- AT&T says T-Mobile is promising “illusory savings” via its Easy Switch campaign
- The purported savings aren’t an apples-to-apples comparison
- The claim about switching a wireless phone account in 15 minutes is also phony, according to AT&T
Another day, another lawsuit. This time it’s AT&T going up against T-Mobile, updating a previous complaint to add new accusations of false advertising.
Following on a lawsuit AT&T filed against T-Mobile late last year, the latest allegations focus on T-Mobile’s “Switching Made Easy” campaign that promises to switch AT&T and Verizon customers over to T-Mobile in 15 minutes.
T-Mobile launched the Switching Made Easy campaign with great fanfare in November, using the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix for maximum exposure. The Bellevue, Washington-based carrier spared no expense, enticing customers to switch at three “Pit Lane” locations across the Grand Prix, providing access to Club Magenta for customers who switched and sponsoring various merchandise and membership experiences.
“But under the razzle dazzle, T-Mobile was pulling a fast one,” AT&T alleges.
AT&T flags savings, switching time
The new complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas, is two-pronged. AT&T argues that T-Mobile’s claims about big savings and fast switching to T-Mobile are both deceptive and calls out its marketing as “bogus.”
Like a beef Verizon lodged against T-Mobile in a New York court earlier this month, AT&T says T-Mobile is misleading consumers with false promises of savings when it says T-Mobile customers can “save over $1,000/year” compared to its rivals.
According to AT&T, T-Mobile’s app presents apples-to-oranges comparisons, linking a higher tier AT&T plan to a lower tier T-Mobile plan.
“The ‘supposed savings’ T-Mobile shows the customer are not always based on a comparison between what the customer is currently paying to AT&T and what they would be paying at T-Mobile for a similar plan,” AT&T asserts. “Instead, T-Mobile presents ‘savings’ reflecting the difference between T-Mobile’s discounted rate and T-Mobile’s significantly higher rack rate.”
AT&T: Switching speeds unrealistic
Besides the misleading “savings,” the claim about switching an AT&T account over to T-Mobile in 15 minutes is just plain false, according to AT&T. A customer might be able to comparison shop and pick a new plan in 15 minutes, but the idea of switching to a new wireless carrier so that the customer can actually make and receive calls on that carrier’s network generally requires much longer – hours or even days – to complete.
AT&T points to TV commercials like the one starring Billy Bob Thornton where the actor says: “You can switch from your phone in just 15 minutes,” and another commercial with Druski saying, without qualification, that customers can “switch to T-Mobile in just 15 minutes.”
Taking ad spats to court
This isn’t the first time AT&T has called out T-Mobile for its advertising practices. Back in October, AT&T launched a campaign starring the actor Luke Wilson talking about the “untruths” that T-Mobile spreads about network superiority.
In a press release at the time, AT&T said that the BBB’s National Advertising Division (NAD) asked T-Mobile to correct its marketing claims 16 times over the course of the last four years – one correction per quarter. NAD didn’t like that and sent a “cease and desist” letter to AT&T saying it should not be using NAB decisions in advertising or promotion materials.
AT&T filed suit against the NAD, saying its ads were protected by the First Amendment. NAD is not a government entity but was set up for industries to self-regulate and make sure U.S. advertising is truthful and not misleading.
In the end, AT&T’s dispute with NAD was settled out of court in December, with BBB National Programs retracting its cease-and-desist letter and stating that NAD rules and procedures do not prohibit TV networks from broadcasting AT&T’s commercial. The organization noted that statements AT&T made about T-Mobile were based on publicly available information published by BBB National Programs.
AT&T still mad about account access
AT&T's legal filings make it clear that AT&T is still angry about how T-Mobile snuck into AT&T’s computer systems in what it describes as an “audacious effort” to see customer accounts. T-Mobile has argued that customers were simply accessing their own information to make informed decisions about which carrier they want to use, but AT&T contends T-Mobile was illegally scraping AT&T customer account data.
The Texas district court in December granted AT&T’s request for a temporary restraining order and later converted it into a preliminary injunction. But AT&T is seeking a permanent injunction to stop T-Mobile from accessing customer accounts on AT&T’s systems and for violating AT&T’s terms of use.
According to AT&T’s suit, T-Mobile is still offering the switching app to AT&T customers, asking them to either upload PDF copies of their bills or manually entering plan details into the tool.
Fierce reached out to T-Mobile for comment and will update this story if we hear back.