Sarah Mirando  |  October 4, 2010

Category: Legal News

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Sprint 4G Class Action Lawsuit
By Sarah Pierce
  

HTC EVO

Angry Sprint customers who pay a monthly premium for 4G service and who shelled out big bucks for the EVO 4G and Epic 4G — even though they don’t get 4G service — may finally get some vindication from a class action lawsuit filed September 30 in Southern California.

 

Sprint rolled out the 4G phones “with great fanfare” this summer as the first and only phones able to access wireless 4G from a national carrier. According to the Sprint 4G class action lawsuit, however, Sprint’s 4G coverage is limited to only 53 markets in 22 states, and many of these markets are not even located in major urban areas. In California, for example, Sprint only offers 4G service in the cities of Merced, Modesto, Stockton and Visalia. Major California areas such as Los Angeles and San Francisco have been promised 4G access “in the near future” by Sprint, but no specific California 4G rollout dates have been made public. Other major urban such as San Diego and Sacramento have no prospect of having Sprint 4G access any time in the near future.

 

On top of having to pay premium prices for a 4G phone that doesn’t get 4G service, these customers are also required to purchase Sprint’s “Everything Data” plan and pay an additional $10 a month for 4G service — which they’re not even getting.

 

The Sprint 4G class action lawsuit is brought on behalf of all individuals or entities who purchased, leased or otherwise acquired 4G wireless phones from Sprint and were billed for Premium Data charges or other charges specific to 4G phones but did not receive 4G service starting May 2010 to the present. It also includes a subclass of individuals and entities that reside in California and were billed for the $10 Premium Charge at issue during the relevant time period.

 

A copy of the Sprint 4G Class Action Lawsuit can be read here. 

 

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Updated October 4th, 2010

 

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40 thoughts onSprint 4G Class Action Lawsuit

  1. Ernie says:

    Follow up to my post in 2012. I have not upgraded my HTC EVO 3D since I bought it the month it came out. Last month we received notice that the 4G wimax network will be discontinued. You need to upgrade now…The notice is very clear that my phone will no longer operate. In the very fine print at the bottom of the sheet, it says the 3G network will continue to function as normal. Oh good, so the same 3G network that I have been on for 4 years while waiting for 4G will continue… Then I don’t need to upgrade. We have 4 EVO 3Ds all purchased at different times in the last 4 years. Lately, all 4 of them have been acting weird. They randomly restart (sometimes don’t come back on missing valuable business calls) drop calls, receive half text messages. I have been getting upgrade notices in my email. Seams a little shady to me. I found out today that Sprint spark is here in Clovis, CA It is all over the map showing high signal strength. I immediately went online to find a new phone so I can get rid of this 3G crap. So tired of this slow ass network. I found the Galaxy S6 has come out. I went to the sprint store. The sprint rape tells me there is no sprint spark here…WTF! How many times do we need to go over this. Went back online and talk in the chat. Why does the map show full sprint spark coverage and the rep says no coverage? Sir, it is available. The store rep should not have said that. Here we go again…so if the map shows coverage and there is no coverage, then what can one do. My buddy has the S5 and came to my house to test the sprint spark. We can see that there is a sun burst on the screen and it is rotating, but when you check speed it shows 2.4Mb/s. my EVO 3D on 3G is 1.2Mb/s. I thought this LTE and sprint Spark were fast. Oh well, I guess its time to upgrade for a pinch better speed, and dare i say it, hope the speed will increase soon…;)

  2. gabrielle says:

    Commenting on Christian’s post, just the fact that Sprint or any corporation puts in their contract that you waive your right to a trial by jury, makes the contract unconscionable. Your rights are your God given rights and they can’t be taken away by some corporate fine print, especially if you did not knowingly intend to waive those rights. Sprint has been the worst experience ever and I’m thrilled to see so many people voicing their complaints online against them. I’ve been with them for many years and this will be my last. I’m more than fed up with them for all the many lies, false statements, misrepresentations, making promises they never keep, for spinning their customers thru a system that thrives on passing you off to the next rep until they end up disconnecting your call, forcing you to start all over again. Seriously, if I want to ruin my day, I can call Sprint’s customer service. It works every single time.

