Residential and Local Telephone Bill Complaints | Unauthorized Third Party Phone Bill Charges
If you were charged on your residential or local phone bill for third party services and subscriptions (i.e., voicemail, internet access, web hosting, email, caller-id services or other premium services “billed on behalf of” third party merchants, etc.) that you never authorized or ordered, tell us your story!
–Report Unauthorized Local Telephone Bill Charges–
What is Cramming?
Cramming refers to the placing of unauthorized, misleading, or deceptive charges on your telephone bill. The term was coined to express the idea that such charges are often hidden or “crammed” in obscure fashions within consumers’ bills so that they are difficult to notice.
What are Third Party Charges?
In addition to providing local telephone service, local telephone companies often bill their customers for long distance and other services that other companies provide. Local telephone companies have billing and collection contracts with a wide variety of companies and industries relating to telecommunications.
This billing method offers an easy and convenient way for both companies and consumers to deal with billing for telecommunications services, but also presents a convenient route for fraud if not used properly. If a local telephone company, long distance telephone company, or another type of service provider either accidentally or intentionally places unauthorized, misleading, or deceptive charges on your bill, you may have been “crammed.”
Cramming can also occur if a local or long distance company or another type of service provider does not clearly or accurately describe all of the relevant charges to you when marketing a service. Although you may have authorized the service, you did not understand or were misled about how much it would really cost.
Examples of Unauthorized Local Phone Bill Charges
Typical unauthorized charges relate to services to which a customer must subscribe and which are billed on a recurring basis, such as:
- voice mail and mail server fees;
- charges for a variety of Internet services;
- monthly fees associated with calling cards;
- caller-id services;
- informational services (weather, sports, credit counseling, etc.);
- dues for membership in certain programs or plans;
- “service fees” “service charges” “minimum monthly usage fee” and ”other fees”; and
- any other recurring fee for services that were not authorized by the customer.
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If you were charged on your local residential telephone bill for third party services and subscriptions that you never authorized, tell us your story!
–Contact A Class Action Attorney–
OAN Services – this company has billed me now 2 months in a row for “voicemail server fees”. I called them (1-800-944-0171) and complained. They claim it will take 1-2 billing cycles to credit my accounts. They claim I requested their services through a web site and I told them they are wrong but that I have actaully filed two complaints with the FCC in this regard. My phone service provider (Verizon) has also taken my complaint and knows that I will not be paying these charges. Through Verizon, I have also blocked any other 3rd party billings from occurring. Can companies like OAN be made to pay damages for what they are doing and be put out of business?
December 5th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Please take charges from 10 15 15 8000 off of my bill. Thanks.
January 17th, 2009 at 11:09 am
My AT&T residential phone bill has been charged $19.95/mo for the last 3 months by The Billing Resource (known for fraud) on behalf of Business to Business Online, Inc, who apparently provides online services for business, but the website is very generic and non-descript of the services they provide. It appears to be a front for a fake business. AT&T credited me the first month but has refused to credit the other months. Calling The Billing Resource directs you to call Business to Business Online, and calling them is a joke. You get voicemail or put on hold endlessly. The online dispute form requires extensive personal information completely unnecessary for any company to properly handle a billing complaint.
February 4th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
I work for a government entity. We are constantly getting ‘crammed’ on our phone bills. I am also being billed for “Business to Business” online, and have not had any luck trying to actually reach a live person. I couldn’t find them online so if anyone knows of the website for this scam company, please post it?
February 16th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
got charged $7.64 for call I did not make to 101-515-8000. Complained to verizon and was told a credit will appear on my bill in one or two billing cycles. I have never made operator assisted calls. Check your bills carefully so you don’t get scammed.
June 29th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
ESBI crammed charges of $12.95 plus State and local communication taxes for a service called MyInfoGuard Voice Mail ID Theft (interesting choice of names) on my Verizon phone bill. When I called the 800 number for billing questions they quickly agreed to credit me back for three months (shame on me for not noticing it sooner as I had been billed for 10 months)but since I knew I had not authorized this charge I wanted a full refund. I was told to fax my request to their processing center (they don’t take phone calls) at 813-449-5163 which I did. I recieved a return fax from Jodi L. detailing how they had verified my request for this service several times before begining the billing therefore they would only credit me the three months. I faxed back stating that this was not acceptable and I intended to pursue this until I get a full refund. The next fax assured me I will recieve a full refund on my Verizon bill within 1 to 2 billing cycles. Don’t take the first NO as a final answer, keep after them! I also filed a complaint with the FCC and FTC and also instructed Verizon to block any further attempts at cramming on my phone bill. One more important note – on the bill it states that “your local phone service will not be disconnected for failure to pay the charges on this portion of your bill but the service provider may pursue collections independently” My guess is that they won’t attempt to collect.
July 10th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
I was charged $12.13 by ILD Teleservices for two DIR ASSIST calls to 101 515-8000. I called the number on my bill 800-433-4518 and they told me they would send me a check for the $12.13, BUT to go ahead and pay the full bill from AT&T. I can only hope that ILD or AT&T or whomever sends me the check for $12.13. This is infuriating that this goes on. Check your bill carefully. I noticed because the amount of our bill is almost always the same and this time was more.
January 29th, 2010 at 7:37 pm
The Billing Resource – this company has only billed me for one month of “Nationwide Voicemail Service Fees and Setup” which I never authorized. I called them (1-866-492-5849) and complained immediately upon receipt of the only bill with these charges and they said they will remove the fees ($18.37). They claim it will take 1-2 billing cycles to credit my account, but it’s already been a month and a half and they still have not credited me for this charge. They claim somebody else (turned out to be my next door neighbor (!!!) requested their services through a website under MY phone number and I told them they are wrong because my neighbor was standing right there with me when I called and said he never did any such thing. My phone service provider (Verizon) has also taken my complaint and knows that I will not be paying these charges. Through Verizon, I have also blocked any other 3rd party billings, which is a free service. How do these companies get away with billing some other person for a service that was never requested???
