Rip-off tactics with Pay-As-You-Go phones: Class-action?

[RealBlackStuff]

How does one go about starting a Class Action lawsuit?

I have an AT&T Pay-As-You-Go cell phone.
I rarely use that thing. I usually buy $25.- credit, which should be good for up to 3 months.
With my (lack of) use, after 3 months I usually still have about $10-15.- credit left.
If I do not renew my Credit with AT&T before the 3 months are up, I lose the balance of my credit.
This is BLATANT HIGHWAY ROBBERY.
How can we stop these thieves?

I'm sure AT&T is not the only company that enriches itself at the consumers' expense!
What is your own experience?

[killer]

It's the same in France. There is an expiry date with PAYG. You buy an amount for a limited time period. Use it or lose it.

Luckily the UK mobile phone industry does not subscribe to what you, quite rightly, call highway robbery. Pay to top-up here and it lasts for ever or until the funds run out. This is ideal for many mobile phone users. I use my mobile phone infrequently. Many young, elderly, disadvantaged, and poor people only have mobile phones in case of an emergency and it would be wrong to steal unused credit from them just because of time.

Good luck with your action to get this anti-social tactic stopped.

[rkawakami]

eHow has this: http://www.ehow.com/how_4423105_file-cl ... wsuit.html
Another site: http://www.suing101.com/Class-Action-La ... Primer.asp

However, I don't think this suit will have any merit. The terms are spelled out very clearly:

http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone- ... -plans.jsp (Click "Plan Terms" tab)

GoPhone Pay As You Go: A compatible phone (not a data-only device) is required. Not all features work on all phones and in all areas. Pay As You Go cards and other account refills are nontransferable and nonrefundable. The *888* command for refill only works with PINS/Cards purchased from AT&T-owned retail stores and select authorized retail locations. Amounts deposited into your account expire in accordance with the stated refill denomination expiration period (e.g., $50/90 days). Unused account balance is forfeited upon expiration. If money is added to your account before the current balance expires, the existing balance will carry over to the new expiration date (Rollover Balance®). Pay As You Go accounts will be canceled 60 days after expiration. A service activation fee and new wireless phone number will be required to reactivate service. Account balance limit is $500; any amount over that limit will be deducted from your balance. 900 numbers are not available. Rates and services are subject to change. All service is subject to the GoPhone Terms of Service found in the User Guide.

What you may have to pay in attorney fees is probably more than what you are losing for the unused minutes. My advice would be to drop AT&T and go with another service provider (assuming that they have coverage where you need it and they don't do the same thing that AT&T does).

ref: http://cellphones.about.com/od/servicep ... syougo.htm
ref: http://www.prepaidreviews.com/

(Note: I am a subscriber to AT&T's Family Plan with five phones and a +$200/mo bill . Mainly due to three iPhones...)

[RealBlackStuff]

I only have the SIMcard from AT&T, in an otherwise unrelated and unlocked cellphone.
If I had coverage from any other provider in my area, I would probably have abandoned AT&T long time ago.
Whether another company has better conditions, remains to be seen.

The USA must have some of the most archaic phone rules & regulations in the world!
Those forfeited amounts should be totally illegal!

[emtee3511]

Hi RBS -- don't know if you have T-Mobile in your area, but I have used T-Mobile prepaid service for about five years now. Used to be my only cell phone, which I rarely used but wanted to keep "just in case." I put the prepaid SIM in an unlocked razr V phone. After my son introduced me to his iPhone, I made the switch and now use my AT&T iPhone for everything except doing my dishes

But I still keep my old T-Mobile prepaid SIM -- I put the sim in an unlocked iPhone and keep it in my mommie van just in case I forget to take my phone with me. Here's the deal (I think it's a pretty good deal) with T-Mobile prepaid. If you are willing to spend $100 initially for one thousand minutes, T-Mobile makes those minutes good for one year. Then, just before the end of the year, you can purchase more minutes at ten-cents/minute, and any unused minutes will 'roll-over' and all minutes are good for another year. After your initial purchase of one thousand minutes, you can purchase as little as ten dollars for one hundred minutes and keep all your minutes rolled over and current. And you only have to fool with a purchase once a year. That works well for anyone who doesn't want a monthly bill and also doesn't want to have to remember to renew every three months. Makes keeping a prepaid cell for "just-in-case" much less bothersome, and any minutes you do use are fairly cheap at ten cents a minute.

[RealBlackStuff]

I tried a similar thing with AT&T, in 2009 I bought a 365-day supply ($100.-) for $94.99 from Pinzoo.com.
Had about $50.- left 1 month before the 'year' was over, gave the phone to my daughter to use up the balance (took her about 30 hours...), then bought a $25.- top up, and promptly forgot to renew again after 3 months.
I'm sick and tired of being ripped off.
Maybe I should give up on cell phones altogether, until the law steps in to stop this GRAND THEFT practice.
T-Mobile covers my area to about 100 yards short of my house...

[ThinkRob]

It's not theft.

