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Minnesota Stands Up for Overcharged Customers

By Tim Conneally, BetaNews

September 28, 2007, 10:59 AM

Hundreds of complaints from Minnesotans against Sprint Nextel have been heard by Attorney General Lori Swanson. In a lawsuit against the carrier filed earlier this week, she accused the company of extending customers' contracts without their informed consent, and seeks restitution of up to $25,000 per incident.

The allegation is that the company used "hidden trip wires" to lock customers into lengthy contracts whenever minor plan changes were made. If true, it is a violation of Minnesota state laws that require adequate information to be supplied to customers, and knowing consent be obtained before any contract terms are altered.

Many customers attempted to cancel plans they thought had lapsed, only to be met with a $200 cancellation fee because their contracts had been extended without their knowledge.

Sprint Nextel says its policy is to review customers' contracts before changes to their account are made, and that written confirmations are sent in tandem with policy changes. It will issue no statement regarding the case until company lawyers can review the suit.

Add a Comment (11 Comments)

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By PC_Tool

posted Sep 29, 2007 - 3:55 PM

There's a reason I don't own a cell-phone. :)

Score: 0

By Shadygrady

edited Sep 29, 2007 - 1:56 PM

I worked for Sprint Nextel for a period of time, and I have seen many cases where people were forced into a new contract without being told, such as if a rep wanted to make a quick bonus or if there had been a change plan occured, if I was required to renew a contract, I would ask for their permission before hand, and if they said no I would give them all the options they could do, if they continued to say no, that was the end of that.

Score: 0

By xyzcb1

posted Sep 29, 2007 - 9:53 AM

This is a standard practices for all wireless companies. Why does it even come up as a surprises? The agreement you signed stated that any change your made to the phone, you agreed to renew the contract.

Next time, I will complaint to my state AG because I don't know I have to pay back with high interest rate when I charged on my plastics.

Score: 0

By tandp

edited Sep 28, 2007 - 8:08 PM

I hope they do the same thing here in PA. We will be one of the first on the list. Same thing happened to us. We called a month ahead of the contract running out to say we were canceling the service when it ran out. Over 4 months after the fact, we ended up paying over $300. Credit reporting threats, and the like.

Score: 0

By dlab21

edited Sep 28, 2007 - 7:39 PM

Its funny how uninformed people are of contracts they accept.
...Carefully review any Term Commitment and Early Termination Fee requirements prior to selecting Services. After you have satisfied your Term Commitment, your Services continue on a month-to-month basis without any Early Termination Fee, unless you agree to extend your Term Commitment or agree to a new Term Commitment - for example, by accepting a new rate plan or upgrading your Device."
http://search.sprint.com...&question_box=terms
and yes incase you are wondering requesting a rateplan is the same as accepting, as well if they offer you a rateplan or you want a re-rate because you went over your minutes.. again accepted and bound to contracts.

Score: 0

By dracodos

posted Sep 28, 2007 - 2:37 PM

THIS i can believe. I worked for the customer service center for 6 months, that was all i could take. I've had many calls from customers not knowing they're contracts had been extended. Sprint does not enforce their employees to be direct about what changes a contract and what doesn't. If their doing this kind of underhanded deal as well thats even worse!

Score: 0

By ogman

posted Sep 28, 2007 - 2:21 PM

Sprint is lying and there will be thousands of witnesses to prove it. I'll bet those customers that they dropped a few months ago will be lining up outside the courthouse.

Sprint Nextel isn't the only company to do this. T-Mobile once tried to extend my contract for canceling the internet service, after they lied about the phone's ability to use the service.

Another thing that should come out of this suit is a clear listing, on the bill, of the date that the contract ends.

Score: 0

By smarterthanyou

posted Sep 28, 2007 - 5:03 PM

Adding or removing internet service from your T-Mobile service doesn't affect your contract at all. In any case, if you do make a change over the phone that extends your contract T-Mobile's customer service reps are required to read you a verbal contract and you have to agree to it before your contract can be extended.

Score: 0

By ogman

edited Oct 1, 2007 - 9:20 AM

Yeah, and the point is they tried to do it anyway and they read me nothing. I called them on it, threatened to cancel my account and report them to the FCC, and they've been great since.

Score: 0

By VictorAnderson

posted Sep 28, 2007 - 12:49 PM

FINALLY! These dirt-bags have been doing this forever. I hope other states follow and file lawsuits of their own. I don't know if the other carriers have a practice like this but if they do I hope they wake up.

Score: 0

By horsecharles

posted Sep 28, 2007 - 2:34 PM

For over 15 years they've also been doing bill math shenanigans... while being dragged to court.
Perfect fodder for Bolsheviks.

Score: 0

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