Lawsuit accuses AT&T of overcharging iPhone and iPad users

Lawsuit accuses AT&T of overcharging iPhone and iPad usersA new lawsuit filed against AT&T accuses the carrier of overcharging its 20 million iPhone and iPad users for data usage.

The class action suit was filed in late January in US District Court in Northern California and it has received fresh attention in the US after one of the lead attorneys, Barry Davis, appeared on ‘Today’ show on Thursday. The lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages.

The lawyers claimed to have spent $80,000 in employing a firm to conduct independent tests and found that the carrier is taking up to $10 to $15 a month in additional charges, which was sometimes as high as 300 per cent.

Under the test, the examiners bought new iPhones, disables any apps that could trigger data usage, and kept it unused for two weeks. The bill included charges for 35 different transactions. He also said that all the transactions tested were overcharged.

Davis compared the overcharging to a rigged gas pump where “you ask for a gallon of gas, but only get nine-tenths”, while speaking on a TV channel.

AT&T responded by releasing a statement saying the allegations were “without merit.” The carrier said that it properly prepares bills for all data that customers send and receive and says the additional charges are due to background processes in smartphones and tablets.