Is your phone bill cheating you?

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June 2, 2008

Some local customers 'slammed' and 'crammed"

By DAN HEATH The Press Republican Mon Jun 02, 2008, 12:00 AM EDT

PLATTSBURGH -- Area residents may be paying excess and unauthorized phone charges without their knowledge.

Devi Currier Momot, chief executive officer of TwinState-Voice-Data-Video, said the company has noticed a big increase in "slamming" and "cramming" charges included in customer phone bills.

"We have to get the message out to our customers, because a lot of them are having unauthorized charges included in their bills," she said. "One (commercial) customer last month had more than $1,000 in unauthorized charges."

On one of the disputed bills provided by TwinState, Enhanced Services Billing Inc., based in San Antonio, Texas, was responsible for 28 disputed charges that totaled $392.60 on one page alone.

The company has an unsatisfactory record with the Better Business Bureau office that serves Central and South Texas, where they had 157 complaints in the last 36 months.

Momot said the problem is more often associated with land-line services and is not as prevalent with cell-phone service.

According to a consumer guide published by the New York State Public Service Commission, slamming is "a situation where your telephone service is switched from the telephone company you have selected to another company without your legitimate authorization."

The commission describes cramming as "a practice where a company places unauthorized charges for telephone and non-telephone related services on your local telephone bill. Some of these charges may appear on your telephone bill in terms that do not clearly state what service was provided, such as enhanced services,' access,' activation' or minimum-usage fees.'"

Both practices can occur in a number of different ways. Those include entry forms for sweepstakes or other contests, surveys, telemarketing, 900 numbers and free offers for other services.

The commission's slamming guide states federal law requires truthful marketing, full disclosure and written or third-party verification to switch providers.

Consumers have the option of placing a Pre-subscribed Interexchange Carrier (PIC) freeze to help prevent an unauthorized change of service provider. However, the consumer can still be slammed by a phone company that rents lines from your preferred carrier and resells that service.

A Federal Communications Commission fact sheet on cramming states its Truth-in-Billing rules require phone companies to clearly state services for which you will be billed. If the bill contains charges from additional companies, they must identify that company and provide contact information so consumers can dispute charges.

The FCC advises consumers to carefully check every phone bill for unauthorized charges. If you spot what you believe is an unauthorized charge, the consumer should call the company listed for that charge.

Many fraudulent companies bill for a number of small charges. TwinState's Karyn Ward said companies often keep callers on hold for lengthy stretches hoping the caller will give up.

Momot said the problems occur more often with larger service providers, who often allow numerous additional service providers access to their lines. Local companies such as Westelcom and PrimeLink don't allow access to as many resellers as the major companies do, she said.

Momot said targets are not just large companies, but everyday people who have a land-line phone.

"We hate to see companies take advantage of perfectly innocent people," she said.

dheath@pressrepublican.com