Your monthly cellphone bill already takes a chunk out of your wallet, and even more if you have multiple people on one plan. So when Moira Melendez and her son Michael found a “buy one, get one free” offer, they thought they had come across a great deal.
But the months that followed proved otherwise. Moira, from Morton Grove, noticed their monthly bill had additional charges for the supposed “free” phone. The bill also showed two lines had been added to her account. Her bill, normally $150 to $200, about doubled.
In February, after wrestling with the company for several months, Moira heard about a free utility clinic hosted by CUB in nearby Skokie. She knew all about CUB. Her mom was a happy member, and in the past CUB had helped Moira avoid a mistaken $500 AT&T bill.
The night of the clinic, Moira met with CUB’s Matt Harvey, who alerted his co-worker, Ivonne Ortiz. Ivonne then filed a complaint with Sprint.
Sprint denied it had made billing errors, saying it had clearly explained that the deal would include two additional lines on their bill. However, the company admitted to quoting the monthly price as $259, despite five invoices showing charges beyond that amount.
So Sprint gave Moira a $406.25 credit for the phone, and an additional credit of $391.41 to compensate for the low initial quote. Total credit: $797.66!
Moira praised Matt and Ivonne for their help. “You guys are awesome,” she said. “Sprint never would credit me like that if it wasn’t for CUB.”
CUB thinks Moira is pretty awesome, too. “So many times, unfortunately, consumers have to spend months trying to resolve an issue with a phone, gas or electric company,” said Matt. “We applaud Moira’s resolve. She never gave up and her persistence paid off.”