In the midst of the holidays and preparing for New Year's celebrations, Verizon and Sprint customers shouldn't forget to cash in on their refunds.
Both companies have set a Dec. 31 deadline for customers to claim a refund through their respective refund websites, as reported by CNBC on Thursday. This comes after their joint $158 million settlement over mobile cramming this past May.
That settlement seven months ago came as a result of an investigation, which discovered that the mobile carriers charged their customers millions for premium third-party services in the form of $9.99 per month fees, according to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) and reported by CNBC.
NBC News reports that sports tips, celebrity gossip and astrology services were included in the fine print for those extra monthly charges, unbeknownst to most customers. The news agency adds that both Sprint and Verizon kept at least 30 percent of the unauthorized fees they billed customers as part of those charges.
That being said, don't get your hopes high for a large amount of spending cash coming your way via this refund.
Sprint's refund website says former and current postpaid and prepaid customers who paid for unauthorized third-party text charges after July 1, 2010 and who did not receive a credit for those charges may apply for refunds and are eligible for a one-time refund of $7.00.
Verizon's refund website, however, doesn't mention the exact refund amount, although it's expected to be in the same neighborhood.
Hey ... it's still better than nothing, right?
