T-Mobile owes the FCC $40 million for playing fake ringtones in unconnected calls

Yes it says,
** FCC SPECIAL OFFER !! **
** BREAK THE LAW !! **
** CHEAT !! **
** LIE !! **
** DECEIVE YOUR CUSTOMERS !! **
** ONLY $40 MILL !! **
Terms and conditions apply. Offer open to u.s. corporations only.

 

Don't think for a second these companies don't feel the sting. Perhaps, maybe, not so much from the fine itself, but for sure from the bad publicity.

Look at Wells Fargo - looking at $1Billion in fines. They are worth nearly $250Billion so $1Billion is little more than a sting. But their reputation took a big hit with estimates up to $99Billion in lost deposits. And 4 top execs were fired too.

 

The public & their monies react differently to Banking wrongs vs Cellular company wrongs. Phone carriers hardly feel any financial consequences in comparison.

 

We'll just have to disagree then. These phone companies are in extremely tight competition. Any fine is taking away profits which they need for overhead as well as R&D and expansion. And for the record, consumers have not been loyal to their cell phone carriers in many years. http://money.cnn.com/2012/03/26/technology/cell-phone-customers/index.htm

And no industry is immune - again, maybe the fines don't sting but the bad publicity does. Volkswagen ended up with over $4Billion in fines (for the US alone) but lost sales were much greater.

AT&T Fined $100 million.