Court rules Sprint’s early termination fees illegal
Here’s one for the scorecard. A Superior Court judge in California has issued a ruling regarding the practice of charging cellphone plan early termination fees. In a word, the judge calls it: illegal.
According to the judge who made the ruling, this practice is actually “illegal and violates state law.” This preliminary and tentative judgment requires Sprint Nextel to pay up to $18.2 million in reimbursements and leave about $54.7 million from unpaid early termination fees of customers.
So far, the ruling only affects the state of California, but it is reported that the industry wants the federal government to step in and make things easier for all. The FCC could help, although Chairmain Kevin Martin’s idea is that termination fees should decrease as you go towards the end of your contract.
On the one hand, this is definitely great news for the consumer. But on the other hand, this could lead carriers to just stop offering plans altogether, and leave us with only pricey, unlocked, and unsubsidized phones.
In any case, this will surely take lots of man hours and court proceedings before we get to the end. But for now, it seems like a good idea to go to California and sign up for a plan with Sprint, don’t you think?
Via Yahoo! Tech
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