June 3, 2008

Third Party Billing Services On the Way Out?

AT&T has agreed to a settlement on third party billing and services. The settlement covers the span of time from 2004 to May of this year. This settlement covers all AT&T wireless customers in the period specified.

AT&T customers who have seen mysterious charges for ringtones and other content show up on their cell-phone bills will be eligible for refunds as part of the settlement of a group of class-action lawsuits, a lawyer for the class said Monday.

Customers will able to claim refunds for spurious charges that appeared on up to three of their monthly bills between Jan. 1, 2004, and May 30, 2008, according to Jay Edelson, lead counsel for the plaintiffs.

It is the first nationwide settlement over the business of third-party content, Edelson said. AT&T spokesman Marty Richter said he knew of no other similar settlement.

Edelson’s firm has filed similar suits against Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile USA.

Since Edelson’s firm has cases pending against the other carriers, the AT&T settlement will be the template used. AT&T will now require that anyone signing up for third party services will have to respond to a confirming text message. Most likely this will be the solution applied by the other carriers.

Does this solve the problem? No. The confirming text message should be directed to the primary number. Why? Family plans. Kids are the biggest ringtone demographic. Under a family plan most likely the primary number holder is mom or dad. They are probably also the one paying the bills. So why shouldn’t they be the ones to approve the ‘purchase’?