T-Mobile has introduced industry-leading changes that have been praised by customers over the past year. But recently, things have come to an abrupt halt, as the FTC has filed a lawsuit against T-Mobile in regards to charges to customers from third-party texting services without their consent. As a result, T-Mobile has profited hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue over the alleged period.
Although T-Mobile CEO, John Legere did respond immediately, some felt that the response lacked goodwill, which the company was usually known for. Today, Legere has again responded to the FTC lawsuit, trying to make things a bit clearer by breaking down the scenario into three separate points.
Legere admits that starting in 2009, T-Mobile did participate in offering Premium SMS services. But this was an industry wide practice that all carriers participated in. Although T-Mobile did reap the benefits, they insist that authorization of these charges was the responsibility of the Premium SMS service providers. After issues with possible fraudulent authorizations, T-Mobile terminated the service in November 2013, as did other wireless carriers.
He reiterates that customers will only be billed for services that they want and also what they have purchased. Lastly, he wants to make clear that T-Mobile will have a Proactive Refund Program that will make sure that any past or present customers receive a refund on any unwarranted or unauthorized charges related to Premium SMS services.
Although the new blog entry by Legere does try to bring transparency to the issue at hand, it is unknown whether this will be enough to control the damage to its image that T-Mobile has sustained over the past week.
Source: T-Mobile | Image via T-Mobile