AT&T Customers Will Receive $88 Million in Refunds for Unauthorized Charges
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The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will begin compensating 2.7 million AT&T customers with $88 million in refunds for third-party charges that were added to their mobile bills without their consent– a practice called “mobile cramming”. This represents the largest refund to customers related to mobile cramming to date.
The money will be credited to the bills of 2.5 million current AT&T customers over the next 75 days, with the average refund amounting to $31. Former AT&T subscribers who are eligible for refunds will receive checks in their mail, which must be cashed within 60 days.
The funds will come from the $105 million that AT&T was fined by the FTC in 2014 for its unauthorized third-party billing. The regulatory agency found that the mobile carrier had been sneaking phoney charges into bills for services and features, such as ringtones and horoscopes that customers had never consented to. It further alleged that AT&T kept at least 35% of the money from those charges, which were as much as $9.99 a month.
“AT&T received a high volume of complaints related to mobile cramming prior to the FTC and other federal and state agencies stepping in on consumers’ behalf,” said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez. “I am pleased that consumers are now being refunded their money and that AT&T has changed its mobile billing practices.”
