Charges on T-Mobile that have been lingering are now going to be settled by the telecom giant as it has agreed to pay the FTC and FCC a total of $90 million as a settlement. There were charges that the company was allowing third-party premium messaging services to charge customers for unwanted services. It was also charged for being complicit in the activity during the process by collecting up to 40% of the revenue it got from the services in 2012 while ignoring the majority of customer complaints.
An investigation conducted in July by the FTC and FCC found T-Mobile guilty of said charges and therefore, sought indemnity from the operator. Out of the total amount, $67.5 million will be left aside to repay customers who were overcharged. Other than that, T-Mobile will pay a sum of $18 million to all of the 50 states in the U.S. and the District of Columbia, in addition to $4.5 million that will go to the U.S. Treasury.
The consent decree requires that T-Mobile does not charge customers for third-party Premium SMS products and services. It also requires the company to create a system where customers can verify third-party service charges before they are asked to pay for them. The company now has to block third-party charges without any extra charge and make it easier for customers to identify possible fraudulent charges, and provide additional training for customer service staff to appropriately resolve customer complaints related to unauthorized charges.
The initial complaint filed by the FTC and FCC had mentioned that T-Mobile, at many instances, concealed third-party charges in monthly bills and also didn’t provide customers with full refunds. It even refused to refund some customers, and in some cases told them to recoup the charges directly from fraudulent services without providing contact details, which ultimately led to this settlement.