the money back it was $850 including the interest.
That's why these companies just keep on doing this.