Cell Phone Companies: Tricks and Scams

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We have all been in that heated battle with customer service department of our cell phone companies, trying to understand why we seem to be getting the short end of the stick, despite following contract rules and being a stand-up serviceholder. Some service providers have been found guilty of being less than friendly with their customers so let’s discuss some of the biggest fail moments for major cell phone companies so you can learn and not let your money go to waste.

1. The AT&T Throttle

When you get an unlimited data plan, sure you pay a bit more, but if you have a teenager in the house or do a lot of traveling to places without a wifi connection, then having unlimited data is the perfect way to go. Well AT&T wasn’t too happy with the amount of people on their unlimited data plans apparently and they decided to “slow down” those unlimited data speeds. Just to be clear, this doesn’t mean that they didn’t give people unlimited data but they did slow it down considerably after a certain amount of data had been used. Not only was this shady move bad to being with, what happened after was worse. After being so frustrated with their slow-down internet, the customers wanted to leave they were charged early termination fees. Luckily the FTC is suing AT&T so hopefully those people will see a refund.

2. T-Mobile Caught Fraudulent Charging Customers

T-Mobile had a lot of explaining to do earlier this year when their customers began to notice superfluous and unrecognizable charges on their monthly billing statements. News broke in the summer than T-Mobile had knowingly added hundreds of millions of dollars in bogus charges to their customers accounts stemming from as far back at 2009.

3. AT&T Settles “Cramming” Case

This year AT&T settled their case with the FTC to the tune of $105 million dollars for adding “mystery charges” to their customer accounts. They were masked as apps, programs “monthly subscriptions” and violation fees in their billing statements.

What is the lesson of these stories? One, that the FTC is on top of the cell phone companies tricks and scams. Two, always check your billing statement thoroughly. If you notice charges and fees be sure to call, ask and do research.