January 27, 2003
A consumer class action lawsuit charges that Nextel wrongfully changed the terms of its cell phone service agreement by changing the method of billing and imposing a service fee.
The suit was filed in Los Angeles on behalf of Galit Strugano and other Nextel customers. It charges Nextel with unfair, unlawful and deceptive business practices, breach of contract and breach of good faith and fair dealing.
Strugano alleges that Nextel her and other consumers a billing plan that rounded up airtime calls to the next second instead of the next minute. Then, without warning, the suit charges, Nextel unilaterally changed its plan by imposing a service fee of $1.15 per month and rounding calls up to the next minute, rather than the next second.
The suit says customers were subjected to additonal fees and charges for which they have never bargained or consented and that the fees were imposed deceptively, unfairly and unlawfully.
