AT&T Fined $105M for 'Cramming' Cell Phone Bills

[Hum]

AT&T will pay $80 million in refunds to customers for billing them for unwanted services and not reacting fast enough to reverse the charges when they complained.

 

AT&T Mobility is being fined a record $105 million by the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission for illegally "cramming" customer cell phone bills with extra, unauthorized charges and for refusing to adequately remove the charges when users complained.

The $105 million fine, which includes $80 million for direct refunds to customers as well as $25 million in penalties to be paid to the FCC, the FTC and to attorney generals across the United States, is the largest fine in the history of the FCC, according to the agency.

The enforcement action was announced in a Washington press conference on Oct. 8 and ends an investigation that had centered on allegations that AT&T had for years "billed customers millions of dollars in unauthorized third-party subscriptions and premium text messaging services," according to the FCC.

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[+Red King Subscriber²]

*Only* 105 Million ?

[menifred]

Sent a tip yesterday about it :shiftyninja:

[Hum]

I don't see why corporate executives don't go to prison for theft.

 

If an employee steals from a company, they could be arrested and tried.

 

Might cut out this kind of crap if executives lost their jobs.

[Avi Patel]

good.

my parents have always struggled with att for this exact reason.  they're always trying to sneak in stupid stuff.  I've just about have had it with these cell phone companies. 

[theyarecomingforyou]

I don't see why corporate executives don't go to prison for theft.

 

If an employee steals from a company, they could be arrested and tried.

 

Might cut out this kind of crap if executives lost their jobs.

Exactly. The goal of capitalism is to make money and if the only punishment for wrongdoing is having some of that illegally obtained money paid back then there is no disincentive to operate within the law. It's like all the fake stories that tabloids publish, as they know they'll be fined and have to issue an apology but they make more money than they lose. The entire financial industry is based on wrongdoing, overcharging and misleading customers knowing full well that even if they're fined they'll still make a net profit from the action. Put them all in jail and the problem goes away.

 

The other solution is to make all punishments extremely punitive. For instance, if you deliberately overcharge customers then you pay ten times the amount in fines; if you print a fake story in a tabloid then the next day's paper has to have a full page apology on the front and they lose ten times the total revenue of that publication. You make it so the cost of wrongdoing is so high that no-one ever dares do it. No shareholder would tolerate a company engaging in wrongdoing as it would hurt the value of the company.

[Astra.Xtreme]

Great, so now I can expect my service rate to go up. [1/2 sarcasm]

Though if they do raise rates, I'm jumping ship to Verizon next year.

[madd-hatter]

I like it but I can't help but wonder where the fine goes.

[Quillz]

And I'm sure AT&T will pay the fine and continue to "cram" phone bills until they get caught again.

[Hum]

I like it but I can't help but wonder where the fine goes.

FCC office Xmas parties :shifty: