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First There Was Slamming, Now There Is Cramming Most of us are familiar with slamming, the practice of changing long-distance phone service without the consumer's express permission. But a new scam has started to appeared cramming. Cramming is when unordered, unwanted phone services are added to your phone bill. Local telephone companies have handled billing for long-distance carriers for many years. But recently, the local companies have also begun handling billings for other services. These services may include a personal 800 number, paging or voice mail. While it is easy to determine whether you have signed up for these services, other services carry vague names such as "enhanced services," "Internet access," or "message service." In some cases consumers have been tricked into purchasing these unwanted services when they filled out a sweepstake entry or called a psychic hotline for 30 "free" minutes. But in most cases the consumer has not given any authorization. The charges usually appear with a disclaimer from your phone company that this portion of your bill is provided as a service to the company identified. Your local telephone company also makes it clear that there is no connection between it and the company for which it is providing the service. Unfortunately, that makes it difficult to have the charges removed. Your local company will block all future charges from any company you identify, but it will advise you that you must talk to the company that is billing you for the specific charges. The company billing you is often just a billing service, and once you block that company, the original crammer just switches to another billing service. To protect yourself against cramming, be sure to scrutinize each charge on your monthly phone bill. Report any unauthorized charges to your phone company immediately and ask them to put a block on future charges. Immediately call the company that charged you for the service you did not authorize. Ask the company to explain the charges and request a billing adjustment for incorrect charges. Also ask the company to discontinue the service. As a precaution, do not call unfamiliar 800 or 900 phone numbers. Look for small print which informs you that by calling this number you will be authorizing "services." Avoid entering contests that require you to sign an entry form without reading the fine print carefully. Beware of "free" offers that require you to provide your phone number. The Indiana legislature outlawed the practice of cramming almost a year ago. Current law allows the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to refer violators to the state attorney general's office for investigation of deceptive business practices. If you are an Indiana telephone customer and think you have been crammed, you can call the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission's Consumer Affairs Division at (800) 851-4268 or the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor at (888) 441-2494. You can also file a complaint with the FTC (for unwanted non-telephone services, such as psychic hotlines) or the FCC (for telephone-related services and charges). Call the FTC's Consumer Response Center at (202) 326-3128. § |
