Klobuchar previously successfully pushed Verizon, AT&T, and CenturyLink to stop cramming charges on landline phone bills
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) made the following statement today on Verizon’s and Sprint’s combined $158 million settlement with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and the attorneys general of all 50 states and the District of Columbia to resolve an investigation into allegations that the companies billed customers for unauthorized charges for third-party services they did not authorize. Verizon will pay $90 million, which includes $70 million for consumer redress, $16 million to state attorneys general, and $4 million to the Treasury. Sprint will pay $68 million, which includes $50 million for consumer redress, $12 million to state attorneys general, and $6 million to the Treasury.
“Wireless companies who load up their customers’ bills with bogus charges for services that were never requested must be held accountable,” Klobuchar said. “This latest settlement should leave no doubt in anyone’s mind that companies who engage in these predatory tactics will pay a heavy price, and I’ll keep fighting to ensure consumers aren’t forced to fork over money for services they never signed up for in the first place.”
Klobuchar has been a leader in the fight to protect consumers from unauthorized charges on their phone bills, both wireless and landlines. Klobuchar previously successfully pushed Verizon, AT&T and CenturyLink to stop cramming charges on landline phone bills. At a Commerce Committee hearing last year, Klobuchar called on the FCC to do more to protect consumers from cramming as consumers increasingly go wireless and as payment technology evolves. Since then the FCC, Federal Trade Commission, and other federal agencies have continued to take action against cramming.
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