Following T-Mobile’s $90 million cramming settlement at the end of 2014, it’s now Verizon and Sprint’s turn to fork over some cash for the same problem.
The FCC has announced that Verizon and Sprint have agreed to pay a total of $158 million as part of a settlement that stems from investigations over customers getting charged for unauthorized third-party premium text services, also known as cramming. The charges from these services ranged from $0.99 to $14.00 per month, and Verizon retained 30 percent or more from these charges, while Sprint got around 35 percent.
The settlement will see Verizon pay $90 million and Sprint pony up $68 million. A minimum of $70 million of Verizon’s payment and a minimum of $50 million of Sprint’s payment will go to consumers.
Travis LeBlanc, head of the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau, said this of today’s settlement:
“Consumers rightfully expect their monthly phone bills will reflect only those services that they’ve purchased. Today’s settlements put in place strong protections that will prevent consumers from being victimized by these kinds of practices in the future.”
The FCC’s full announcement of this settlement can be found at the link below.
