Angry T-Mobile customers have filed a class-action lawsuit over the company’s decision to raise prices on plans that were advertised as having a lifetime price guarantee.
“Based on T-Mobile’s representations that the rates offered with respect to certain plans were guaranteed to last for life or as long as the customer wanted to remain on that plan, each Plaintiff and the Class Members agreed to these plans for T-Mobile’s wireless cellular telephone service,” the statement said. complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. “However, in May 2024, T-Mobile unilaterally eliminated these legacy phone plans and switched Plaintiffs and the Class to more expensive plans without their consent.”
The lawsuit, filed July 12, has four named plaintiffs living in New Jersey, Georgia, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. They seek to represent a class of all U.S. residents “who purchased a T-Mobile One, Simple Choice, Magenta, Magenta Max, Magenta 55+, Magenta Amplified, or Magenta Military plan with T-Mobile that included a promised lifetime price guarantee, but who saw their price increased without their consent and in violation of the promises made by T-Mobile and relied upon by Plaintiffs and the proposed Class.”
The suit seeks “restitution of all amounts obtained by Defendant as a result of his violation,” plus interest. It also seeks statutory and punitive damages, and an injunction to prevent further “unlawful, illegal, fraudulent, deceptive and unfair conduct.”
“T-Mobile will never change the price you pay”
The lawsuit’s allegations will be familiar to those who read our previous articles about the recent price increases of up to $5 per lineIn January 2017, T-Mobile issued a press release announcing a promise to “untie” T-Mobile One plans. “Now, T-Mobile One customers lock in their price until THEY choose to change it. T-Mobile will never change the price you pay for your T-Mobile One plan.” The company said At the time.
The price guarantee was also promoted By then-CEO John Legere at a press event in Las Vegas. But aside from the announcement, T-Mobile revealed a major caveat that basically nullified the promise. T-Mobile said in an FAQ section on its website that the only guarantee was that T-Mobile would pay your last month’s bill if the carrier raised the price and you decided to cancel.
Many customers saw the prominent lifetime price guarantee, but not T-Mobile’s contradiction of that promise, and signed up for plans thinking their prices would never increase. The “no contract promise” was offered on certain plans between January 5, 2017, and April 27, 2022.
T-Mobile began offering a different guarantee called Price Lock on April 28, 2022. It was originally stricter than the contract-busting guarantee, and customers who purchased it were apparently unaffected by this year’s price increases.
But T-Mobile created a confusing situation with the price lock. The strongest version of the price lock was offered from April 28, 2022, to January 17, 2024. It was replaced by a weaker version This is still called Price Lock, but it’s basically the same thing as Contract Cancellation. Customers who signed up for Price Lock on or after January 18, 2024 don’t actually have Price Lock, but they can get coverage for the last month’s bill if T-Mobile raises the price and they decide to cancel.
Following the price increases, several T-Mobile customers reached out to Ars to express their discontentOne of those customers said he canceled his subscription and tried to get his last month’s bill covered, but T-Mobile refused to provide a refund. The Federal Communications Commission told us it had received about 1,600 consumer complaints about the price increases through the end of June.
Plaintiffs in class action lawsuit
The lawsuit says the plaintiffs and many other customers were persuaded to switch plans based on promises made in the January 2017 ad and thereafter.
“The named plaintiffs’ experiences are not unique. Numerous wireless customers were motivated to switch to T-Mobile by press events and videos first promoted at the Las Vegas trade show,” the lawsuit states. “T-Mobile’s extensive advertising in print and on television also motivated customers to switch to plans that have now become aged and that T-Mobile customers can no longer afford.”