John Legere, T-Mobile President and CEO, has responded to a complaint filed by the United States Federal Trade Commission in a press release, stating that the complaint is "unfounded and without merit."
The complaint by the FTC is accusing T-Mobile of "cramming" practices, where consumers are charged for items and services without their prior authorization and consent.
FTC alleges that T-Mobile made hundreds of millions of dollars through cramming by continuing to charge their subscribers for bogus premium SMS subscriptions.
However, Legere said in the press release that T-Mobile has halted billing for the premium SMS subscriptions last year, with the company also launching a program that aims to give refunds to consumers that think that they had to pay for unwanted services.
T-Mobile believes that their customers should only be charged for what they agree to be charged for, as per Legere.
"T-Mobile is fighting harder than any of the carriers to change the way the wireless industry operates, and we are disappointed that the FTC has chosen to file this action against the most pro-consumer company in the industry-rather than the real bad actors," Legere wrote in the press release.
Legere concludes by saying that the FTC's lawsuit is misdirected, as T-Mobile is doing what is right for their customers by putting into place procedures on how to protect them from having to pay unwanted charges. The FTC should be focused on holding the bogus third party providers accountable for their actions that affected the entire telecommunications industry.
Legere also said that T-Mobile was the first service provider to take aggressive action to return to their consumers what was owed to them, after terminating their ties with the bogus third party providers last year.
Legere is "calling for the entire industry to do the same," the T-Mobile CEO said. Subscribers that are seeking refunds can contact T-Mobile through their service hotline.
However way that the legal battle with FTC plays out, the biggest impact of this issue on T-Mobile will be on the company's supposedly consumer-friendly image, being branded as the "Un-Carrier" that looks out for its subscribers in ways different from what the bigger names in the industry do.
"It does hurt T-Mobile's brand because obviously it's built around consumer-friendliness," said mobile industry analyst Chetan Sharma, adding that he was somewhat surprised that T-Mobile didn't just attempt to settle the matter.
The FTC has been making efforts to eliminate mobile cramming, with several lawsuits filed last year against alleged mobile cramming companies.
