T-Mobile has earned a pretty good reputation over the past decade thanks to its Un-carrier campaigns. The brand was able to usher in a new era of wireless service, with value and features that weren’t available with other wireless competitors. And while T-Mobile was great for some time, unfortunately, we haven’t really seen that same level of energy over the past few years, with the brand dropping the ball on multiple occasions when it comes to features, plans, customer satisfaction, technology, and more.
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T-Mobile has officially lived long enough to become the villain
The days of T-Mobile being the Un-carrier now feel unimaginable
And while most will simply complain, others are willing to take action, going as far as to file a lawsuit against T-Mobile in order to get their point across. As first reported by Top Class Actions, 23 plaintiffs have now filed a class action lawsuit against the wireless carrier (via Android Headlines). At the heart, the plaintiffs claim that the wireless carrier “has been charging a deceptive “Regulatory Programs and Telco Recovery Fee” (RPTR Fee) to its post-paid wireless customers.”
This could really change billing going forward
The plaintiffs claim that T-Mobile has been charging this fee for some time and that it has misrepresented the charge as something that is mandatory rather than being something tacked on by the carrier. The RPTR fee has been around since 2004, which means, if you’ve been a T-Mobile customer since that time, you’ve been paying this extra charge for quite some time. What makes this worse is that the fee has been increased since that time as well.
Furthermore, the plaintiffs highlight how this fee is “designed to increase T-Mobile’s revenue and pad its bottom line.” The plaintiffs also explain how they attempted to resolve this via “individual arbitration claims through the American Arbitration Association,” T-Mobile would not participate. That’s how this new lawsuit came about, representing all current and past T-Mobile customers that have been subjected to the RPTR fee.
Of course, we’ll just have to wait and see how this all plays out, but this isn’t the first time that T-Mobile has been in hot water this year. The brand was fined $60 million over the summer for alleged national security concerns and the carrier even decided to increase prices on plans when it committed the exact opposite with its Price Lock guarantees.
Thankfully, it was able to prevent a data breach and was even forced to put some money down in order to bolster its cybersecurity. For the most part, it’s been a roller-coaster ride for T-Mobile and its customers this year. And while the year has almost come to an end, it’s unclear how the brand will dive into 2025.
