4 ms·

T-Mobile settles with FTC for $90M in 'cramming' case

21 points by hotgoldminer 12y ago

Taek 12y ago
I was a bit surprised to see this from T-Mobile, but the charges go back to 2010 and it also looks like other major carriers have been hit with similar charges. T-Mobile still has my vote as the 'least-evil' but it looks like there is still room for improvement.
- yuhong 12y ago
  I still wish they could actually admit wrongdoing.
trynumber9 12y ago
I never really paid much attention to my phone bills (it was set to auto-pay). A few months back I received a letter in the mail about a T-Mobile refund and was quite skeptical. But eventually I found a PR on T-Mobile's own site and so decided to submit a claim. Turns out they had charged me some $200 on fraudulent services that I never asked for or even remember receiving. Rightfully they did refund the amount just last month. This kind of behavior shouldn't have happened in the first place. I'm happy the FTC is fining them. It's really stupid to steal from your most loyal and trusting customers. Unfortunately, it seems every US carrier did this. What am I supposed to do? Who do I switch to in order to `punish` the terrible companies? I've since turned off auto-pay and switched to a no contract plan. But I really don't know what to do to reward the good players in telecom. It seems there are none.
- ccvannorman 12y ago
  Humanity is working towards a system* that doesn't rely on a large corporation to carry out basic needs like phone calls. Until that happens, this behavior should be expected (if history is any guide, nothing will change in the telecom business soon.) *e.g. mesh networks, which are technically feasible and highly desirable for end users, so I posit that over time we will drive towards them and get there one way or another.
chasing 12y ago
I don't understand why there's not more of an effort to name-and-shame in these cases. T-Mobile doesn't exist in the abstract: It's people in offices making decisions. Who is behind this? Who OK'ed it? Who knew? Name them. Shame them. It's one of society's more powerful tools.
eli 12y ago
I wonder if I was partly responsible for this. I filed an FTC complaint a year or two ago after my T-Mobile bill had bogus charges tacked on for a second time. Customer service insisted it was impossible for charges to be added without my permission and I must have forgotten signing up for daily horescopes. I'm still a customer. Aside from this, I've been very happy with them. But that really ticked me off. They must have seen the volume of refund requests on these guys and known they were bogus.

21 points by hotgoldminer 12y ago

Taek 12y ago

I was a bit surprised to see this from T-Mobile, but the charges go back to 2010 and it also looks like other major carriers have been hit with similar charges. T-Mobile still has my vote as the 'least-evil' but it looks like there is still room for improvement.

yuhong 12y ago
I still wish they could actually admit wrongdoing.

trynumber9 12y ago

I never really paid much attention to my phone bills (it was set to auto-pay). A few months back I received a letter in the mail about a T-Mobile refund and was quite skeptical. But eventually I found a PR on T-Mobile's own site and so decided to submit a claim. Turns out they had charged me some $200 on fraudulent services that I never asked for or even remember receiving. Rightfully they did refund the amount just last month. This kind of behavior shouldn't have happened in the first place. I'm happy the FTC is fining them. It's really stupid to steal from your most loyal and trusting customers. Unfortunately, it seems every US carrier did this. What am I supposed to do? Who do I switch to in order to `punish` the terrible companies? I've since turned off auto-pay and switched to a no contract plan. But I really don't know what to do to reward the good players in telecom. It seems there are none.

ccvannorman 12y ago
Humanity is working towards a system* that doesn't rely on a large corporation to carry out basic needs like phone calls. Until that happens, this behavior should be expected (if history is any guide, nothing will change in the telecom business soon.) *e.g. mesh networks, which are technically feasible and highly desirable for end users, so I posit that over time we will drive towards them and get there one way or another.

chasing 12y ago

I don't understand why there's not more of an effort to name-and-shame in these cases. T-Mobile doesn't exist in the abstract: It's people in offices making decisions. Who is behind this? Who OK'ed it? Who knew? Name them. Shame them. It's one of society's more powerful tools.

eli 12y ago

I wonder if I was partly responsible for this. I filed an FTC complaint a year or two ago after my T-Mobile bill had bogus charges tacked on for a second time. Customer service insisted it was impossible for charges to be added without my permission and I must have forgotten signing up for daily horescopes. I'm still a customer. Aside from this, I've been very happy with them. But that really ticked me off. They must have seen the volume of refund requests on these guys and known they were bogus.