Judge rules Sprint’s early termination fees illegal
By Erna Mahyuni
A judge in California ruled that Sprint Nextel Corp’s early termination charges violate state laws. This will certainly put cell phone carriers in a frenzy as they’ve been used to heavily penalizing customers who skip on over to the competition.
The AP reported on the ruling by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Bonnie Sabraw. Sabraw ruled that Sprint will have to pay $18.3 million to customers and credit another $54.8 million to customers charged but did not pay those fees as yet.
Sprint won’t be the only one facing the judge’s hammer. She is also considering other lawsuits against carriers on similar grounds. Verizon Wireless recently agreed to pay out $21 million in a similar case.
How did Sprint attempt to ward off such a verdict? It argued that a state court had no jurisdiction over such issues, which should, it felt, be left to federal authorities.
And the telecommunications companies are trying to seek protection from the Federal Communications Commission, asking it to shield them from class action lawsuits in state courts.
So far, what the FCC’s come up with is a plan where the fees would be reduced, depending on how long a contract lasts. T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon Wireless are already on such a plan while Sprint’s announced it will get around to doing that…next year.
Sprint will be able to argue its case again, with the same judge at another hearing. Odds are they won’t be changing her mind. Though the telcos fret over the ruling, consumers will likely rejoice and consider this a means of freeing themselves from the shackles of restrictive contracts.
Wireless carriers say that the fees are necessary to recoup the cost of subsidized movile phones. The judge disagreed, citing these contracts as "implemented primarily as a means to discourage customers from leaving".
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August 18th, 2008
Restrictive service?
Sprint is probably the most unethical compaany i have ever done bussiness with.I have sworn to never buy another product from them as long as i live.For nearly a year this company fraudulent;y charged me and threatened to turn off my cell every two weeks.Love how they talk about keeping HIGH VALUE customers.I paid my bill on time every month,two lines of service.Guess people who are responsable are not high value.
Sprint should say,”our CSR dept is full of theives and liars”,and “we are extremely sorry for how we have treated our customers,and”we will audit our records and repay every customer we have wronged over the years”
That would make Sprint an ethical company who people could do bussiness with happily.
I salute the millions of customers who have been freed from Sprint over the past year.Welcome to freedom,your shackles are free,Smile!
September 30th, 2008
i to have been wronged by sprint and want to
know when my state will find it illegal for the
etf? does anyone out ther know if indiana is
part of the class action suit? sprint has also had
my deposit for 3 years 5 months.when i asked about it they could not see where i made a deposit, then they said they found it and decided
to charge me the etf after i stoped using their
service, the deposit was supose to be returned in 2 years. should’nt they have pay me interest on my money for1 year 5 months?
October 21st, 2008
I will search to see if NC is joining in on any suits against the Sprint pigs. I can’t believe how bad the service is, and the customer service is even worse. Today I was put on hold after being bounced around the customer service realm for over an hour and then some how I was connected to Starbuck’s customer service through a back door number. I was on my land line and using speaker phone. There is no way this could have happened except for some one at Sprint transferring me. I know this because I worked for BellSouth internet customer service. We kept a list of back door numbers on our desks at all times. I was so scorched that I lost the ability to speak in anything other than gutter slang for quite some time. I will do all I can to down Sprint every chance I get. I’ve never been so angry with a service in my life.
April 2nd, 2009
Sprint has the worst customer service and last week I spent 3 hours a day everyday only to be bounced around from dept to dept. I have been having problems with them for over 5 years and have been trying to get out of the contract for 3 years which somehow they renew the contract and without my consent. I have never dealt with such a careless customer service dept in my life. I’ve been hung up on and disconnected many a times.
April 4th, 2009
I have also been bounced around when I try talking to customer service. I have spent countless hours speaking to representatives that get me nowhere. I recently upgraded from a Sprint A900 to a Nextel BB 8350i. In case you are wondering; yes the text messaging issue is true. I spoke to a customer service rep before I bought the phone to ask if the plan I had in mind would work on the 8350i. I was told it would. Then when my phone finally arrived I tried activating it. To my surprise I was told that I could not add the plan I wanted because it was not compatible with a Black Berry. What kind of company sells a phone that is not compatible with the lower, simpler plans? I called again and supposedly my issues were fixed. To be honest, the problems were never fixed. I was lied to. Time passed and I continued to call. Now it is to late to return my phone, and Sprint threatened to charge me an early termination fee if I switched to a different company. I have had my Sprint account for over 4 years. I never signed a new contract with Sprint and I do not remember anything about a 30 day trial period on the phone. How can they charge me an ETF (Early Termination Fee) if I never authorized a new contact?
Honestly I believe Sprint should be avoided. You are better off going with a different phone company. Then again that is my opinion as an individual. I have had nothing but problems with customer service and unexplained charges on my bill. I am looking for some FCC references on their regulations on trial periods when you purchase a new cell phone. If anyone can help, it would be much appreciated.