AT&T Wireless Restoral Fee Charges - Cell Phone Companies Up to their Old Tricks
In the past year, AT&T and Sprint agreed to pay $18 million and $17.5 million to settle claims that they imposed unfairly high fees on wireless customers who wanted to end their contracts. The settlement provided former AT&T customers with as much as $140 back, if they canceled thier cell phone contract just before it was about to expire. Part of the reasoning behind the settlement was that these early termination fees bore no relation to the carrier's actual costs. On January 26, 2010, the Federal Communications Commission sent letters to AT&T, Sprint, Verizon Communications, Inc., T-Mobile USA Inc. and Google, Inc., asking whether they give customers adequate notice about early termination fees.
