A lawsuit has been filed and is seeking class action status against the mobile phone carrier for allegedly defrauding its wireless customers by charging unspecified roaming fees. The lawsuit was filed in US District Court in Charlotte and claims Sprint Nextel broke contractual agreements with customers who signed up for certain Sprint PCS Fair & Flexible plans. The suit asks for unspecified actual and punitive damages, plus legal fees.
The lawsuit alleges Sprint Nextel charged customers roaming fees yet lacks the technology to properly identify the calls. Customers claim they were continuously charged roaming fees while making calls from inside their homes.
The lawsuit also claims Sprint Nextel 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.
Sprint spokeswoman Nanci Schwartz notes that the "fair and flexible concept was introduced in 2004 as a way to keep customers from going over their allotted minutes and being charged huge overage fees. The plan would automatically add minutes in 25- and 50-minute slugs as needed each month for an extra $2.50." The plans, still in operation, are no longer available to new customers.
