AT&T to repay cellphone users in Florida

Last week, AT&T did something which was truly commendable. It accepted to repay cellphone users in Florida who got charged for apparently ‘free’ services. It joined hands with Attorney General’s Cyber Fraud Task Force which will make sure that customers are not charged unknowingly for services that they thought were completely free.

While advertising in the internet, a lot of companies come up with misleading ads which say things like ‘free ringtones just for you’ and then when the customer signs up, he is charged a subscription fee in his next bill. This is very misleading and Attorney General Bill McCollum has come up with strict regulations for mobile carriers to advertise in the internet or any other medium for that matter. Henceforth, advertisements should be in an explicitly detailed manner to make sure customers understand what they are getting into. If something is a paid service, it needs to be mentioned clearly in the ad, without misleading the consumers. Attorney General says that this will create awareness among cell phone users and help them use such services judiciously.

AT&T has decided pay back the amount charged for Florida users for ‘free services’ and has decided to pay $2.5 Million toward the movement. It will also pay an additional $50,000 to educate customers on safe internet use. The Attorney General has lauded AT&T for its active participation in the movement and has urged other carriers to follow suit.

Now, the important thing to note in this issue is that it can happen anywhere. Even in mobile advertising. You get my point? So, when mobile advertisers dish out mobile ads by the day, they need to be careful enough to provide consumers with the right kind of information without misleading them. Otherwise, there would be a similar backlash against them. Hopefully, mobile advertisers will take note of this issue and make sure their ads are not only of some use to the consumer, but also explicit enough to make him understand what he is getting into.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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