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Be aware that
charges for many types of services can appear on your phone bill. In
addition to billing for its own services, your phone company may bill
you on behalf of other companies for services they sell such as voice
mail, paging, or Internet access – even for club memberships and
other types of services. Cramming is when a company charges you
through your telephone bill for extra services that you never agreed
to buy.
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Read the fine print.
Contest entry forms, product coupons, checks and other promotional
materials could include an agreement to buy a service that will be
charged to your phone number.
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Beware of imposters.
Someone posing as a representative from your phone company may try to
trick you by asking about your satisfaction with your service or
telling you about a service change. A “yes” answer to a question
could be tape-recorded and used as proof that you agreed to buy a new
service. Ask for the caller’s name and number, and contact your
phone company to find out if the call was legitimate.
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Look at “junk
mail” carefully. It could be a “negative option” notice that
you will be charged for a service unless you contact the company to
cancel it.
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Don’t return calls
to numbers on your pager or voice mail that you don’t recognize.
A crammer may use Automatic Number Identification to see the number
you’re dialing from and process an unauthorized request for service.
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Check your phone
bill carefully. If you are unsure about charges that appear on
your bill, call the number listed on that page for billing questions
and ask for an explanation. Keep on checking, because even if the
charges are removed one month, they may pop up again the next month.
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You aren’t
responsible for charges you never authorized. But it’s important
to notify your local phone company about the problem and pay the rest
of the bill on time.
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Ask your local
telephone company about “bill blocking.” There may be a way to
prevent someone from putting charges for extra services on your phone
bill unless you have confirmed directly with the phone company that
you agreed to purchase them.
