cell phone
Verizon and Sprint customers may be entitled to refunds for phone "cramming" the companies engaged in.
(Emily Lawler | MLive.com)
LANSING, MI -- Michigan will receive $538,934 from Verizon Wireless and Sprint Corporation as part of a national lawsuit settlement involving all 50 states.
The lawsuit is over "cramming," a practice where customers are charged typically $9.99 a month for premium text messaging services like horoscopes, trivia or sports scores. These are sometimes billed as "PSMS" services.
"Consumers should never have to pay for cellphone services they did not request," Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said in a statement.
"I am pleased that as a result of this and other settlements with cellular providers, we are better able to protect consumers from cellphone cramming going forward. We will continue to aggressively pursue anyone seeking to skirt the rules at the expense of Michigan families and their hard-earned dollars."
It's not just Sprint and Verizon on the hot seat. Recently AT&T and T-Mobile settled similar lawsuits.
In this most recent settlement, Sprint is required to provide $50 million to customers across the country who received these charges and Verizon will pay $70 million back to victims.
In Michigan, an estimated 726,150 Verizon customers and between 316,725 and 393,975 Sprint customers could be eligible to receive refunds. Refunds may be provided as credits on a customer's cell phone bill.
Do you think you are eligible for a refund? Customers can submit claims and find out if they're eligible for refunds on websites the companies have set up to address this. Sprint customers should go to www.SprintRefundPSMS.com and Verizon customers should go to www.CFPBSettlementVerizon.com.
Although the other companies are not a part of this specific settlement, their redress programs are available online as well. AT&T customers can visit www.ftc.gov/att and T-Mobile customers can visit http://www.t-mobilerefund.com.
Schuette's Consumer Protection Division Team handled the case. Since 2011 it has secured $30 million in consumer refunds, cancelled debts and civil penalties.
Emily Lawler is a Capitol/Business reporter for MLive. You can reach her at elawler@mlive.com, subscribe to her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter: @emilyjanelawler.