Nextel, Sprint, T-Mobile sued by the New York City

Nextel, Sprint, T-Mobile sued by the New York City

In an unexpected move, the three top mobile service providers in the United States were sued by the city of New York. New York City’s Department of Consumer Affairs said that the mobile companies were misleading the consumers through advertisement making false claims. DCA Acting Commissioner Jonathan Mintz said in a statement: “You can’t promise a great deal in the headline and hide the true costs in the fine print.”

He added: “If a cell phone company promises free long distance, consumers should get free long distance – period. While clamoring for competitive consumer attention, these major cell phone companies crossed the clear line between promotional gimmicks and deceptive advertising.”

The mobile network providers specifically violated the New York City’s Consumer Protection Law. Earlier the organization had sued Verizon Wireless and AT&T Wireless on similar charges. That time the companies had to give in and promise that they would take care of the laws in the future. One of the many examples of such false claims include the advertisement from Nextel which claimed that ‘All incoming calls are free’ while mentioning in small prints that the scheme required additional access charges.

Other companies had similarly promised big things in the advertisement while mentioning the hidden conditions in small prints.