T-Mobile's customers take the carrier to court after price hike

T-Mobile recently began notifying its customers on older plans that their monthly prices would increase by $2 or $5. This violated the company’s Price Lock and Un-Contract Promise, which guaranteed that the terms and prices for certain cell phone plans would be maintained for life. While the company faced backlash from this move, not much was expected to come of it initially.

However, it appears that the situation has quickly escalated, with customers taking the company to court for not standing by its commitment to never raise prices (via PhoneArena). In the class action lawsuit that has been filed against T-Mobile, customers explained that they were moved to a more expensive phone plan despite the carrier’s earlier guarantee that their cell phone plans would maintain the same rate as long as they didn’t move to a different plan.

In the few short months since T-Mobile announced the price increase, the FCC and FTC have received numerous complaints from customers. The National Advertising Division’s (NAD) recommendation to stop advertising the Price Lock policy is so far the only formal action taken against the company. But, expectedly, angry customers believe more should be done to hold the carrier accountable for violating its own guarantees.

The group that filed the lawsuit wants to represent a nationwide class of T-Mobile consumers across the states of Georgia, Nevada, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The T-Mobile plans that have come under scrutiny as part of this lawsuit include the ONE, Magenta Max, Magenta, Magenta Amplified, Magenta 55+, Magneta Military, and the Simple-Choice plans. In 2017, these plans were covered by T-Mobile’s Un-Contract guarantee.

The class action lawsuit accuses T-Mobile of violating several laws, including the Consumer Protection Law, New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Act, and the Pennsylvania Unfair Trade Practices Law.