Sprint now facing $1.2 billion class-action suit over early termination fees
By Darren Murph 
posted November 6th 2008 10:10PM
posted November 6th 2008 10:10PM
We told you it wasn't over, and now, that once "manageable" $73 million payment could possibly balloon to upwards of $1.2 billion. As predicted, the prior suit -- which was held in a California state court -- has led to a far reaching class-action lawsuit that could "potentially cost the company as much as $1.2 billion." The suit alleges that the $150 to $200 fees violated the Federal Communications Act and laws in every state of the country, and when summed from 1999 to 2008, they total a magical $1.2 billion. Things aren't looking great for Sprint on this one either, as lawyer Scott Bursor is running the show. Who's he? Just a guy who was involved in getting Verizon to fork over $21 million for the same thing earlier this year.[Via textually]
I don't want sprint to go away! I like my SERO!
i am going to do the same but just for make me wait for the pro ! j/k
Great Just Great
This could kill Sprint
This sucks to me because
VERIZON+ME=HATE
T-MOBILE&ATT+COVERAGE=SUCK
ALLTEL= OH YES
ALLTEL + VERIZON = OH NO
SPRINT = OK
Where will I go? We need a new carrier!
ahhh man competition sucks!!! ahh I hate choices FUCK
Isn't this because, unlike Verizon (which made the choice to settle in California to minimize exposure), Sprint decided to fight on and take the incredibly foolish risk of this happening?
any links on how to get involved in this lawsuit? i got charged an etf and i could use the 200 bucks.
although, i will say that this lawsuit is dumb. i actually like sprint as a carrier
In my opinion, I feel that if the phone is customer owned equipment an early termination fee should not apply. They aren't losing on the cost of the phone. If they are worried about recouping losses on the equipment, companies should charge a fee based on the life of the equipment. If under the current circumstances you had a 2 year contract to services the life of the phone, and the phones retail value was $399 and you paid $99 upfront - If you cancel after a year - you'd then have to pay $150 bucks so that its prorated based on the life of the phone.
On the flip side, if I had a $680 PDA that I bought on 2 year contract for $149 and I was going to cancel after only a year - I'd think twice about that knowing I'd know have to fork out $200. Cancelling after a few months would be an even bigger ouch!
But yeah, an ETF when I out right purchased all my equipment is bad. If I can't pay the bill, or simply just don't want the service on the unit. I should be able to walk without all the red tape. Especially if the service is crappy.
That is such a bunch of crap. For every one of us who has been screwed, there a ten people who don't deserve a dime. If you've ever been in a cellphone store, they are the people who complain about things that make no sense and buy smartphones and return them a day later because they cannot operate a can-opener. I hate lawyers who rip off companies because we all end up paying. Defending your riights as a consumer is one thing, ripping off a company to be greedy is something else-I don't care which carrier it might be. Just make people pay for it up front and don't have conracts and watch carriers do away with the customers who milk the system. trust me, store sales people hide when they see these repeat problems come to their store every time. Don't give those jokers a cent or we will all pay in the end for their stupidity.
I mildly talked to my mom about this and she doesn't see an issue over this at all, why its a problem for the companies one bit.
I however believe a company shouldn't make you pay full price on ETF if you're contract is at a certain point as the phone you bought, has dropped down in value anyways. Might explain why I want an unlocked phone which forces me on either T-Mobile or AT&T.
Personal opinion, Sprint might not be running in the red, but they are 30 billion dollars in debt last time I checked, and thats either more or about the same as their market value, so I guess that means they are running in the ride. My only problem with Sprint is their lack of phone selection, which is in part due to their technology they use, be awesome if they'd go MVMO on a GSM network though.
I would drop Sprint in an instant for a Nokia N series phone or one from SE, Samsung or LG that offers similar features, but those phone plus the cost of an ETF I can't afford.
Current Phone - Samsung M520 I paid 30 dollars for it, but it was with a mail-in-rebate so it would of been 50
current regular price, 250 - 150 (instant savings) - 50 MIR = 50
but rebates in my mind are totally different and shouldn't count so for me I shouldn't have to pay more than 150.
But I have my own idea to get Sprint off my back when i get a new phone
Sprint was my first provider and I remember standing in line on 42nd street,like once a week, with 20 other people, trying to get help with the bill or service, or whatever, and everyone would be pissed.
Half the time we were in line and on the phone with them at the same time, and by the time I'd get to the window the staff was even more angry in response to literally being screamed at by people. It was the weirdest thing.
One time I was trying to swap out a defective phone, and they didn't have even a loaner for me, and I was like, 'what am I supposed to do, Sprint sold me this phone', and the girl screamed at me, 'I aint Sprint'! haha. I wasn't phased because it was a zoo in there. So then, almost every time they would send me to the phone on the wall to call into customer service.
2003 Sprint probably could have sent me to therapy, had I not left the country. London, now they made up for it, I had a great mobile experience there.
ughh, cell phones AREN'T like running water. Last time I checked no one had died a week after their cell phones were taken away directly due to the cell phone. There are also prepaid options. Dude, at RiteAid they have a GoPhone for $10 with 10 dollars of starting credit (no mail in rebate required).
