Class actions slam into Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile USA: Suits cover roaming fees, upgrade fees and contract details

Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile USA Inc. have been hit with new class action consumer suits in Florida and California federal courts, the litigation coming as Congress grapples with wireless consumer protection bills that could reduce state oversight of cellular operators.
The Florida suit alleges Sprint Nextel subscribers were charged for roaming charges on the No. 3 carrier’s network after being told they would not incur such fees under a major calling plan.
“Sprint knew or reasonably should have known that these representations were materially false, deceptive or misleading because it not only routinely charged PCS Free and Clear Plan customers roaming rates for calls made and received ‘on the network,’ Sprint even charged these customers roaming rates for calls in their home cities where the plan was sold and where Sprint purportedly provided comprehensive network coverage,” the suit stated. “In fact, Sprint not only charged its customers roaming charges for calls made on the Nationwide Sprint PCS Network, it even charged them roaming charges for calls received on the Nationwide Sprint PCS Network.”
A similar suit was recently filed against Sprint Nextel in federal court in North Carolina.
T-Mobile under fire
Elsewhere, a class action suit brought against T-Mobile in California federal court alleges the No. 4 mobile-phone operator provided inadequate disclosure of an “upgrade fee” of $18 levied on current subscribers who obtain new handsets. The suit said T-Mobile implemented the upgrade fee policy last November, but “not in a manner that reached or was intended to reach existing T-Mobile subscribers.”
The suit also takes aim at T-Mobile’s use of service contract clauses that impose mandatory arbitration and waive the right to participate in class action suits. Such contract clauses are standard in the wireless industry. The plaintiff noted, however, that a federal circuit court in San Francisco ruled in January that T-Mobile’s terms and conditions are unenforceable.
Such issues have given rise to consumer protection bills in Congress. Senate lawmakers are considering two wireless consumer protection bills, and there is draft legislation in the House. The three bills vary insofar as the design of the national framework for wireless carriers and the role of states under a new regulatory regime.