Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor announced a $10.25 million, 50-jurisdiction settlement with wireless carriers, AT&T Mobility, LLC, Cricket Wireless, LLC, T-Mobile USA, Inc., Cellco Partnership, d/b/a Verizon Wireless, and TracFone Wireless, Inc., which resolves an investigation by a coalition of state attorneys general into these wireless carriers’ deceptive and misleading advertising practices.
“Our free market system is based on businesses competing by offering consumers better products or deals than their competitors,” said Attorney General Taylor. “But when businesses try to attract consumers by misleading them about the product or deal that’s offered, it’s my role, and the role of attorneys general across the country, to hold those businesses accountable.”
The settlement addresses misleading advertising practices. The settlement terms will, among other things, require the carriers to:
- make all future advertisements and representations truthful, accurate and non-misleading
- refer in marketing to “unlimited” mobile data plans only where such plans do not set any limits on the quantity of data allowed during a billing cycle and clearly and conspicuously disclose any restrictions on data speed, as well as the triggers for restrictions
- offer to pay for consumers to “switch” carriers only where they clearly and conspicuously disclose the type of fees and amounts that they will pay consumers, the form and schedule that this payment will take and all material requirements that consumers must satisfy in order to qualify and receive this payment
- offer wireless devices or services for “free” only where they clearly and conspicuously disclose all material terms and conditions that the consumer must meet in order to receive the “free” devices or services
- make offers to lease wireless devices only where it is made clear to the consumer that the consumer will be entering into a lease agreement
- make representations that a consumer will save money by purchasing its products or services only where it has a reasonable basis to do so based on comparisons with the prices of comparable goods or services of other providers, or where any material differences between those goods or services are clearly and conspicuously disclosed; and
- appoint a dedicated employee to work with the attorneys general to address complaints filed by consumers
- train its customer service representatives who speak with consumers to comply with these terms and implement and enforce a program to ensure compliance with these terms.