The Sprint surcharge settlement will resolve a class action lawsuit (Barkwell, et al. v. Sprint Communications Company) that alleges Sprint improperly disclosed and/or charged certain monthly surcharges that the company collects to defray costs including but not limited to costs associated with government programs and network connections.
Are You entitled to pay from a Sprint class action settlement?
If you worked as a non-exempt employee at a Sprint retail store in the states of Arizona, Colorado, New York, Ohio, or Washington, during the periods specified below and/ or you filed an Opt-In form to assert Fair Labor Standards Act claims in this lawsuit, you may be entitled to payment from a proposed class and collective action settlement.
What are the settlements with Sprint and Verizon?
Today we’re announcing settlements with Sprint and Verizon, who illegally billed consumers over a hundred million dollars in unauthorized third-party charges. If approved, these settlements will return $120 million directly to affected consumers.
What is the sprint regulatory charge?
Regulatory Charge The Regulatory Charge is assessed per line, per month by Sprint to help defray costs of various federal, state, and local regulatory programs. The Regulatory Charge is not a tax and is not an amount we are required to collect from you by law.
What taxes does Sprint Collect?
States, counties, cities, and special taxing districts may assess various taxes on wireless communication services, sales and rentals of wireless phones, and other services Sprint provides. Applicable taxes are collected by Sprint and remitted to the jurisdiction that is assessing the tax.
What does Sprint surcharges mean?
A customer will incur a per call surcharge of $0.55 for all calls that Sprint identifies as originating from a Public or Semi-Public Payphone and for which the customer is billed by Sprint. A per call surcharge also may apply to calls made from a payphone using a prepaid calling card.
Does Sprint plans include taxes and fees?
** For Sprint ONE and MAX, sales tax and regulatory fees are included in monthly rate plan price. During congestion, heavy data users (>50GB/mo. for most plans including Essentials; >100GB/mo. for ONE) and customers choosing lower-prioritized plans (including Essentials) may notice lower speeds than other customers.
What is a regulatory charge for Sprint?
Effective November 1, 2013, a Regulatory Recovery Fee of 3.47% will be applied to all interstate and international charges, subject to billing capability, to recover amounts paid by Sprint to the federal government and state commissions for regulatory costs and for telecommunications services for the hearing-impaired.
What is a subsidized phone charge on my Sprint bill?
With the subsidized phone, the unlimited phone, text, and data user pays $80 a month. With a purchased or financed phone, that person pays $60 a month for the same service.
How can I get my Sprint bill lowered?
Steps to lower your Sprint billGet your latest statement and do some research.Call or chat online with Sprint.Access your account by providing your pin.Remove features on your plan that you're not using.Negotiate a lower rate for your bill.Request one time credits.Get a reference number.
What is the Sprint $35 plan?
Unlimited talk, text, and data for $35 a month, per line. You can bring over any compatible phone, or buy one from Sprint. Use their phone IMEI/MEID checker.
Why is my first Sprint bill so high?
You may pay the bill online, by phone or by mail. If it is your first bill, it will most likely be higher than your next bill for the following reasons: Sprint charges for the first full month of service in advance. (Therefore the second full month's service and its fees are normally included.)
Why does Verizon charge surcharges every month?
Formerly named the Federal Access Charge, this monthly surcharge is assessed to long distance customers to help defray the access costs charged to Verizon Enterprise Solutions and Verizon Long Distance (or its agents) by local telephone companies.
How much is Sprint late?
Beginning October 1, 2022, a late fee of the greater of 5% of applicable monthly charges or $7 of the maximum amount allowed under state law is applied to your account if not paid by the due date.
Does paying off your phone lower your bill?
Paying off device payments does remove the installments from your bill and lower the monthly bill.
What does subsidized phone charge mean?
In many ways, it looks just like a phone subsidy. A subscriber gets a phone for a $99 down-payment and then pays for the device over the several months. But what is different in this plan is that once the device is paid off, the monthly bill that the consumer must pay is reduced.
