They are small amounts, usually overlooked by most customers and, according to recent Federal Communications Commission estimates, affect 15 million to 20 million American households.
We are
talking about mystery fees on your phone bills, and chances are you have paid
them at some point. These mysterious charges are usually buried deep inside
phone bills, generally appearing under generic descriptions – minute use fee,
activation, member fee, voice mail or Web hosting. The catch is, these fees
often total just a few dollars, so they can be easy to overlook. But we all
know how, over a span of time, a couple of dollars can begin to add up.
The FCC
on July 12 voted to seek public comments on new proposed rules which would make
it easier for customers to detect and challenge mystery fees on their phone
bills, and on July 13, the Senate held hearings on the topic.
Sen. Jay
Rockefeller, D-West Virginia, referred to a one-year study by the Commerce,
Science and Transportation Committee which shows about $2 billion a year in
“mystery fees” appearing on Americans’ landline phone bills of Americans (a
problem known as cramming).
During
the hearing, according to a CNN report, Rockefeller asked an industry representative
why major companies like AT&T haven’t curtailed unauthorized third-party
charges from going onto customers’ phone bills.
“It’s
illegal, it’s wrong, it’s scamming,” Rockefeller said. “Why haven’t you cleaned
up your act?”
We agree,
and wonder the same thing.
Consider
this: According to the Commerce Committee’s report, phone companies receive a
small fee - often just one dollar or two - for allowing charges from
third-party vendors to appear on their bills. Due to the large number of
customers, the charges eventually add up. The report also points out that
AT&T, Verizon and Qwest made $650 million during the past five years.
Even
worse, rarely are any of these fees justified.
For
example, the state of Illinois has brought a number of lawsuits in an attempt
to fight cramming. Attorney General Lisa Madigan told the panel that her
investigations indicate in most cases customers are not even getting services
in return, according to CNN.
“From the
beginning, third-party charges on phone bills have been an open invitation to
fraud and deceit. It’s been a scam,” Madigan said. “My office has yet to see a
legitimate third-party charge on a bill.”
So what
could these new rules look like?
For
starters, landline phone companies would be required not only to place
third-party charges in a separate section of phone bills, but also notify
consumers whether they offer the option of blocking such charges. Landline and
wireless carriers would also be required to notify consumers that they can file
complaints with the FCC along with providing the agency's contact information.
Also
under consideration - requiring landline phone companies to offer services that
block third-party fees, or perhaps require landline phone companies to
automatically block third-party fees from consumer bills altogether.
In the
meantime, consider these suggestions from the FCC to protect yourself: Contact
your phone company and opt out of third party billing; Know your phone bill so
that you may recognize unusual charges; Be careful when supplying your name,
address and phone number for promotions, coupons and sweepstakes; Read all
forms and promotional materials before signing up for telephone or other
services; Don’t ignore small charges, which can add up to big amounts.
There’s
no reason these rules should not pass. These mystery fees are obviously
underhanded and a scam to make money.
Brattleboro
(Vt.) Reformer
