Sometimes when you check your bills, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by all the charges, some of which are charged to companies you’ve never heard of (usually the parent/holding company of a shop), or sometimes banks or carriers use certain codes that you’re unfamiliar with to identify certain services.
For the most part we usually just end up paying without thinking too much about it. However a few years ago, AT&T was accused by the FTC of mobile cramming, in which third-party fees are added to the bill of customers without consent. This included things like horoscopes, ringtones, “love tips”, and “fun facts”. As part of the settlement, AT&T agreed to refund customers $88 million in total, and it looks like the funds are now starting to disperse to customers.
According to the FTC, about 2.7 million customers were affected by this mobile cramming, which means that each customer is expected to receive about $31 each on average in terms of refunds. These refunds are expected to receive the credit on the bill within the next 75 days, so if you are one of the customers affected by this, you’ll want to look out for it in the next bill. Customers who have since left the carrier can expect a check instead.