Lawsuit takes aim at SBC's late fee
12/12/03
By Sanford Nowlin
San Antonio Express-News
A class-action lawsuit accuses San Antonio-based
SBC Communications Inc. of wrongly overcharging Yellow Pages advertisers
by $20 million.
Plaintiffs' attorneys next week will mail notices about the suit to 175,000
SBC customers and take out ads in newspapers to ask them to join the legal
action.
The suit, filed last year in Missouri state court in Kansas City, alleges
SBC tacked an unauthorized $25 "collection activity fee" to invoices
of customers that bought Yellow Pages ads in Texas, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri
and Oklahoma and didn't pay for them on time.
SBC, the nation's second-largest local-service phone company, denied that
it improperly charged the customers.
The $25 penalty isn't detailed in advertisers' contracts with the company,
said Theodore Beckett III, attorney for the two Kansas City-based companies
that brought the suit.
"It's deceptive conduct," Beckett said. "To unilaterally
charge someone in violation of their agreement just isn't good business,
and people
should be concerned about it."
SBC spokesman Bob Mueller said the contracts state SBC can charge advertisers
to cover collection fees if they're late with payments. The fees, he added,
help the company cover those costs without raising ad rates.
"I'd point out that the fee was never an issue for our customers who
pay their bills on time," Mueller said.
Liberty Cellular Inc. and Blast Inc. of Kansas City filed the suit in late
2001. A Jackson County circuit judge certified it as a class action last
year and later issued a judgement saying there was no wording in the contract
to authorize the fee.
SBC officials said the company stopped billing for the fees on Dec. 1.
The company also reworked its contract after the ruling to provide more
details about the penalty.
"We changed the wording to make it even more clear," Mueller
said.
Portions © 2003 KENS 5 and
the San Antonio Express-News. All rights reserved.
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