The attorney general of the District of Columbia is suing InPhonic after 2,210 complaints were filed with the D.C. Better Business Bureau against the company in the last three years. InPhonic resolved about 1,600 complaints. About 1,400 of the complaints involved refund practices, advertising and selling practices, or credit or billing problems. InPhonic sells wireless phones and services from multiple manufacturers and carriers through Web sites such as wirefly.com and A1wireless.com. The suit pointed out InPhonic's rebate practices, saying that the company made rebates difficult for customers to obtain. One example from 2004 alleges InPhonic required consumers to send in a wireless bill at least 120 days old to qualify for certain rebates--but at the same time, the document had to be postmarked within 120 days of service activation in order to get the rebate. The company denies the allegations.
For more about the D.C. attorney general's suit against InPhonic:
- read this article from The Washington Post