Sprint Nextel hit with class action: Lawsuit claims carrier illegally extended contacts

Sprint Nextel Corp. has been hit with a class action lawsuit alleging the No. 3 mobile phone carrier is defrauding wireless consumers. The lawsuit was filed in Illinois federal court.
“Defendants have misled and deceived consumers by extending consumers’ contracts for up to two years without providing adequate notice or obtaining meaningful consent to a contract extension when consumers made small changes to their telephone service, such as adding extra minutes or purchasing a new telephone; when they responded to solicitations by defendants for additional products and services; and when the consumer received ‘courtesy discounts’,” stated plaintiffs in the 23-page complaint.
“We’re still reviewing the complaint, so we can’t comment on the specific claims it contains,” said a Sprint Nextel spokesman. “We take great care to ensure that our customers understand the terms of their contracts for service with our company.”
Alltel also targeted
On a related front, Alltel Corp. continues to be bogged down in a long-running, wireless consumer class-action lawsuit in Arkansas federal court.
The plaintiffs assert, among other things, that Alltel fails to disclose applicable fees and charges, billing and sales practices and service limitations.
Alltel, acquired last year by private equity firms TPG Capital and GS Capital Partners in a $27.5 billion deal, is currently fighting to prevent the case from returning to state court. Alltel said the suit belongs in federal court because of a 1993 law that preempts state regulation of wireless rates while reserving to states jurisdiction of “other terms and conditions” of wireless service.