Florida Attorney General Sues AT&T Over Bill Problems
Posted on: Sunday, 2 May 2004, 06:00 CDT
May 1--State Attorney General Charlie Crist sued AT&T Corp. on Friday, seeking to stop the long-distance giant from wrongfully billing consumers and claiming AT&T is coercing Florida residents to sign up for long-distance services.
Crist said about 630 residents, many of whom are not AT&T customers, have complained to his office since April 23 about overcharges from AT&T from January through March.
When some consumers called the company seeking refunds, "They were told they must sign up with AT&T to get their own money back," Crist said Friday from his Tallahassee office. "It's stunning to me. ... I can't believe they would use that kind of a tactic."
Filed in Leon County Circuit Court in Tallahassee, the lawsuit asks a judge to stop AT&T from wrongfully billing consumers and from coercing people to become AT&T long-distance customers.
The suit also seeks civil penalties of $10,000 for each wrongful billing or act of coercion, restitution for consumers overcharged, and the return of all revenue AT&T got as "a result of the unconscionable, unfair and deceptive practices."
Michelle Hitt, spokeswoman for AT&T in Florida, had no immediate response to the lawsuit.
"As of right now, I just spoke to our legal department in Tallahassee, and they are just looking over the details," she said Friday.
The ordeal began when AT&T added a monthly charge of $3.95 for state-to-state, direct-dialed long-distance. The company said a computer glitch placed that charge and other fees on 1.1 million bills for AT&T customers on other long-distance plans and people who aren't AT&T customers.
After news stories cropped up last week, Crist posted a notice on his office's Web site, and more than 630 consumers responded with complaints.
"We're very prudent around here, but we've gotten too many complaints about this happening," Crist said. "We sued to get damages on behalf of those people who have been aggrieved."
On Tuesday, Crist wrote John Polumbo, AT&T president and chief executive officer, asking for the overcharging to stop and seeking a meeting. Polumbo responded with a letter Friday, explaining the company is working to resolve the billing issues. Polumbo also agreed he and another executive would meet with Crist.
After Crist heard consumers' complaints about being forced to take AT&T long-distance, he wrote Polumbo on Friday, accepting his explanation about the billing problem.
"However, capitalizing on this unfortunate occurrence to increase the market share of your company is simply unacceptable," Crist wrote.
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