March 09, 2002 -
LEVIN WARNS CONSUMERS OF NEW TELEPHONE
SCAM - Senate Subcommittee
Attacks One of Michigan's Major Consumer
Complaints, Washington--"The telephone
cramming scam has to be cleaned up," Sen.
Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said today at the
Senate Permanent Subcommittee on
Investigations hearing. "Consumers should
not be billed for telephone services
without their consent. We need to both
raise consumer awareness, and also
determine what more can be done by our
enforcement agencies to control this
problem." The Michigan Public Service
Commission is receiving an average of 10
complaints a day about telephone bills
which includes cramming. These kinds of
complaints have increased over 200% during
the first six months of 1998. Telephone
billing complaints, the majority of which
are cramming complaints, are currently the
#1 complaint to the commission.
"It is critical that consumers carefully
review their telephone bill every month.
Cramming charges often go unnoticed
because they are listed on a phone bill
under nondescript names like 'enhanced
services.' Cramming victims are victims of
deceptive practices and too often are
wittingly paying for services such as
voice mail, paging or personal toll-free
numbers which they did not knowingly
order," Levin said.
In a typical cramming incident, Eric
Anderson attended a fun fair in Pontiac
where he entered a sweepstakes that led to
his father being billed by "Hold Billing
Service" for a phone calling card he
unknowingly ordered when he entered the
sweepstakes. When the Andersons tried to
cancel the service, the company refused to
discuss cancellation and hung up. The
Federal Trade Commission recently took
action against Hold Billing Service.
There are several agencies that can be
contacted to get information and to report
cramming scams. Two are the Federal Trade
Commission, which protects consumers
against deceptive practices, and the
Federal Communications Commission, which
has jurisdiction over telecommunications
companies. The attached "Consumer Alert on
Cramming" provides tips on how to avoid
being victimized and what to do if you are
crammed.
Consumer Alert:
Phone Bill Savings - Featured
link: What To Do About Phone Cramming:
Call the Shots (Philadelphia Inquirer,
6/10/1998), Your local phone bill can
contain charges from many businesses
besides just your local phone company and
your pre-subscribed long distance
carriers. There can be charges from
pay-per-call services, collect calls,
"dial-around" services, and even charges
that have nothing to do with phone
service. In large part, this is a result
of the deregulation of the
telecommunications industry, and the right
of third parties to have their charges
appear on your local phone bill. These
charges can appear even if you have
900/976 blocking...
March 21,
2002 -
“Honey, George Bush is on the line” - CHICAGO, From The
Economist print edition, Politicians can now phone millions of voters...
Unfortunately, AP, A TYPICAL evening in Chicago. First the mayor,
Richard Daley, rings up to speak about the Illinois Democratic primary
on March 19th. Not long after that, Senator Richard Durbin and former
Senator Paul Simon both phone to give their thoughts. Then Gloria
Steinem calls to mention how much she likes the Republican candidate for
governor...
March 21, 2002 -
Spam: It's completely out of control - By Stefanie Olsen, Special to ZDNet News,
Chris Lewis walks a tightrope every day as leader of a spam-eradication
team at a major telecommunications company. He is the guardian of
roughly 45,000 employees' e-mail in-boxes, protecting against
unsolicited commercial messages that are nearly doubling in number every
five months--and costing an estimated $1 per piece in lost productivity.
But perhaps just as important is Lewis' ability to field the bad mail
without discarding the good, such as potential business leads...
March 18, 2002 -
TELETRUTH: A NEW NATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR CUSTOMERS' TELECOM AND BROADBAND
RIGHTS IS FORMED. - New York, TeleTruth, a new national, independent,
customer alliance focusing telecommunications and broadband service
issues, was launched today by a pro-customers alliance of 25 companies
and independent industry observers. The organization was created to
defend the public's interests, educate and inform customers on how
to combat monopoly control, promote competitive fairness and innovation
within the industry and accelerate the deployment of advanced networks
and services...
