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Sprint is tricking customers into phone lease agreements that see them trapped into paying much more than their devices are worth, a new nationwide class action lawsuit alleges.
Plaintiffs Teresa Gutierrez and Michael Camou filed the complaint against Sprint Corporation in a California federal court Thursday, alleging the telco company has committed fraud and violated state consumer protection laws with its Flex Lease Agreement program.
The program claims it offers customers options to get phones at a supposedly low monthly cost, the class action alleges, through monthly payments and the ability to cancel the contracts after a set time period.
In reality, consumers end up paying significantly more than the value of the device due to Sprint’s ongoing monthly charges after the lease terms end, the claim contends.
In some cases, consumers have been forced to make additional payments at the end of the initial lease term in order to own their devices, or are even unable to cancel the program after the termination of the lease period despite trying to do so.
“Without a realistically available option to own their Devices or cancel their leases, customers are left paying to lease their Devices indefinitely,” the class action states.
Gutierrez said she leased two 64GB iPhone 8s through Sprint’s Flex Lease program in 2017.
For 18 months, she paid $36.76 per month for each device for a total payment of $661.68 for each phone. The class action says she understood that after she made 18 monthly payments, the payments would represent the value of the iPhones, and that she would own both of them outright.
However, when she contacted Sprint, it told her she had to pay an extra lump sum of $199.87, or six monthly payments of $33.31 per month on top of the lease amount. Not wanting to pay more than the value of the phone, she continued making just the monthly lease payments.
“As a result of Sprint’s unconscionable Flex Lease program, Plaintiff Gutierrez has been harmed and suffered damages, including, but not limited to overpayments for Device leases, excessive purchase prices for Devices, termination fees, and inconvenience,” the class action states.
Camou had a similar experience, leasing a Samsung Galaxy S10E through Sprint’s Flex Lease program in 2019. Over 18 months, he paid $33.52 monthly for a total payment of $603.36 for the phone. However, when he finished paying the installments, Sprint allegedly said he couldn’t own the phone until he completed an additional nine monthly payments of $20.84, or $187.56 total.
The class action also alleges customers were not told when they were nearing the ends of their plans, leaving them to continue making monthly payments indefinitely. It says customers who tried to cancel their contracts by returning their phones found their efforts intentionally frustrated by confusing website links, odd emails, promised call backs that never came, and long wait times on chats.
Some people also allegedly had their devices refused for return, even if they had minimal wear, or were told that they were ineligible for the buyout option.
The consumers are looking to represent anyone who purchased or leased one or more devices under the Sprint Flex Lease Program, plus a California subclass. The class action is suing under California’s Unfair Competition Law California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act and is seeking recovery for common law fraud, conversion and unjust enrichment.
Gutierrez and Samou are seeking certification of the Class, damages, interest, fees, an injunction and a jury trial.
Meanwhile, a $7.6 million settlement agreement has been proposed to resolve a case filed by several retail workers against Sprint, alleging it may have violated the Fair Labor Standards Act in addition to other worker protection laws.
What do you think of Sprint’s phone lease contracts? Let us know in the comments!
The plaintiffs are represented by Alison M. Bernal of Nye, Stirling, Hale & Miller, LLP and Joseph G. Sauder, Lori G. Kier and Davina C. Okonkwo of Sauder Schelkopf LLC.
The Sprint Phone Lease Class Action Lawsuit is Teresa Gutierrez and Michael Camou, et al., v. Sprint Corporation, Case No. 2:21-cv-03865, in the U.S. District Court Central District of California.
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1,267 thoughts onSprint Phone Lease Plans Trap Customers in Endless Contracts, Class Action Alleges
Hi I have 2 lease phones which returned June 2022 .they have in the warehouse I have the receipt to the phones with tracking numbers .I have been dealing with this since March 2022. no one knows what the are doing.they tell u all kinds of crap .have you wait on the line for a long time .one day I spoke with 8 people and I’m still paying 52.00 for 2 phones that are no longer in service.Plus the lease which we took out in 2016 Sept 24 we paid all those years.Im not surprised not in business any longer. just want them off the account enough already…Signed Disqusted!!!!!!Ty..
Please add me – I have two phones that I’m am now not allowed to purchase at lease end and only upgrades or new phones at additional cost being offered
Over 2.5 years with the flex lease program and my phones are still not payed off and showing I still owe $176 for each of the 4 phones I have on my account.
