Submitted by: Elaine Karsner

Customers, PSC should slam the phone crammers

EVEN IF they’ve never heard of the practice, Alabamians may want to check their phone bills to see if they’ve been “crammed.”

The Alabama Public Service commission is taking steps to limit the unscrupulous practice, in which companies can sneak recurring charges into your phone bill for services you never asked for.

Third-party companies that are allowed to bill services through phone companies — not the phone companies themselves — are the culprits.

The PSC has demanded that all companies which routinely add charges to phone bills register with the commission by Oct. 1. Then, the companies will be required to give annual reports to the PSC to explain their billing practices and how they notify their customers about charges.

The regulations should allow the PSC to keep a watch on what the companies are doing.

Some of the companies may be legitimate, but the scamming practices of other companies tarnish the reputation of all of them. It’s a nationwide problem.

Some states are passing laws against the practice, and Alabama legislators should consider doing this as well.

The phone companies can’t really be blamed for the problem. They don’t have the resources to check every charge to ensure it is legitimate.

Thus, while the PSC will be looking over the shoulders of the third-party billing companies, consumers need to be alert.

One way phone customers can keep cramming at bay is by calling their phone companies and demanding that third-party billing be turned off.

Individuals also should carefully read their phone bills to identify charges they haven’t agreed to. If a customer finds a crammed charge, he has to call the crammer and file a dispute. Don’t pay the charge unless the company can prove that you knowingly committed to it.

Also, beware of online come-ons. PSC officials say one of the worst they’ve seen in Alabama has been an offer to win a laptop computer. Signing up for a chance to win unwittingly also commits the duped customer to voice mail at $4.95 a month (the obligation is laid out for the customer in very small text under the “terms and conditions” of the contest).

Telemarketers are also notorious for tricking customers and cramming their phone bills.

In a perfect world, businesses wouldn’t trick people into buying their services. But we don’t live in a perfect world, so folks have to beware.

Read your phone bills closely. Better yet, tell your phone company you don’t want any third-party billing.