MetroPCS accused of violating New York consumer protection laws

We don’t normally hear about class action lawsuits against wireless carriers. That’s because they stick mandatory arbitration clauses in their contracts. This says that you cannot bring a class action suit against the carrier, but must instead agree to arbitration over disputes. Sometimes a class sneaks through, but it’s not common. MetroPCS now faces on in New York over their unlimited international calling plan. The suit accuses them of using “bait and switch/deceptive trade practices.”

MetroPCS launched their $5 unlimited international calling plan in June, and it seemed too good to be true. Not long afterward, Justin Brennan, business director for Boost Mobile questioned the plan, noting that, “We really have seen some seemingly impossible offers like this come from MetroPCS before and what happens is they disappear very quickly, which make it seem that it is too good to be true.”

In advertising the international plan, the suit alleges, MetroPCS did not make clear its limitations. Certain countries — the United Kingdom and Israel included — do not fall under the plan. Had Metro made this clear, the members of this class supposedly would not have purchased the plan. They seek reimbursement for the international calls they made out of pocket, after having thought they could make the calls under Metro’s program, and to bar MetroPCS from chargin for international calls.