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They call and offer a "free"
service, such as a no-cost Web site or Internet yellow pages listing. They trick you
into saying "yes" - to just about anything.
Sometimes, they don't even bother calling. And
suddenly, there's an extra $30 charge on your phone bill. It's an old scam, known as
"cramming," but there appears to be a fresh epidemic of it.
The company at the center of the accusations,
ILD
Teleservices, says it's an innocent third-party billing firm. But either way, scores
of customers are hopping mad about $30, $50, even $80 charges that are
peppering phone bills all around the country.
Cramming is one byproduct of the deregulation
of the telephone industry. To open the system to increased competition, local phone
companies have to lease their phone lines to outside firms who want to sell
competitive services. It's perfectly legal for a third party company to sell a home
voice mail service to you, billed through your home phone bill.
Shady telecommunications companies are
unfortunately taking advantage of the fact that local phone companies have no stake in
verifying that
consumers agreed to pay for such services, so they "cram" charges on phone
bills, hoping consumers won't notice.
These charges are coming from companies with
names like Liberty Online, Venus Voicemail, National Online Services, Horizon and ILAB
INET. But they all have one thing in common; ILD Teleservices does their
billing. The Federal Trade Commission said it
received 170 cramming complaints against ILD
Teleservices between October - December of 2002.
Consumers are responsible for discovering
cramming charges on their own. So that means the only
safeguard against unwanted fees is detailed examination of the monthly bill. The
best defense is to call your local phone company and ask it to shut off "third-party
billing." That prevents companies from adding charges onto local phone
bills.
If you do find that you have been charged for
services in error, do not pay the charges. Phone service cannot be disconnected for
non-payment of the third-party
portion of a phone bill. However, the third-party
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