Cingular and Verizon Wireless Face Class-Action Lawsuits

[Raphael Salgado]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.phonescoop.com/news/item.php?n=1806' target='_blank'>http://www.phonescoop.com/news/item.php?n=1806</a><br /><br /></div><i>"A class action lawsuit was filed against Cingular today in federal court in Seattle. The suit alleges Cingular degraded the service of AT&amp;T customers in the process integrating the two networks, and forced them to pay unfair fees to switch to Cingular service. The suit also takes Cingular to task for charging AT&amp;T customers an early termination fee if they wanted to leave after the level of service was degraded... Verizon too has been hit with a class action lawsuit, as charges against the company for adding roadside assistance to customers' bills without their knowledge have now reached a federal court."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/salgado-20060711-vzwcing.jpg" /><br /><br />In our extremely litigious society, many of these lawsuits are frivilous or without merit. At the same time, there are countless moments where corporations outright take advantage of the very customers they are supposed to serve, and class-action lawsuits like these seem to be the only way to get the proper attention to make them realize we've caught on to their behavior. If this determined to be true (and with settlements, we may never know), it may just turn into a vicious circle with "repercussions" of higher rates and fees, or worse. Your thoughts?

[aroma]

Couple of thoughts...

1) If Verizon is guilty of adding the extra pay services to the bill, then shame on them, and they deserve to get sued.

2) I would think it would be difficult to prove that Cingular degraded AT&amp;T's service. However, I do think they are wrong to charge customers who wanted to switch if they felt the merger was negative for them.

3) I hate most class-action law suits. Not the idea of them, but rather the reality of how they play out. If these suits go through, then the members of the "class" will probably get a $10 calling card, while the lawyers will get MILLIONS of dollars all for themselves.

[applejosh]

3) I hate most class-action law suits. Not the idea of them, but rather the reality of how they play out. If these suits go through, then the members of the "class" will probably get a $10 calling card, while the lawyers will get MILLIONS of dollars all for themselves.

So true. It's all about the lawyers, their fees, and all the attention they get for being part of high profile cases (not saying that this is necessarily high profile, at least yet).

[sharyncern]

I was one of those affected by this.

(1) After the merger, I was in Florida for several months when my Pennsylvannia-bought (AT&amp;T) PDA/phone died and I needed to purchase a new one. The local Cingular store near me in Florida would not sell me one and allow me to keep my old number, so I had to get a new (Florida) number. They were nice enough to suggest I keep my old number for a week or two and change the voice mail to direct people to my new number.

(2) During this purchase, they added roadside assistance to my account, without my consent or knowledge. Heck, I have AAA *and* roadside assistance through my car insurance -- why would I need it on my cell phone?!?!

(3) Two months later my dh's cell phone also died and, still being in Florida, I added him as an extra line on my account...of course, he had to go through getting a new number and changing over also. During this purchase, they not only added roadside assistance to his account, they also gave him a number that had a **stupid** "Joke of the Day" subscription attached to it, at the cost of $1.05 per day. It took me three months to straighten all that out.

The rebates on all the items I purchased from Cingular came in the form of "VISA gift cards," very inconvenient to use and keep track of the balance, as opposed to a check I could just deposit in the bank. I can guarantee you that no one will use up all the money on their VISA gift cards, which will save Cingular quite a lot of money on unclaimed rebates.

On the plus side, though, Cingular's customer service is infinitely better than ATTWS ever was and my phone service is also much improved. I almost always have four bars no matter where I am, which was not the case with ATTWS at all.

Sharyn

[daS]

It's all about the lawyers, their fees...
Absolutely! If you've ever been a member of one of these "classes" you know that you end up being told that you can collect about $5 - usually in the form of discount on future purchases - while the lawyers collect millions of dollars for representing "your interests". :evil:

Then you can be sure that the company will increase the prices of their products or services by a factor that far exceeds the tiny "compensation" you receive.

I sure wish there was a way to stop these costly class action suits, but I know as long as the lawyers keep getting richer on this nonsense, it will never change. :cry:

[whydidnt]

I think that many "Class Action" lawsuits are indeed frivolous and the lawyers that file them and lose should be forced to pay the legal fees of the defendant.

However, if both of these claims are true, then I see no other way to get these corporations attention than a lawsuit. If indeed you had a contract with AT&amp;T and they refused to replace your broken handset with another that would work on their network and also then told you if you left you would have to pay an ET fee, then I think you have a pretty good grounds for complaint.

If Verizon added roadside assistance for no reason and then refused to refund the $, then what choice do consumers have but to sue.

I'd really like to see the fees lawyers are allowed to collect for these class action suits limited to some reasonable number. It seems that the dollars attorneys are awarded in these suits are outrageous and often have no correlation to the actual amount of hours spent on the case.

[profe]

When Cingular came in, they put in their towers which transmit at 850 and my Nokia only had 900 and 1800 (worked well in US and Europe).

But with Cingular towers, I am always roaming and get charged for roaming if I leave my home area, even though I pay for "no roaming, no long distance."

I bought an unlocked RAZR in Europe in Dec., but the common defect, bad keypad, reared its head last month. (Warranty good if I take or send it back to Europe!)

So my son who is also a Cingular customer, sent me a new SLVR, that he bought, but my SIM card is from AT&amp;T and won't work with the Cingular-locked phone. Cingular wanted me to drop my charter AT&amp;T account (unlimited minutes for $90/month) and switch to one of their plans in order to get a Cingular SIM card, even though I pay over $350/month for family phones to Cingular (including mine).

On the bright side, I called customer service (from my Nokia), explained my dilemma with the SLVR, and got a rep who put in a request to send me the "Subsidy code" to allow the use of my AT&amp;T card in the phone. It came via email 4 days later.

So for now, I have a quad band phone that works with Cingular towers.

(But I have the same distaste for lawyers getting wealthy off of class action suit as the others. One alternative is to sue individually--you don't have to join in the class action if you have been wronged; but you would have to file your own lawsuit, as I understand the system.)

[daS]

If Verizon added roadside assistance for no reason and then refused to refund the $, then what choice do consumers have but to sue.
Here are a couple of choices:

1) Take the issue up with the FCC. I think that they would certainly get Verizon's attention without lining the pockets of the societal leaches known as litigation attorneys.

2) Take the issue to the press and Internet. As Vincent’s recent run in with AOL proves, companies hate bad press.

There’s a much greater chance that you will get your issue resolved to your satisfaction with one of these methods than by trying a class action law suit. Of course the lawyers aren't interested in companies resolving problems for the consumers, since that's not what makes them rich.

[sharyncern]

*I'm* not trying anything...I'm not part of the class-action suit and I'm not putting my energies into something so negative as dealing with the FCC, or even the BBB. They did refund the monies they charged me for the roadside assistance and the "Joke of the Day"; it was just annoying and time-consuming to deal with it.

Sharyn

If Verizon added roadside assistance for no reason and then refused to refund the $, then what choice do consumers have but to sue.
Here are a couple of choices:

1) Take the issue up with the FCC. I think that they would certainly get Verizon's attention without lining the pockets of the societal leaches known as litigation attorneys.

2) Take the issue to the press and Internet. As Vincent’s recent run in with AOL proves, companies hate bad press.

There’s a much greater chance that you will get your issue resolved to your satisfaction with one of these methods than by trying a class action law suit. Of course the lawyers aren't interested in companies resolving problems for the consumers, since that's not what makes them rich.