I know that you always remind us that you are not an attorney. However, you are very knowledgable, and are in the legal environment all day. I am thinking of helping my son Shawn file a class action suit, and I wondered what it entails.

About a year ago, he bought a fancy-schmancy cellphone. It is one of those that you can access the internet with, watch TV, etc. (Why you need to do all of those things with a phone is beyond me, but what do I know?). It was $300.00. It was the second fancy, expensive phone that he had bought. He had had a Motorola Razr phone and the cat knocked it off his bureau and broke it.

The service that he uses on this present phone is called "amp'd". It is a pre-paid service. The rest of us in the house have had Tracphones for years and love them. They are prepaid also, so you have no phone bill. Our service is good and the phones are inexpensive. But Shawn had to have this phone and couldn't be talked out of it. The problem is, he cannot seem to be able to buy minutes for it when he needs it. With Tracphone, you can buy minutes on line, on the phone, or buy a card and add the minutes right on the phone. With amp'd, you have to call a customer service line in California and get in a queue. The wait is endless. He sends emails and gets a return email saying that his call has been "logged", but he can't ever get through. He has been walking around for the last month or two with no phone service. I can't reach him at work or at school to arrange transportation, etc., and I don't like the fact that he has no phone in an emergency.

Yesterday, I went to Family Dollar and bought him a Tracphone, activated it and gave it to him. In the meantime, he has this outregeously expensive phone that he can't use.

He can't be the only person with this problem, so I was thinking of bringing a class action suit so that he and others can at least get their $300.00 back. So, my question is, how do we go about this? Do we contact a local attorney? Does he/she advertise for other people that are affected? Is the fee on a contingency basis? Is it expensive?

I would appreciate any info that you have. Thanks, as always.

By Ginny~moderator on Sunday, April 1, 2007 - 05:56 pm:

Actually, Hol, Scott went through exactly the same problems with - are you ready - Tracfone. He had to replace his phone and could not get his pre-paid minutes transferred. After 4 months of e-mails, being on hold for hours on the phone, and actual snailmail letters, they still could not / did not port his number or transfer his prepaid minutes to his new phone. He finally wound up switching to T-Mobile, my cell phone provider (which also offers prepaid service).

No, I don't think you should go to a lawyer. If your son is 18 or over, he would have to do whatever could be done, which isn't much. What I'd do is google amp'd +lawsuit +class +action and see if anyone has started a class action and, if there is a class action lawsuit going, write to the law firm(s) involved to see how one can join in. I would also write a detailed complaint letter to the Federal Communications Commission, with a copy to your state's utility commission (the body that usually oversees telephone service), and a copy to amp'd.

I will tell you that after Scott did that he got a phone call from someone purporting to be a higher-up at Tracfone, who told him everything was straightened out, all he had to do was "call this number" and "give them this code" and it would all be straightened out. It wasn't. That's when he decided to just take his losses and move to T-Mobile. (One of the problems with Tracfone is that its corporate offices are not in the U.S., which means U.S. agencies have less leverage with them - the same may be true of amp'd.)

I would be very surprised if any lawyer would take it on. Doing a class action lawsuit is (1) very expensive and (2) very complicated, and only law firms with lots of resources (i.e., lots of other big clients that produce sufficient cash flow) and with experience in class action would take on something like this, and only after exploring the potential numbers of plaintiffs who might be involved (i.e., how much money might be at stake). If you have a "family lawyer" with whom you have a good relationship, s/he might do the checking to see if there is a class action going on, but really, class actions are far beyond the experience and means of your "average" law firm.

Sorry. I'm glad, by the way, that you have had consistently good experience with Tracfone. Scott also had very good experience with them for 4 years, before he tried to get his number and minutes ported to a new phone, which is why he hung in there for four months before giving up.

By Cocoabutter on Sunday, April 1, 2007 - 08:55 pm:

I did some research on Google and I believe that amp'd is based in the US but also has operations in Canada.

I Googled "amp'd customer complaints" and a result was My3Cents.com, which I have looked at this Website before. They are a sounding board for customer complaints for many companies or products. It looks like your son is not the only one having trouble getting thru to customer service.

I would also check with the Better Business Bureau for any complaints- maybe you can file one there.

By Hol on Sunday, April 1, 2007 - 10:13 pm:

Thanks, Ginny and Lisa. Ironically, what made me think of going the class action route is that I recently received a letter from Tracfone asking if I wanted to be a part of a class action suit in which a woman (I forget her name) alleges that Tracfone charged her roaming charges in a supposedly "home" range. There was a form enclosed if I wanted in. The award was a 20 minute phone card. I didn't bother.

I have been very pleased with Tracfone. We did once have to port a phone number and minutes when Mike bought a new phone. This was a few years ago. The number was ported within 24 hours, but they held the minutes for 60 days. We eventually got them. We have since done it a couple of times, and it was instantaneous, with a phone call.

They keep getting better. Adding minutes is so easy now. Before, you had to enter a series of codes. They also periodically send surveys asking how they can be better.

Maybe Shawn will just have to chalk it up to a very expensive mistake. Thanks again.