Cell Carriers To Reimburse Customers For Misleading 'Cramming' Charges

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- You could be owed hundreds of dollars from your cell phone company and not even know it.

As CBS2's Alice Gainer reported, carriers are reimbursing customers, but time if running out to claim the cash.

"I just got a notification that my bill is due and I just pay it," Josseline Rios said.

If you don't look at your bill you might miss something.

"Even though I never signed up for a gaming service, I somehow was signed up through some app I downloaded to keep adding credits and it was automatically adding money to my bill every month," Yadira Garcia said.

It's called cramming. Customers socked with third party charges for unauthorized ringtone, app, and game fees.

Sometimes the charges are disguised as service fees.

"If I hadn't looked at that, that's maybe like two years ago now, that would've been like 30, 45, that would've been adding up," Garcia said.

In 2013, the Federal Trade Commission investigated major wireless carriers and reached a multi-million dollar settlement.

The practice of cramming is now illegal and so far AT&T and T-Mobile are paying up.

"They have to give you back the money if they overcharged you. For tens of thousands of New Yorkers it means hundreds and hundreds of dollars," said U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.)

The deadline for AT&T customers is Friday. T Mobile customers have until June.

You can either call for more information, mail, or fill out a claim online, providing your name and cell phone number.

If you qualify for a refund keep in mind that it could take at least 9 months to get.