Sprint now facing $1.2 billion class-action suit over early termination fees
By Darren Murph 
posted Nov 6th 2008 10:10PM
posted Nov 6th 2008 10:10PM
We told you it wasn't over, and now, that once "manageable" $73 million payment could possibly balloon to upwards of $1.2 billion. As predicted, the prior suit -- which was held in a California state court -- has led to a far reaching class-action lawsuit that could "potentially cost the company as much as $1.2 billion." The suit alleges that the $150 to $200 fees violated the Federal Communications Act and laws in every state of the country, and when summed from 1999 to 2008, they total a magical $1.2 billion. Things aren't looking great for Sprint on this one either, as lawyer Scott Bursor is running the show. Who's he? Just a guy who was involved in getting Verizon to fork over $21 million for the same thing earlier this year.[Via textually]
HA! This is great! Sprint is finally gonna regret giving everone crappy c.s. and driving all of their business away!! The funniest thing is, i got out of !3! contracts in an hour on the phone with them, completely breaking the rules of when they will and will not let you out of a contract. i didnt move, i didnt get late paying my bills, nothing. i just talked for awhile and got out of it!!
are people trying to loose phone subsidization and paying full retail for all phones? This is the reason why there is cell phone contracts to begin with. I agree that $150-200 is high but thats why they are following at&t and verzion and instating declining ETFs which makes sense because as you go through your contract why should you pay the same price to cancel 1 day in as you would 1 year in? If phones werent so damn expensive for anything good then we wouldnt need contracts.
Then why not offer for customers to opt out a contract and pay the full MSRP. I for one wouldn't mind doing that .
Assuming I'm in month 12 of a 24 month contract, why should I pay full retail price for a phone that is *at least* half paid for. Thats the point of these lawsuits. The penalties these companies were charging do not reflect "time served" in your contract.
lol, think $200 is a lot? It's $400 in Canada with Rogers, and no cap ($20 per month left) with Telus.. meaning potentially up to $720. Man.. we need to get this lawyer up in Canada to sue some telecom corps up here!
so what does this mean for the other carriers? I wouldn't mind getting back some money from U.S. Cellular... Which wasn't a bad service, work was paying for a phone, so it was worth it to cancel...
Are people trying to force businesses to close down? With all the wireless mergers out there, losing Sprint would be a big mistake. With them bleeding customers quarter after quarter, they cannot afford a $1.2 billion "fine" and really could push them closer to bankruptcy.
Besides, they just had this same lawsuit (and lost) earlier this year. Wouldn't this be "double jeopardy" to sue them again for the same thing?
I'm not sure losing Sprint - which appears to excel in fail - would be a mistake. Sure, it would be nice if they'd reverse course and become profitable while offering a quality service, but they don't seem to share the desire to do so.
Case in point - Sprint has lost over four (4) million customers over the last year. It seems as if they're intent on making sure that they go out of business on their own.
Keep in mind these are all civil proceedings - which have nothing such as the criminal concept of double jeopardy. Someone is going to pick the bones of the carcass before it disappears completely, and customers (current and former) ought to be able to get a few scraps here and there.
Sprint is trying to turn things around, especially with their CS its reputation. Losing Sprint would be huge mistake. What Sprint should do is sell off Nextel. Such a huge failure but at least the new CEO is in charge and is trying to make things better for itself. They have lost customers and that is their own fault but companies make mistakes. As far as the lawsuit, they are just following suit just as Verizon and AT&T do the same thing.
Allowing Verizon and AT&T to run things would only hurt the bigger picture. Competition is always a good thing. Costs stay under control. The consumer wins, not the corporate suits.
Ive been with Sprint/Nextel for about 8 years now. Great service for most of the time and never needed customer support. The past few months ive had a ton of dropped calls. Sprint said its my phone. Took phone it checked out fine. Called Sprint back they said everything was fine. I asked for one of two things, to get the service ive had for the past 8 years or out of my contract without ETF's. They said no to both. Oh yeah, 3 months left on contract. What's one to do ? What did I do wrong ? Contract states they do not guarantee service. Does that mean they dont have to give me service ? Contract's to buy a house arent as long. They said they would give me 2 new phones along with a new 2 yr contract. I took the offer. Before the 30 day trial period is up, Im going to cancel. That's one way to get out of a contract. hahahaha. I hope the law suit goes for more than 1.2 billion just for being idiots. So much for customer satisfaction and service. They wanted to charge me $400 for the last 3 months of a contract for a customer thats been with them for 8 years ??? NO SOUP FOR YOU !!!!!!