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The Federal Trade Commission announced that it will provide around $88 million in refunds to more than 2.7 million AT&T Mobility LLC customers who were charged for premium text message services without their consent.
According to the FTC, the average AT&T refund amount will be $31. About 2.5 million AT&T customers will get a credit on their bill while more than 300,000 former AT&T customers will receive a check in the mail.
The FTC lawsuit against AT&T took issue with the practice of “mobile cramming,” in which third-party charges are added to customers’ cell phone bills without their consent. According to the FTC, this AT&T refund is the largest amount of money returned to consumers in a case involving mobile cramming.
“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,” FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said regarding the refund. “I am pleased that consumers are now being refunded their money and that AT&T has changed its mobile billing practices.”
The FTC’s mobile cramming lawsuit alleged that AT&T placed unauthorized third-party charges, usually for $9.99 per month, on customers’ phone bills. These charges were reportedly for ringtones and text messages that contained horoscopes, “fun facts,” celebrity gossip and love tips. Many customers were unaware that they were being charged for these text messages, ringtones or wallpaper that appeared on their phones.
AT&T allegedly made it difficult for consumers to understand the nature of these unauthorized charges. The company reportedly lumped all of the charges together to make it appear as if they were related to AT&T’s mobile phone services. Even customers who diligently checked their phone bill each month were unaware that they had been subjected to these charges for unauthorized third-party services, the FTC lawsuit alleged.
As part of AT&T’s settlement with the FTC, AT&T has agreed to make sure it has customers’ consent before billing them for third-party charges. Further, AT&T will provide refunds to consumers who complain about unauthorized third-party charges unless the company has information to show that they consented to the charge. AT&T also will continue to offer its customers free third-party blocking services.
According to the FTC, AT&T kept as much as 35 percent of these unauthorized charges.
The deadline to file a claim for the AT&T mobile cramming settlement passed on May 1, 2015.
The FTC issued a press release dated Dec. 8, 2016 to inform AT&T customers that their refund payments are on their way. Current AT&T customers will receive a credit on their bill within the next 75 days. If you receive an AT&T refund check, you must cash it within 60 days or it will become void.
If you have questions about the AT&T mobile cramming refund, the FTC states that you can call the refund contractor at 1-877-819-9692.
The AT&T Mobile Cramming Lawsuit is Federal Trade Commission v. AT&T Mobility LLC, Case No. 1:14-cv-03227-HLM, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
UPDATE: On Dec. 16, 2016, Top Class Actions viewers started receiving FTC refund checks worth as much as $41. Congratulations to everyone who filed a claim and got PAID!
UPDATE 2: February 2017, the FTC announced they sent out another 360,000 refund checks to AT&T customers affected by the mobile cramming charges.
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34 thoughts onFTC To Issue $88M in Refunds Over AT&T Mobile Cramming Charges
Got a denial letter today (12/15/16); “records did not show you were entitled to a refund.”
live in Washington State.
Dont remember if I file a claim before may 2015 but its too late to apply? Anyways i will just wait if I will receive a check.
How long did this go on for.
Shameful
Trust, their business practice haven’t changed and now they have a monopoly in the cable service. If anyone thinks that the settlement is anything substantial mine arrived 12-12-16 and it was a whopping 9.99
Why am I not surprised.
Same here I refuse to pay!
I still have an outstanding balance that I refuse to pay due to AT&T inability to practice fair business practices
I do too..At&t. Uverse For over a year every single mth kept adding unjust charges to my bill. Such as movies that were not ordered sometimes several same movie4-5 times a month at average of $ 6-8 per movie. Every Month I would have to call and dispute these charges…here’s the deal , I still had to pay the over charges while we disputed to keep our service, we had bundle, phone, TV, internet t…I would sometimes have to pay 4 times more my agreed contract prices…one month was q whopping $764. For uveree, again charged for .movies that were not o ordered.. .I was neved compensated …refunded…the y did shut my services off when I had asked for a time log besides the date of so called orders. Folks that’s 18 months of overcharges. ..if you have att uverse read your bill, they are crooked, again they never produced w time of day log, instead they shut my device off leaving me to with some ridiculous balance that’s forward to collections!
Me too. Folks if you have attached uverse bills read your bills.. They for over 18 months had overcharged me , I disputed every single month. One month was over $700. That’s more than highway robbery. I was never compensated,they did not produce a time of day log I requested…result was my servic e shut off with an enormous bill sent to collections..
Yes, they did the same thing to me. They charge me for a whole year, and I Was unaware because I worked all day, and when I came in it was late. Took a shower got something to eat cut the tv on and fell asleep! Did not watch movies! They said they gave me the premium movie channel, never ask for it, never wanted it. Only found when my business slow up, and my bill started to back up, and they cut it off. I call in , they it cut off because, the automatic with draw didn’t have enough in it, I Told them I never order any movie channel. They say I had to pay it or they would not cut bundle by on , thiefs!
Very deceptive I am in
Name is Torez. I recently going over my credit report. I worked on getting thing on my credit report dropped off.. AT&T WAS ON MY CREDIT REPORT.. I NEVER HAD AT&T.. I’M ON DISABITY. SSI…$735.MO.. POOR CREDIT. NO WAY IN HELL AT&T WOULD BE GIVEN ME CREDIT IF I APPLY FOR ANYTHNG.. LAST YR. I HAD IDENITY THEFT.