What happens after you pay off a phone?
When you pay off your device: You continue paying your monthly costs for your talk, text and data plan, but you no longer have a device payment charge on your monthly bill. Any monthly promotional credits you're getting will stop. The paid-off device is eligible to be upgraded to a new device.
What is included in the Sprint Unlimited plan?
Sprint Unlimited Premium Plan: Includes unlimited domestic calling, texting, 100GB LTE MHS, VPN & P2P & data. Sprint Unlimited Plus Plan: Includes unlimited domestic calling, texting, 50GB LTE MHS, VPN & P2P & data.
How much are taxes and fees on a cell phone?
Wireless Taxes and Fees Increase in 2020Weighted AverageWireless: State & Local tax & feeGeneral Sales/Use Tax7/1/201712.11%7.65%7/1/201812.46%7.65%7/1/201912.65%7.74%14 more rows•Nov 17, 2020
Why is my first Sprint bill so high?
You may pay the bill online, by phone or by mail. If it is your first bill, it will most likely be higher than your next bill for the following reasons: Sprint charges for the first full month of service in advance. (Therefore the second full month's service and its fees are normally included.)
How much is Sprint monthly?
Sprint Unlimited Basic—$60/month. Sprint Unlimited Plus—$70/month. Sprint Unlimited Premium—$80/month.
How much did Sprint and Verizon settle?
If approved, these settlements will return $120 million directly to affected consumers.
Can third parties add charges to wireless bill?
Many people did not know that third parties could add charges to their wireless bills. The illegal billing often continued undetected for months. Sprint’s and Verizon’s billing systems invited illegal third-party charges and the companies did little or nothing to root them out.
Can you receive money from a settlement?
If you fit one or both definitions, you are entitled to receive money from the Settlement, as described below.
Do you need to do anything to participate in the settlement?
IF YOU WISH TO FULLY PARTICIPATE IN THIS SETTLEMENT, YOU DO NOT NEED TO DO ANYTHING; A CHECK FOR YOUR SHARE OF THE SETTLEMENT FUNDS WILL BE MAILED TO YOU FOLLOWING FINAL COURT APPROVAL OF THE SETTLEMENT.
How to dispute a Sprint settlement?
To do so, send a letter to the Settlement Administrator explaining the basis for your dispute and attach copies of the supporting evidence. The letter must (1) contain your full name, mailing address, last four digits of your Social Security number, and signature; (2) contain the case name and/or number of the Amaraut Lawsuit; (3) contain a statement indicating that you dispute the Workweeks credited to you and indicating what number of Workweeks you contend is correct or incorrect; and (4) attach documentation supporting your contention about the correct number of Workweeks that should be credited you . Unless you present convincing evidence proving you worked more Workweeks than shown by Sprint’s records, your Individual Class Settlement Share and Individual FLSA Settlement Share will be determined based on Sprint’s records. Any disputes must be postmarked by May 26, 2021, and should be mailed to Amaraut v Sprint Settlement, c/o Settlement Administrator, PO Box 58908, Philadelphia, PA 19102-8908. The Settlement Administrator will notify you of the decision on the dispute.
How long do you have to cash a class settlement check?
If you participate in the Settlement, you will have 120 days to cash the Individual Class Settlement Share check and/or the Individual FLSA Settlement Share check that will be sent to you. If at the conclusion of the 120-day check void period, there are any uncashed Individual Class Settlement Share checks, those monies will be redistributed to those Settlement Class Members that cashed their Settlement checks. Likewise, if at the conclusion of the 120-day check void period, there are any uncashed Individual FLSA Settlement Share checks, those monies will be redistributed to those Opt-In Plaintiffs that cashed their Settlement checks. If the amount of uncashed checks to be redistributed is less than $10 per person, the uncashed check monies will be donated to the Justice Gap Fund as a charitable recipient.
What is FLSA claim?
