T-Mobile settlement could give New Yorkers $38M in reimbursements

T-Mobile customers in New York could be eligible for reimbursements and other benefits worth more than $38 million after the mobile giant agreed to a settlement with New York Attorney General Letitia James on Tuesday over alleged misleading pricing.

James' office said T-Mobile's "Price Guarantee Offer" for certain 4G cellular plans allegedly misled consumers. The company pledged in interviews and marketing materials from January to April 2017 that it would never change the price of customers' plans. New Yorkers signed up for approximately 252,957 price-guarantee plans during that time, only for T-Mobile to raise prices in May and/or June 2024 by $5 per phone line, according to an assurance issued by the attorney general on Tuesday.

"New Yorkers deserve clear and honest prices, not misleading offers with hidden fine print," James said in a news release. "T-Mobile misled hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers by promising that it would never raise prices on their cellphone plans, only to do exactly that just a few years later."

T-Mobile is reimbursing customers and offering other benefits to people who signed up for price guarantee plans between January and April 2017. Customers still on 4G phones can cancel their plan to receive a refund of their last month's payment plus a $25 card, or stay with T-Mobile to receive either a new phone equipped with 5G internet worth $250 or a $150 credit for a more expensive phone.

Customers who upgraded to 5G service with T-Mobile are eligible for a refund of their last phone bill if they cancel their service, but are not eligible for the 5G phone or any credit toward a new phone.

T-Mobile also will not raise prices on all customers who signed up for price guarantee plans until 2025, under the agreement.

The reimbursement options are expected to provide more than $38 million in value to affected customers, according to James' office. T-Mobile will also pay $98,834 to New York as part of the settlement.

"We're glad to have this matter resolved and remain focused on delivering value to our customers," a spokesperson for T-Mobile told Newsday.

T-Mobile will send notices to all impacted customers within 150 days of Tuesday's settlement.