    And to anyone in Hawaii who thought they were on a 4g network with Sprint, think again. If you were told you were on 4g, you were outright lied to. Your phone may be 4g, but your service with Sprint in Hawaii is not. It won’t be till after October 2014 and who knows if that is even accurate. I verified that with 3 different supervisors already so you can take it as fact. To the few people who claim to have had a good experience with Sprint, savor the moment, … it will pass.

    They made a technical support appointment with me for last Friday to reset my service since my internet started linking to a Venezuela website. They completely stood me up. Another supervisor was supposed to call me back within 72 hours after an incident where I called to claim my long overdue upgrade. They said it was no longer available because I went on the family plan. They said it should have been disclosed to me at that time, but it never was. They promised a supervisor would call me back within 72 hours, which would allow them time to pull the recording from the call with the rep. But nobody ever called me back. When I called them today, there were no notes whatsoever in the file indicating anything about what we had discussed regarding that issue. OMG what a complete waste of time and energy. It’s completely unacceptable. I give this company a big fat skull and crossbones warning. They deserve to be sued.

  3. Ron says:

    Hello,

    Can you advise if I can become a member of this class action as my phone from SPRINT is being recorded every day and every time I am on the phone. The tones clearly show that the phone is being recorded and if thats not bad enough they have cut off my DATA for some unknown means. Which if I may say the phones do work without the DATA service. that means they have been stealing money form the public/consumers for years. MY phone gets cutoff with full bars on a regular basis but in spurts. Then it stops and starts again. Sprint has claimed there is nothing wrong at all. There has bee assistance but leads right back to nothing is wrong. THey do not understand what is happening. The phone should not be doing that. I have my own reasoning behind why as data manipulation by the FEDS is wider spread than many think.

  4. ttmarton80@gmail.com says:

    My wife and I have been with Sprint for 3+ years and this is the first year I’ve seen a Sprint icon on my phone.
    But I only seen it in the Sprint store!

    My 4G that I’ve been paying for had never worked!

  5. Atul Shah says:

    We also do not get any services – have had issues with Drop calls and also with text messages not going through.

  6. Annie Zephyr says:

    Sprint has always charged a month in advance. My service was disconnected July 15, 2013, reconnect August 5, 2013 one day into the billing period. Billing period runs from 5th of one month to 4th of the following month. I could not make any calls out, Sprint calls this hot wired. Sprint took the month in advance I had already paid and credited my account with penny. Now that the bill is current they are now adding another month in advance plus the current monthly charge to this new bill. I was told since the account was suspended they have to charge me another month in advanc plus all these other fees. So, now I have two months in advance. I know something can be done about this. This has got to be illegal. I don’t have a contract with Sprint at this time. And their CSR’s are trained very well as to how to advoid answering straight questions. I need help!! I have always had a problem with the 4G, I have an HTC EVO. How can I get in on the Law suite? That is if it isn’t to late.

  7. Barbara jones says:

    I currently have sprint service that really sucks my phone never works it does not charge properly and each time I’ve gone to the, about it they tell me to turn it off and let it reset or they say just buy another charger there ain’t nothing wrong with your phone but each time I go home it does the same thing, they also told me when I purchased the htc evo 3 d that I would soon be getting 4g coverage well that was over a year and a half ago and I still don’t have 4g it barely gets 3 g to be honest. I currently don’t even care to have sprint anymore because I have had so many problems however I am not going to pay them N early cancellation fee. Please help I want my money back for all this crap plus the phone cost me 200.00 for the evo and then 250.00 for the Samsung galaxy 3 I feel like they just totally got over on me and a lot of others

