“Deceptive advertising aimed at seniors”
Ars also heard from John Schlatter in South Carolina, who filed complaints against T-Mobile with the FCC and FTC. "My complaints basically stated that T-Mobile advertised a rate that would never go up, and I believed they engaged in deceptive advertising," he told Ars.
Schlatter said that he and his wife are in their early seventies and signed up for the 55-and-over plan in 2017 for $30 per line. "At that time, the plan was being heavily advertised to seniors with the statement that your monthly bill will never go up," he said.
Schlatter hopes the FTC will pursue a case against T-Mobile for deceptive advertising based on the 2017 press release that promised rates would never be raised. "There are two issues here: the rate increase itself, and the way in which the plan was advertised in 2017. I'm pretty sure T-Mobile's lawyers can cover their butt on the rate increase with carefully worded fine print, but to me it's clear they engaged in deceptive advertising aimed at seniors," Schlatter said. (T-Mobile also offered the price guarantee on plans available to customers of any age.)
Schlatter told Ars that "in my working career, I wrote news releases for a major corporation. The company lawyers always carefully reviewed the draft releases before they went out. I'm surprised T-Mobile's lawyers let that January 2017 release go out as worded."
Schlatter said he's been happy with T-Mobile service in the previous seven years, "and changing carriers would be a real hassle, so I'll stick with them. But this episode certainly leaves a bad taste in my mouth."
T-Mobile has responded to FCC complaints with a letter explaining the limits of the price guarantee. "With Un-contract, T-Mobile committed to its customers that if we were to increase prices and customers chose to leave as a result, T-Mobile would pay the customers' final month's recurring service charge, as long as we are notified within 60 days... Customers simply need to request reimbursement within 60 days of the price increase," the letter said.
T-Mobile's letter does not explain why that caveat wasn't mentioned in the 2017 press release but nonetheless requests that the FCC close each consumer complaint about the price increase.
Consumers urge FCC to intervene
After getting T-Mobile's letter, Odean wrote to the FCC again to point out that there was "nothing about potentially increasing prices in their 2017 material describing the plan. The material says the price will never increase."
"Please do not let this company blatantly renege on its promise to senior citizens who subscribed to their 55+ One plan as I did," Odean wrote to the FCC.
Schlatter made the same point to the FCC when he replied to T-Mobile's letter. T-Mobile's response to the complaint "does not address the deceptive advertising contained in their news release dated January 5, 2017," he wrote. As noted earlier in this article, the press release said that "T-Mobile will never change the price you pay for your T-Mobile One plan. When you sign up for T-Mobile One, only YOU have the power to change the price you pay."
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