T-Mobile Will Have To Refund At Least $90 Million
T-Mobile will have to refund its customers at least $90 million for mistaken bills, Federal Trade Commission announced Friday. The company had initially called the complain "unfounded and without merit."
In July, FTC lawsuit was filed against T-Mobile accusing it of billing customers for unwanted charges such as horoscope, love tips and celebrity gossip services. According to the FTC lawsuit, T-Mobile had received 35 to 40 percent of each charge.
Apart from refunding to customers, T-Mobile will also pay additional fines, including $18 million to attorney generals across the U.S. and $4.5 million to the Federal Communications Commission, FTC noted.
"Mobile cramming is an issue that has affected millions of American consumers, and I'm pleased that this settlement will put money back in the hands of affected T-Mobile customers," said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez, quoted by Fortune.
Initially, when complaint was filed by FTC, T-Mobile CEO John Legere had commented: "We have seen the complaint filed today by the FTC and find it to be unfounded and without merit. In fact, T-Mobile stopped billing for these Premium SMS services last year and launched a proactive program to provide full refunds for any customer that feels that they were charged for something they did not want."
He added, "We believe those providers should be held accountable and that the FTC's lawsuit seeking to hold T-Mobile responsible for their acts is not only factually and legally unfounded but also misdirected."