    1. Christian says:

      there is nothing you can do about suing sprint or even about the coverage. your phone actually cost several hundreds of dollars MSRP if you have a smart phone. you signed an agreement saying that you fully understand and agree to the terms and conditions. there are two things that state about suing and coverage. quote: “Coverage; Where Your Device Will Work; Service Speeds
      Our coverage maps are available at our authorized retail locations and on sprint.com. The specific network coverage you get will depend on the radio transmissions your Device can pick up and Services you’ve chosen. Our coverage maps provide high level estimates of our coverage areas when using Services outdoors under optimal conditions. Coverage isn’t available everywhere. Coverage and Service speeds are not guaranteed. Coverage is subject to change without notice. Service speeds may depend on the Service purchased. Actual speeds will vary. Estimating wireless coverage, signal strength, and Service speed is not an exact science. There are gaps in coverage within our estimated coverage areas that—along with other factors both within and beyond our control (for example, network problems, network or internet congestion, software, signal strength, your Device, structures, buildings, weather, geography, topography, server speeds of the websites you access, actions of third parties, etc.)—may result in dropped and blocked connections, slower Service speeds, or otherwise impact the quality of Service. Services that rely on location information, such as E911 and GPS navigation, depend on your Device’s ability to acquire satellite signals (typically not available indoors) and network coverage. While your Device is receiving a software update, you may be unable to use your Device in any manner until the software update is complete.”

      and portion of suing,
      quote: “Mandatory Arbitration and Waiver of Class Action Instead of suing in court, you and Sprint agree to arbitrate all Disputes (as defined below) on an individual, non-representative, basis. You agree that, by entering into this Agreement, you and Sprint are waiving the right to a trial by jury or to participate in a class action or representative action. This agreement to arbitrate is intended to be broadly interpreted.
      In arbitration, there is no judge or jury. Instead Disputes are decided by a neutral third-party arbitrator in a more informal process than in court. In arbitration, there is limited discovery and the arbitrator’s decision is subject to limited review by courts. However, just as a court would, the arbitrator must honor the terms of the Agreement and can award damages and relief, including any attorneys’ fees authorized by law.
      “Disputes” shall include, but are not limited to, any claims or controversies against each other related in any way to or arising out of in any way our Services or the Agreement, including, but not limited to, coverage, Devices, billing services and practices, policies, contract practices (including enforceability), service claims, privacy, or advertising, even if the claim arises after Services have terminated. Disputes also include, but are not limited to, claims that: (a) you or an authorized or unauthorized user of the Services or Devices bring against our employees, agents, affiliates, or other representatives; (b) you bring against a third party, such as a retailer or equipment manufacturer, that are based on, relate to, or arise out of in any way our Services or the Agreement; or (c) that Sprint brings against you. Disputes also include, but are not limited to, (i) claims in any way related to or arising out of any aspect of the relationship between you and Sprint, whether based in contract, tort, statute, fraud, misrepresentation, advertising claims or any other legal theory; (ii) claims that arose before this Agreement or out of a prior Agreement with Sprint; (iii) claims that are subject to on-going litigation where you are not a party or class member; and/or (iv) claims that arise after the termination of this Agreement.”

      it states these segments in the contract at sprint.com/legal and as well as verizon and AT&T. even though you do not get 4g in your area check with tech support in seeing if sprint has plans in the future for them. currently sprint is rolling out a turbo network which provides something called TD_LTE. look up sprint spark. sprint plans to have 4g lte rolled out in the next 2-3 years. remember there is a difference between 4g wimax and 4g lte. 4g wimax was beginning to be rolled out in 2010 but was halted for 4g lte which was rolled out by april 2012 in some areas.

      1. Bd says:

        I have been a sprint customer for more than 10 years. I have traveled throughout the US for work during that period. I average 140 nights away from home each year. I have received good coverage and good service during that time until the past 9 months. Something at sprint is very different. All your gibberish about weather, phone, servers and the like is bull butter. As a paying customer I expect a competitive level of service just as my customers do. When that level of service declines, which it has with sprint, cost should be adjusted accordingly. Service and cost must be commensurate, when it is not, there must be a new agreement. When the company decides to go down the legal road, they will always end up on the short end of that strategy. Get with it sprint.

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