Cingular to refund $18.5M to California customers

If you're a former Cingular Wireless customer in the California area, you may have a refund coming to you from your formerly-loved wireless carrier. Wireless lawsuits are nothing new, but they don't always end with subscribers (or "plaintiffs," if the term is more to your liking) hitting the jackpot. Well, the California Public Utilities Commission announced a settlement yesterday that put an end to extensive bickering between AT&T (formerly Cingular Wireless) and disenfranchised customers that stretched from 2000 to 2002. The meat of the sparring was based on Cingular's effusive and dismissive behavior towards customers who witnessed their wireless service go downhill for what was quite a lengthy period of time. As part of the settlement, about 115,000 former Cingular customers will stand to receive an average refund check of $160 to cover the fees for breaking all those contracts from that dreaded period that started over seven years ago.

[Via textually.org]