I do however think that in areas without payphone service there should be something.
can this class action suit include TMobile?
I just had to pay $400 USD due to their poor services messing up my ONE year contract. Yes, I signed a ONE year contract but some one turned it into a TWO year contract with out providing me any notification nor could they supply any paperwork to me. Yeah, if I had extra funds and time, I'd be taking them to court in a heart beat....
Here's something for existing TMobile suckers should know.... (forgive me if they finally fixed this but I doubt they have!).... Visit TMobiles web site and proceed through the forgot password option.... you'll be prompted for your phone number...enter it and noticed NOTHING else is asked like your zip code, last four of SSN, your shoe size...nothing!! And...providing you have a decent signal, you'll get a text WITH YOUR FREAKING PASSWORD! F'Up security!!
Now, put yourself in my place...My wife had her TMobile phone stolen from some stupid little bastard...they knew enough to visit the site and find out the password. I had no idea since TMobile did not send any warning emails stating...hey, importing news...your password has been exposed to someone that might not have been you! Anyhow...the story goes on... I decided to wait for the low life to make a phone call and I traced it! The police helped me get back my phone but I found some crappy news after everything was done... TMobile USE TO display the users FULL social security number on the website... I was outraged and I talked to their support that did not give two shits about their poor security because "they are not a bank" and it was up to me to block the phone. Um... well... by not blocking the phone, I was able to recover it and find the POS that ripped it off... If I was informed they have awful security and leaked SSN's to anyone logging in...sure, I would have canceled it....
Anyhow....they changed the web site shortly after I issued my complaint but they still owe me for any possible fraud that might take place (in my opinion)
Sorry for ranting but I feel all TMobile user's have a right to know about their poor security.. now make sure to call TMobile and demand better security!!
i managed to opt out of a 2 year contract without ETF when they decided to change the service on my contract from unlimited to capped bandwidth. Bastards, it was a long 3 month battle in which I spent time on the phone and email and eventually resolved it by threatening to go through arbitration. woot for the little guy.
This whole issue is simple according to US contract law. Just because you sign a contract doesn't mean it is legal. A contract by law cannot enjoin parties when the terms of the contract constitute an illegal transaction. So for example, a person signs a contract with a hitman to kill someone. Even though they have a written agreement, it is not a legal and bidning agreement because of the illegal nature of the act in the agreement. So if it was against the law the entire time to charge ETFs as the suit claims, then they cannot collect them even though the contract says it.
Also, many people caught up in ETFs are not people who received any kind of subsidy when they purchased their phone. Cell phone company utilize a concept called contracts of adhesion where when you make a change to your plan in any way, they would update their system to show a two year period from the date of the change and not from the original contract date. So essentially they are starting the contract over without offering any type of compensation to the account holder. I can tell you from personal experience that Sprint does this and even if you haven't purchased a phone from Sprint in 5 years but only through eBay, they would extend your contract by two years just for activating the phone which was recieved without any type of rebate.
I hope Sprint loses and that they lose big.
Right, they tell you ON THE PHONE that they're going to renew your contract if you make a change to your plan though. If you don't want it, tell them you won't accept that. You have a choice not to change your plan, people. I'm not saying I agree with this ridiculous process of renewing the contract in this way, but you have options. Like saying "Fine, cancel my service today if you won't give me the new plan without extending my current contract." They'll either give you the plan without contract, or you can walk away from Sprint to someone like T-Mobile who actually have decent ETF policies.
I switched from Sprint to AT&T in July... They had me pay a cancellation fee of $150 even though there were only 2 months left on my contract. I dont have a problem paying a prorated cancellation fee, but $150 for 1/12th of the time... Thats a bit extreme if you ask me. I gladly left because their service sucks and the customer service is worse. Does anyone know where I can look for information regarding California citizens about recouping the money back from Sprint?
It's really hard to feel bad for you. Your contract never had a pro-rated ETF policy when you signed it. Why do you think you shouldn't have to pay the entire thing back when you break the contract? Of course I agree that all the policies should have to include pro-rated language with their ETFs, and the government can help to make that happen, but until it does, it's your own fault for signing it.
Die Sprint Die. They screwed me over for over 6 years...I spent lavishly on 4 phones with contract renewals and NO REBATES on any of the phones. I did my part to return the postcards, rebate paperwork, call and send messages...I worked and worked to get the rebates, and finally gave up on their hollow promises to "resolve the issue". Along the way, they routinely crammed my bill with unwanted services, hoping I wouldn't notice, I routinely got "cut off" while being transferred to another dept. or supervisor of their foreign customer service dept. At times I spent more than 2 hours arguing the charges that never should have appeared in the first place. And many many "dropped" calls and signal fade that were never reimbursed, due to a "known problem...we're looking into it" .The logo got prettier, the TV ads more frequent, but my service never improved. We have left Sprint...3 phones are out of "contract" and one has a month to go. They'll not get a penny more of my money. I'm happy with AT&T - iPhones rock - so far.
Well all I have to say is that if they are getting sued is because they tried to be slick just like most of the carriers do. Usually better things come out of this type of events...lol. It is sad to see that always it has to come down to this but if they broke the law they deserve to be served. We "the little guy" don't have as many resources as they do "carriers".