BURLINGTON — About 500 T-Mobile customers in Vermont may be eligible for a refund following a national consumer protection settlement totalling at least $90 million, the Vermont Attorney General announced on Friday.
The cell phone carrier has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission over the placement of unauthorized charges on customers’ phone bills, a practice known as “cramming.”
The cramming charges made by third parties — not the carrier — include one-time or monthly fees for services such as horoscopes and dating tips, among others. State officials say the charges would sometimes be listed on consumer bills as “data services” to mislead customers.
Attorney General Bill Sorrell announced the settlement in Burlington on Friday. He said customers could collect more than $25,000 in refunds for fraudulent phone charges. The state will also received $1 million for its role in the investigation.
“These trusted wireless carriers benefited greatly from a scam enterprise that hurt their consumers,” Sorrell said. “I’m not saying that they intentionally knew that their consumers were being cheated, but they were far from vigilant in responding to their own customer complaints that came in asking them about charges,”
Unlike a previous lawsuit with AT&T, there is no limit to how much the company must reimburse customers. Customers can contact their T-Mobile to find out if they were billed third-party charges.
This is not the first settlement of its kind. In October, AT&T agreed to pay a settlement for cramming charges. Sorrell said as many as 45,000 Vermont customers may be eligible for refunds from AT&T. This week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a lawsuit against Sprint alleging similar cramming practices, Sorrell said.
Sorrell would not say whether the state is investigating Verizon, another major provider in Vermont. Asked about any potential investigation, Sorrell said, “We want to see all of our constituents who were crammed protected from future cramming and hopefully getting a refund or relief.”
