Minnesota sues Sprint Nextel

Minnesota has sued Sprint Nextel Corp., accusing the No. 3 mobile-phone carrier of violating state consumer protection laws.
“When you receive complaints across the board, from firefighters to lawyers, from retirees to construction workers, all of whom feel they were unfairly manipulated by their cellphone company, you have a problem,” said Attorney General Lori Swanson.
Swanson alleges Sprint Nextel extended subscribers’ contracts up to two years without their consent after they made minor changes to their service.
“In a normal transaction, you have two parties coming together and making an agreement about a purchase. For these consumers, there was no real meeting of the minds,” Swanson stated. “Rather, the company has tricked consumers into unknowingly extending their contract simply because they made a basic change.”
Matthew Sullivan, a Sprint Nextel spokesman, said the carrier is reviewing the lawsuit so it cannot comment on it at this time. “That said, it is important for our customers to understand that we strive for openness and transparency in all our business practices, including our contracts for service.”