Sprint Accused of Overcharging

Sprint, the long-distance subsidiary of General Telephone, was accused today in a class-action civil suit of overcharging its customers for calls made last Thanksgiving and Christmas days. The suit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court simultaneously with a complaint filed with the Public Utilities Commission in San Francisco on behalf of all of Sprint’s estimated 2 million customers.

John R. Phillips, attorney with the Center for Law in the Public Interest, claimed the company fraudulently billed customers for day rates although it had promised that holiday calls could be made between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. at the lower evening rates.