All claims, charges, complaints, liens, demands, causes of action, obligations, damages and liabilities under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), including, but not limited to, claims for unpaid wages, timely payment of wages, failure to pay minimum wages, unpaid overtime, and payment of contractually-obligated wages (e.g., bonuses, commissions, and straight-time wages above the minimum wage floor), and any other form of relief as permitted under the FLSA, 29 U.S.C. § 201, et seq ., known or unknown, suspected or unsuspected, relating to the allegations that were asserted, or could have been asserted, in the Lawsuit against the Released Parties, through and including December 31, 2020. The above-defined scope of Opt-In Plaintiffs Released Claims by each Opt-In Plaintiff is meant to be as broad as possible, with respect to claims that are asserted or could have been asserted based on the same factual predicate alleged in the Complaint. Opt-In Plaintiffs also release claims against Released Parties for attorneys’ fees, costs and expenses related to this litigation, beyond those provided for or contemplated as part of this Settlement.
How much did Sprint pay for the lawsuit?
Sprint has agreed to pay $7,600,000 to settle all aspects of this Lawsuit (the “Maximum Gross Settlement Amount”), inclusive of the claims of all Settlement Class Members and Opt-In Plaintiffs. Deductions from this amounts will be made for attorneys’ fees and costs for Class Counsel (see below), settlement administration costs (estimated to be $99,921), the payment to Plaintiff Vladimir Amaraut of $3,999 for his individual claims under California law (which were pleaded in this Lawsuit and settled on a class basis in other cases in which Plaintiff Amaraut does not take part), and the Service Awards in an amount not to exceed $65,000 in total to be divided between Class Representatives Vladimir Amaraut, Katherine Almonte, Marissa Painter, Kristopher Fox, Dylan McCollum and Quinn Myers for their service to the Settlement Class Members and the Opt-In Plaintiffs, and for their general release of claims. After deductions of these amounts, what remains of the Maximum Gross Settlement Amount (the “Net Settlement Amount”) will be available to pay monetary Settlement awards to the Named Plaintiffs, Opt-In Plaintiffs, and Putative Class Members who do not opt out of the Settlement Class (i.e., Settlement Class Members).
What is Sprint's lawsuit?
The Lawsuit alleges that individuals whom Sprint employed as non-exempt employees in its retail stores were not compensated for all hours worked, including failure to pay for all earned wages, legally mandated overtime premium and/or minimum wages, overtime compensation, unpaid time worked “off the clock”; denial of compliant meal and rest breaks where required; failure to timely pay all wages earned; failure to provide itemized wage statements where required; and all related claims for relief. Specifically, the Lawsuit alleges that employees worked off-the-clock performing tasks including opening and closing procedures, logging into Sprint’s computer system, attending mandatory conference calls, communicating with managers and employees via mobile messaging (“GroupMe”), taking phone calls from managers, employees and customers, submitting expense reports and job-related paperwork, and working during unpaid meal and rest breaks. Claims in the Lawsuit are brought under federal law, as well as the laws of Arizona, Colorado, New York, Ohio, and Washington.
What states are FLSA lawsuits filed in?
Claims in the Lawsuit are brought under federal law, as well as the laws of Arizona, Colorado, New York, Ohio, and Washington. NOTE: To assert your federal law claims under the FLSA, you were required to submit an Opt-In Consent Form in order to become an Opt-In Plaintiff. You are not required to submit an Opt-In Consent Form to assert your state ...
What is the settlement in Amaraut v. Sprint?
A proposed class and collective action settlement (the “Settlement”) has been reached in Amaraut, et al. v. Sprint/United Management Company, Case No. 3:19-cv-00411-WQH-AHG (S.D. Cal.) (the “Lawsuit”). You received a Notice of Settlement (“Notice”) because (1) the records of Sprint/United Management Company (“Sprint”) show you performed work as a non-exempt employee in a Sprint Retail Store in one or more of the following states and related periods below, and/or (2) you submitted an opt-in form to become an Opt-In Plaintiff and assert federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) claims in the Lawsuit.
