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01 Aug 2008
A judge in California has ruled that mobile network operator Sprint Nextel could have to pay out as much as $72m over contract termination fees.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Bonnie Sabraw issued a preliminary ruling that Sprint Nextel's practice of charging fees ranging from $150 to $200 for ending a mobile phone contract violated state laws.
Judge Sabraw said that the company will have to pay $18.2m to settle a class-action lawsuit and should stop trying to collect another $54.7m from customers.
"We are disappointed, but this is a tentative decision and we are focusing now on our response to the court," said Sprint spokesman Matthew Sullivan.
The ruling is not final, as the judge has allowed lawyers from Sprint Nextel to file a rebuttal.
But the decision will add impetus to plans by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to act on termination fees.
FCC chairman Kevin Martin has already announced tentative plans to rule on prorating fees so that termination costs fall through the lifetime of the contract.
T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon Wireless already do this, and Sprint has said that it will implement a similar plan shortly.
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Do you agree?
early termination fees are a joke anyways
yippy. they tried to get me on this even tho my svc contract period was over for quite some time. i hadn't upgraded or changed anything to plan - though the 1st rep tried to insist i had so promptly requested to speak with spvsr and that resolved my issue of early term fee unfairly charged. I was not aware of the others being on a prorated scale tho till read it here. I'm glad to see it and probably need to know it when changing the at&t svc one since they are another one for hiding facts about fees and so called rebates - at least that was experience with them as being cingular
Posted by: pe 02 Aug 2008
its about time sprint knocks this off
these two year contracts with sprint have pretty much entangled me in their cycle of continuous contract renewals with better plans and better phone upgrades. they have remained true with their contract renewal promotions but i think its time to switch over to metro pcs cause now i will be able to talk as long as i want without having to always worry about going over my minutes while at the same time paying the same 50 dollar a mount service charge, amen!
Posted by: steve 01 Aug 2008