AT&T Fined $105M For 'Cramming'

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I guess AT&T just got told where they can cram those hidden extra fees. The funny thing is, if the company actually crams those fees where consumers are suggesting...they'll still technically be "hidden" fees. :D

AT&T will pay a total $105 million to settle the case. $80 million of that will go to the FTC, which it will use to set up a reimbursement program for cheated customers. $20 million will go to individual states, and the FCC will get $5 million. In addition, AT&T will have to end the program and proactively inform subscribers if extra fees are going on their accounts.
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80 million dollar fund for distribution means incoming $0.03 tax credit :|
 
How much money did they make doing this? I sure hope it was less than $105 million. Scams like this, the fine should always be double and the company should have to apologize. Not the usual "settle without admitting wrongdoing".
 
Should have to do full audits from 3 different independent companies, and present refunds to every single customer affected. Fines for these companies need to be in the tens of billions, not millions. There's absolutely no discouragement to being a scumbag at the corporate level.
 
$105 Million means nothing to them. A small dent in the quarterly report. Why even bother fining them? The money they made before hand easily pays that fee.

Fucking useless FCC.
 
$120 million in fines. AT&T Cramming profits $300+ million difference = $180 million. Win... AT&T

I would screw my customers too because no matter what the fine is they will still pocket huge amounts of cash.
 
DeathFromBelow said:
Why shouldn't a portion of the fees be used to cover the cost of enforcing the regulations?
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Because that money was already apportioned for the regulations to be enforced. That's part of that departments budget and people are already being paid to do the job of the investigation and enforcement so there really is nothing to cover in terms of cost.
 
Methadras said:
Because that money was already apportioned for the regulations to be enforced.
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They appropriate enough money to fully fund any investigations that have yet to occur?

Stiletto said:
So what are taxes for?
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Why should the cost of enforcing the law be passed on to taxpayers when the companies who broke the law are more than capable of paying for it?

You guys really need to cut the corporate welfare nonsense.
 
DeathFromBelow said:
Why should the cost of enforcing the law be passed on to taxpayers when the companies who broke the law are more than capable of paying for it?
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Because the law is the responsibility of government, which is supposed to be funded by taxpayers? Again I ask: what are taxes for if not for funding government activities?
 
DeathFromBelow said:
Why should the cost of enforcing the law be passed on to taxpayers when the companies who broke the law are more than capable of paying for it?

You guys really need to cut the corporate welfare nonsense.
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When enforcement has a vested interest in fining company a lot of times some really shady tactics come into play. It is the definition of a conflict of interest. If the tax payers pay for enforcement and then the victims are paid the winnings of a settlement IMO it works out a lot more fair. It may not solve our financial problems but it lowers incentive for law enforcement to use prosecution as their own private funding.

A good example of this is many people who are not great but not horrible drivers saw increased traffic tickets around the time the economy crashed and after that. I was one such person who spent the better part of my life without tickets and suddenly I was riddled with them in a couple year period which had huge consequences on my insurance. The problem is that the police officers aren't interested in keeping the roads safe instead they are most interested in writing tickets for easy citations. No one is going to get killed because a person goes 9 over the limit, no one is going to get killed because a person didn't quite make it through a yellow light, yet this is the only thing the officers go after when their are tons of idiots cutting people off, stopping on busy roads, pulling out in front of people etc.....
 
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