All the fees are known to you in advance, and the terms and conditions are readily available.

You may not like the fees, you may think they're unreasonable (I certainly do), but it's not theft, nor are they ripping you off.

On a related note, you know that T-Mobile supports UMA, right? If you use one of the phones that supports it (and if you have semi-decent broadband and wireless at home), you won't have to worry about coverage in your home.

[Unknown_K]

Pay-as-you-go phones are perfect for me except for the time limits. I genrally don't use that many minutes a month and still have a wired phone at home.

People seem to be addicted to phones like others are addicted to the internet, big time killers.

[peter-h]

Luckily the UK mobile phone industry does not subscribe to what you, quite rightly, call highway robbery. Pay to top-up here and it lasts for ever or until the funds run out.

Not quite. All the UK PAYG networks (with the possible exception of Virgin if you have set up the direct debit auto-topup option) will cut off the SIM card if there have been no billable events (calls, SMS, internet) for 6 months.

Some are occassionally lax about it but most will cut off the phone at the 6m point. Vodafone, at one time, boasted they do it after 3 months.

What happens then varies. Usually you can get the SIM card working again (with the redit which was on it) by doing a topup - in the 3-6 months after it was cut off. After this period, you lose the lot.

A bigger issue (for some) is the way in which most SIM cards which were purchased with a USB GPRS/3G adaptor are provisioned to forfeit the balance after a period which can be as short as 24 hours - if you are roaming abroad. For example the T-Mobile £10/30day/50MB EU roaming bundle lasts 30 days on a SIM card bought with/for a "phone", but lasts just 24 hours on a SIM card bought with a USB GPRS/3G adaptor.

[killer]

@peter-h: Thank you for clarifying the situation. 2 years ago I paid £20 to top up my PAYG Vodafone account. I rarely use a mobile phone, but I do carry it in case of an emergency or unforeseen event. A few days ago I looked at my account and the balance is £1.25. Had I been in another country my £20 would probably have had a shelf-life of a few weeks. That would be 'highway robbery', IMO, and there is rationale to support it other than to allow service providers to steal.

[NorrisCell]

I tried a similar thing with AT&T, in 2009 I bought a 365-day supply ($100.-) for $94.99 from Pinzoo.com.
Had about $50.- left 1 month before the 'year' was over, gave the phone to my daughter to use up the balance (took her about 30 hours...), then bought a $25.- top up, and promptly forgot to renew again after 3 months.
I'm sick and tired of being ripped off.
Maybe I should give up on cell phones altogether, until the law steps in to stop this GRAND THEFT practice.
T-Mobile covers my area to about 100 yards short of my house...

Not that TMO works at your house, but what emtee is saying is that once you have loaded $100 onto the phone, ALL refills are good for 1 year, regardless of denomination. Minimum refill with TMO is $10. Just a thought, if TMO coverage ever improves in your area.

[ZaZ]

Another vote for T-Mobile prepay if that works for you. I been a customer for years. The other nice thing about T-Mobile prepay is they're one of the few if not only carrier I know of without daily access charges. Most carriers charge you a dollar or two every day you use the phone, which adds up quickly if you use your phone a lot like I do because it's my only phone.

[emtee3511]

My T-Mobile Prepaid is a 'left-over' from before I got my iPhone, so I rarely use the minutes. On the occasion that I have forgoten to take my iPhone with me, my T-Mobile Prepaid 'lives' in my mommie-van and I can use it for whatever call I need to make. No one calls me on it because I don't use that phone number any more.

Once a year on or before the expiration date (which runs twelve months at a time with no extra charges of any kind) I purchase the minimum amount of minutes ($10 worth) and the phone remains activated for another year. All the minutes rollover forever as long as once a year I make a minutes purchase. Usage costs ten cents a minute and includes text messages at ten cents. The downside is T-Mobile prepaid does not include a data plan -- but if your phone has wireless like mine does, then you can use your email or other internet services when wireless is available. My phone (an old, unlocked iPhone) is too nice to just toss or recycle and I didn't want to waste my original minutes which cost me $100 for 1,000 minutes four or five years ago.

Years ago I did try some other company's prepaid (think it was Sprint) but the constant every-three-months having to remember to purchase minutes just would not work for me. I would still be using the T-Mobile prepaid phone as my main cell phone if my son hadn't insisted on putting me on his iPhone/AT&T Family Plan. My AT&T iPhone wins hands-down over my T-Mobile Prepaid -- but the T-Mobile prepaid is pretty cool for what it does and the only thing I have to remember is a yearly minutes purchase.

[lead_org]

this happens in Australia too... but i think it is around 6 months for Optus.

However, the expiration of credits is normal, it does cost money for the phone company to maintain your services, so i guess you can't expect the phone company to keep your service active without you spending any money with them (or very little money with them). They are a business and not really charity. Even if you take them to court on this, there is very little chance of winning the case. As said all the conditions and fees are known to you, and there is an option for you to not sign to the service, as other alternatives exist.