New York City sues T-Mobile for "generalized" sales abuses

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The city of New York sued T-Mobile USA Inc. (TMUS.OOn Wednesday, accusing the fourth-largest mobile operator in the United States of committing "pervasive" abuse by customers of its T-Mobile Metro brand of pre-paid wireless services.

In a lawsuit filed in the state's Supreme Court in Manhattan, the city said it had identified more than 2,200 violations from T-Mobile, whose "pervasive" illegal activity affected 56 stores Metro in the five boroughs, including authorized dealers and stores operated by its subsidiaries. MetroPCS NY Unit.

T-Mobile, a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG (DTEGn.DE), refused the immediate comment.

Spokespersons for the city's legal department and consumer commissioner Lorelei Salas did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The complaint was filed while T-Mobile was trying to obtain the necessary approvals to merge with Sprint Corp. (S.N), the US mobile phone company # 3.

Sixteen US states, led by New York and California, and Washington, DC, have taken legal action to block the merger, which they say will increase costs for consumers by reducing competition.

In its complaint, the City of New York indicated that it had evidence that many Metro stores were selling used or refurbished phones as new and charging excessive or apparently "invented" taxes, including device change "and" device activation fees ". "

He also accused T-Mobile of being associated with third parties to register unsuspecting consumers for expensive financing plans without their consent.

The complaint cited an example where a woman thought she had bought a $ 599 phone from a Bronx dealership to learn later that she had a 12-month lease at $ 2,191.30. .

New York City also stated that the Metro by T-Mobile website misleadingly announced a "30-day warranty" on telephone purchases, although the small print indicates that the warranty was not guaranteed. than seven days and only covered a "small sub-category" of transactions.

The prosecution seeks to recover surcharges and impose civil fines of $ 350 to $ 500 per violation, among other remedies.

The case concerns the cities of New York and others c. T-Mobile USA et al., Supreme Court of New York State, New York County, No. 451540/2019.