Monday, December 14, 2009

Sprint Settles Wireless Contract Dispute in Minnesota

Here's an important wireless contract update that happened last month. Consumers at the state of Minnesota filed a lawsuit against Sprint for having their commitments extended without their consent. This wireless contract dispute has been resolved since Sprint decided to settle with the complainants.

Let's dig deeper into this cell phone contract news.

The consumers, represented by State Attorney General Lori Swanson, filed a complaint against Sprint Nextel in September 2007. The lawsuit claimed that the company extended the contracts of thousands of customers when they made small changes. The extension was enforced without their informed consent.

Consumers who violated the extended contract were forced to pay as much as $200 per line as an early termination fee.

The complaint seeks for restitution and civil penalties of up to $25,000 per incident. More than 439,000 Minnesota residents were asked to pay cancellation penalties between July 1999 and December 2008. Consumers from Minnesota are eligible to file claims if their contracts were extended without their permission.

This time it appears that consumers have gained the upper hand.

Sprint Nextel has decided to settle the mobile phone contract dispute. The carrier has agreed to review claims of improper cancellation penalties and reverse or refunds some of the fees.

The office of State Attorney General Lori Swanson are accepting claims through March 15. Estimates indicate that more than 400,000 Minnesota customers who signed contracts with Sprint Nextel since Sept. 26, 2001 are potentially eligible to benefit from this wireless contract settlement.

Click here to go to the Sprint Settlement Claim Form.

That's it for this post on the wireless contract settlement. Tune in to this blog for the latest news and udpates on cell phone contracts and related matters.

No comments: