AT&T; Corp. will pay $50,000 to the state of Missouri for improperly billing more than 29,000 consumers. Those Missourians who paid the improper charge will receive or already have received refunds or credits under an agreement obtained by Attorney General Jay Nixon.
Beginning in January 2004, AT&T; instituted a "monthly recurring charge" or a base charge of $3.95 per month for low-usage customers. AT&T; mistakenly sent bills to former customers and some high-usage customers who would have been exempt from the charge.
Approximately 1 million people nationwide were mistakenly billed, including 29,165 in Missouri. The improper billings in Missouri amounted to $285,147, Nixon said, although not everyone improperly billed paid the charges. The company attributed the billing mistakes primarily to computer coding and system errors.
"No matter how these billings occurred, they amounted to several millions of dollars to consumers across the country," Nixon said. "AT&T; needs to be held accountable to ensure that nothing like this happens again and that any consumers who paid charges they shouldn't have are made whole."
The agreement requires AT&T; to:
• Establish and maintain a process for Missouri customers who paid improper charges to receive refunds or credits, if the customers have not already received those refunds or credits.
• Immediately cease any collection efforts to collect the monthly recurring charge from customers who were improperly billed who did not pay those charges.
• Implement and maintain measures to adequately respond to consumer inquiries and billing complaints.
• Pay $50,000 to the Missouri Merchandising Revolving Fund, which is used to fund consumer protection and education efforts.
