
AT&T Customers to Receive More Than $88M in Refunds Following Mobile Cramming - bluejekyll
http://www.macrumors.com/2016/12/08/att-88m-mobile-cramming-settlement-payout/
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makecheck
OK, so it also says the unauthorized customer charges were usually $9.99 _per
month_ , and the average refund is $31 per customer. So any customer that
didn’t notice for more than 4 months is still losing, before you even take
into account whatever else their customers might have needed an extra $10 a
month for in life (like paying different bills, or buying food). AND, AT&T
surely received plenty of extra money from whichever 3rd parties were asking
them to do this, money that was probably not covered in any fine.

Meaning that AT&T still profited from doing unreasonable things, and customers
still suffered even if they received a refund. Businesses still do not have
sufficient incentive to do right, they can still just wait until they’re
caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

To change behavior, a penalty has to be really extreme: some amount where it
_clearly pose a massive risk to shareholders_ if the company were to exhibit
the questionable behavior. Something like: “400% refund to all affected
customers, plus a fine equal to 12% of the profits made illegally, plus a 5
year probation period where the company must submit to full audits every
quarter (paid for by the company)”, etc.

