T-Mobile offered customers aged 55 or older a "lifetime price lock" on their plans, a deal that attracted many customers. Too many, it turns out: the company has reneged on the deal and raised those users' fees, prompting thousands of complaints to the Federal Communications Commission. "I am still alive," Jon Brodkin quotes one of the screwed-over seniors.
A Pennsylvania resident told the FCC that T-Mobile "straight up lied to millions of people." A North Carolina resident wrote, "This is not the deal we signed up for and to change our price after guaranteeing it would be locked for life is fraudulent and a direct breach of contract."
An FCC spokesperson told Ars on September 28 that the agency had "received over 2,000 complaints" about the T-Mobile price hikes of $2 to $5 per line. The agency declined to comment on whether it is conducting a formal investigation."If this is allowed to stand, then words have no meaning, businesses are able to lie directly and blatantly to the American people, and the FCC is apparently unable to protect the citizen[s] of this county from the unethical practices of business[es] they are charged with regulating," an Indiana resident told the FCC.
I believe the usual process for dealing with this sort of fraud is signing up for a class action lawsuit, spending an hour filling out paperwork, and then waiting eight years for a check for forty-nine cents. It's "possible" that something more may be done.
The FCC and FTC have both punished T-Mobile for other kinds of violations, so it's possible that the agencies could intervene. Earlier in 2024, the FCC fined T-Mobile for data breaches and for selling users' real-time location data. In 2014, T-Mobile agreed to pay at least $90 million to settle an FTC lawsuit over unwanted third-party charges as part of a deal that included refunds to customers. State attorneys general could also take action. Nearly every US state was involved in a lawsuit that alleged the big three carriers falsely advertised wireless plans as "unlimited" and phones as "free." The carriers settled the lawsuit this year, with T-Mobile agreeing to pay $4.1 million. (Verizon also agreed to pay $4.1 million, while AT&T agreed to pay a little over $2 million.)
Previously:
• FCC votes to end prison phone rate robbery
• FCC fines Marriott $600,000 for jamming hotel Wi-Fi
• FCC updates the definition of 'Broadband'
