Verizon Sprint Refund Deadline Will Be Until Dec. 31?; $158 Million Settlement Amount Approved?

Verizon and Sprint refund deadline for its customers was announced and  it will only last for a week.

Both wireless carriers has made an agreement with Federal Trade Commission with regards to the issue of allowing external companies to bill their customers with extra for "premium" text messages without their knowledge. The illegal process is called "cramming" due to hiding the unexpected charges in their statement of account, according to CNN Money.

Enforcement bureau chief of FCC, Travis LeBlanc said that, "Consumers rightfully expect their monthly phone bills will reflect only those services that they purchased," according to USA Today.

The companies have agreed to give a settlement amount of  $158 million. The information from Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and FCC states that they have billed their consumers an additional of $14 at most per month. These were from sports update, beauty tips, celebrity news, horoscopes and more that were received by their customers without their consent.

Verizon and Sprint's refund deadline update will involve customers who were charged of premium short messages or PSMS  since  July 1, 2010 'til January 2014 on their bill. An average cramming amount of $9.99 was allegedly added to customers' telephone statement of account every month.

In 2004 up to December 2013, CFPB sued Sprint for unapproved external charges made within the period. The company "charged its customers by creating a billing and payment-processing system that gave third parties virtually unfettered access to its customers' accounts" according to the complaint statement, reported by ABC News.

"Automatically enrolled its customers in its third-party billing system without their knowledge," the statement continued.

It was reported that CFPB accused the companies that they have lacked effort in monitoring and providing solutions to their customers who have passed complaints related to unauthorized charges in their bills.

In their defense, they were no longer cramming into their customers accounts for a long time before the government investigations started.

Verizon and Sprint's refund deadline will be up until Dec. 31 and customers requests will be accommodated within the period.