April 3rd, 2010 at 9:26 am
I moved in January 2010, I moved my local at&t phone service to my new address,long distance calls are blocked from being dialed from my phone. I don’t have a long distance carrier. When I received my first bill in February I was being charged long distance service fees from a company Excel telecommunications, for 11/2009, 12/2009, 1/2010, I called at&t and told them I never contracted for this service, they told me to call Excel and dispute the charges, When I contacted Excel I was told that they were billing the phone number that belonged marjorie johnson, I must be her when am I going to pay. I informed them that I was not her, that I was just given this phone number by at&t in january 2010 when my service started. Then i was told that i have to prove I wasn’t her, by calling at&t and having them conference call Excel and tell them I was a new customer, so then I called at&t back and asked them to to that, at&t told me that they could not make out going calls and that they couldn’t call excel, that I needed to call them back and and insist they terminate billing to my account. called excel back spoke to supervisor after supervisor only to be told they needed to hear from at&t to stop billing me, so there wasn’t anything I could do. In March 2010 after still receiving bills from excel a rep at at&t credited my account for the charges and blocked excel from charging my at&t account, the excel would now bill me seperately and I could take care of it that way. April 2010 bill arrives I see the credit for excel charges, but I am also still being billed for their service for 3/2010 service. So now it seems excel won’t do anything, but continue to bill me for service that isn’t mine, at&t won’t stop it, they claim its up to me not their job, (didn’t they assign me this phone number from the beginning). So I am caught in a never ending circle, and being threatened with collections, and reported on my credit report for non payment of service, that I never contracted for…so I get my credit ruined over this. What do need to do? How can a company even charge you for long distance service , you don’t even have long distance and you have blocked any long distance calls being made from your phone. Excel Telecommunication is ruining my credit, harassing me, and messing up my at&t phone service, at&t now wants me to put a deposit up for local phone service since I refuse to pay for service I didn’t contract for.
May 20th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
USBI – I received an ongoing charge from USBI Unlimited LD Monthly for over 3 years at $19.95 plus $1.25 state tax. In June 2010 I called USBI and they told me that my minor child had signed up for the “service” I told them that my child did not have authorization to add service to my phone. After much discussion and a threat that I would be contacting the Attorney General’s office they agreed to refund over $400.00 to my account. One month after receiving the refund I received a charge on my phone bill for $14.95 from Voiceexpress Vmail. I called them today for a refund, they told me that the same child added the service to my phone. I will be calling Verizon tomorrow and ask them to freeze all additional services on my account. I wouldn’t be surprised if USBI and VMail are the same people.
September 8th, 2010 at 6:48 pm
Excel Communications say i owe them 500.00 for charges. I had unlimited local and long distance now they say my plan was change i ask by who they can not tell me.
September 27th, 2010 at 6:39 pm
I have a bill for $14.95 on my Sept. 28 for OAN Services. I DID NOT REQUEST THIS SERVICE, SUBSCRIBE TO IT NOR DO I WANT TO HAVE IT CONTINUED. I expect to be reimbursed for ths amount and not see these chgarges on my next bill. After I send thid this mail, I will be contacting Frontier and the Wisconsin Better Business Bureau to report this situation. Please get going on rectifuing this situation. M.
Thums
October 24th, 2010 at 5:55 pm
I have a bill for $14.95 on my Sept. 28th bill from Frontier for OAN Services. I DID NOT REQUEST THIS SERVICE, SUBSCRIBE TO IT NOR DO I WANT TO HAVE IT CONTINUED. I expect to be reimbursed for ths amount and not see these chgarges on my next bill. After I send thid this mail, I will be contacting Frontier and the Wisconsin Better Business Bureau to report this situation. Please get going on rectifuing this situation. Madelyne Thums 715-223-2943
October 24th, 2010 at 5:57 pm
How does this OAN services inc. company (Phoneticom LLC) allowed to ‘cram’ things onto the “Frontier” company’s bill? Please include me in the class action lawsuit against this phony company, against “Frontier” as well as against Verizon. They are the ones that ‘slammed’ us from Verizon to Frontier!
November 3rd, 2010 at 9:42 pm
I just received bill for $14.95 from Oan Services on my Frontier bill, I called Oan and they canceled this, but said I still have to pay the one listed. I then contacted Frontier, who said they would not do anything and they hung up on me.I had agreement with Verizon before Frontier took over, that no 3rd party billings on my account and no long distance on my account. That was when Frontier hung up. Apparently they are not a good company. I will be disconnecting my land line with them.
November 17th, 2010 at 9:49 am
AT&T (Bell South in 1998) charged me approximately $10.00 per month for six months from Apr-Sep 98 for a fee concerning a computer. I didn’t own a computer until years later. AT&T allowed USBI to collect through me. AT&T said they were forced to, but the FCC said it was the option of AT&T (Bell South). It took me six months to get USBI to stopped charging me and I could not get a refund. This was on the same phone number I have now.
December 7th, 2010 at 4:38 pm
I am being charged a bill every month on my att&t phone bill by a company called webtvextreme I did not order this service! In November they had a charge of $40.93. My december bill a charge of $59.96. I am a widow lady on lifeline service.I want a refund and also I want this stopped!!
January 10th, 2011 at 4:49 pm
I have to call Paymentone Corp. on behalf of this webtvextreme every time I get my phone bill. They tell me they canceled the service. My complaint..I did not order their service!!!
January 10th, 2011 at 4:54 pm