Can I please be added. I live in Maryland and they also added me in an forever lease contract that I never signed up for. Why would I pay for an forever lease for a paid for phone. I have no past balances and they won’t unlock my phone.
Please add me we had 3 phones 2 of which we canceled a year ago and last line is still in use until phone was paid off ( which we paid off 13 months ago) Phones have all been paid off now and auto draft was still being taken out in the amount of what we still owed on the phones. That I understand. However, for 13 months I’ve been paying over the lease fee and of course the service fees. I’m asking where is my extra money I’ve been sending and customer service says that’s part of the lease agreement. No, I believe I’ve been over paying and want my extra money back. They say I still need to pay the phone off… does not make sense to me. NOW SECOND issue, I tried to move to a new carrier and they refuse to unlock my device until my new statement comes out. I said I would pay what I needed to to end any business with them but they having me waiting on supervisors. Absolutely frustrating!
Add me also, been fighting with them for over a year now and still getting charged for 3 phones I can’t even legally own in my state, as it states in the contract but they still want me to pay the phones off or another 18 month lease and been paying since 2020.
They continued the lease of an old phone when I upgraded, after I told them I wanted to pay it off and was urged to use their website for the order.
I’m still paying for a phone that should’ve been paid off last August. They told me that I opted to lease as opposed installment payments. I absolutely didn’t. That doesn’t even make sense. They charge me $60 a month for a phone that I’ve had since February 2020😡😡😡.
Can I be added. I live in Philadelphia, PA. I have been paying for a phone that was supposed to be drop. I contacted them to explain that are still billing for a phone that I don’t have. For two months my bill was high. Then it was low for two months and then it shot right back up until the buy out by T-mobile. After the buy out by T-mobile my account was lock and I couldn’t get a copy of my billing cycle.
Same issue was not given the opportunity to buy out at the end of a lease I don’t know I had. And in Wi you cant buy your phone out and have no choice but to keep the month to month lease.
I unfortunately did not find out until almost 18 months later that I actually did not own the mobile devices I thought I did… it was explained to me that after the 18 months lease program I would own my phones. What they failed to inform me was that after the 18 months was up, there was a remaining dollar amount owed on each of the devices ranging from $50 to $200 and that I would have to call in and pay the remaining balance at the end of the lease tern in order to own my devices and that if I didn’t. The lease/ purchase amount would continue being billed & taken out for the devices, but was not longer being applied to the purchase price of the devices. After realizing I had been paying for several devices long past the lease/purchase agreement. I called to find out what was going on. I asked sprint if the $100 a month had not been applied to the devices after the lease agreement had expired. What was all the extra money I had been paying in for? They said it was to continue the lease of the devices open on a monthly basis until the small balloon payment had been satisfied so I could own the devices outright and no longer be charged. I was not notified about the lease ending or that I was giving sprint over a $100 a month for nothing. I felt completely scammed. The only thing I was told was. I should have read my contract. There is no telling how much money sprint stole from unsuspecting consumers with this corrupt tactic. They knew exactly what they were doing and were literally stealing money and getting away with it. Not to mention the over 40 hours I had to spend on the phone with sprint scam artists that kept simply trying to buy time with red tape.
Just today 8/1/22, went to the corporate TMo store to switch the SIM card, but was told until I pay $175.00 my Sprint account will not migrate over to TMo. But can change SIM now. After reading of issues I decided not to implement the SIM yet, but to attempt to address the issues with SPRINT. I tried this before in 2021, only to spend an entire day tied up on the phone with radically resistant PHILLIPINE OUTSOURCED Customer Service. Or as I find out today, NON-Service.
My Sprint iPhone 11 was paid off as of May 2021. But Sprint has me on a forever lease that I never authorized or was made aware of.
This should be criminal‼️
This was a Black Friday promotion where I traded in an iPhone-6 as credit toward the purchase of the iPhone 11 with 18-months for it to be paid off. Which required auto-pay and insurance EVERY MONTH.
But Sprint is still charging me the monthly lease (forever lease) as well as the insurance.
They have actually over-charged me more than $400.00 to date. But want to hold-up my locked device for $175.00.
I want out, and want my device free and clear since it IS PAID FOR IN FULL!
I hope these lawyers go after everyone that’s been involved in knowingly fleecing their customers for years. No wonder they are out of business!
I might be interested in litigation, but imho a class action only helps the law firm involved, not the victims.