AT&T is being sued over its US$1.99/month administrative fee that it doesn’t disclose in its advertised rates (via ArsTechnica).
AT&T Administrative Fee
The lawsuit was filed by Ian Vianu and Irina Bukchin Thursday in US District Court for the Northern District of California. The class-action complaint [PDF] says in part:
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AT&T prominently advertises particular flat monthly rates for its post-paid wireless service plans. Then, after customers sign up, AT&T actually charges higher monthly rates than the customers were promised and agreed to pay. AT&T covertly increases the actual price by padding all post-paid wireless customers’ bills each month with a bogus so-called “Administrative Fee” (currently $1.99 every month for each phone line) on top of the advertised price.
The Administrative Fee is not disclosed to customers before or when they sign up, and in fact it is never adequately and honestly disclosed to them. The so-called Administrative Fee is not, in fact, a bona fide administrative fee, but rather is simply a means for AT&T to charge more per month for the service itself without having to advertise the higher prices.
If you are a current or former customer in California and were charged the AT&T administrative fee, you can contact Hattis Law.
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