So what is “Cramming”? “Cramming” is the practice of placing unauthorized, misleading, or deceptive charges on your telephone bill. Companies that fraudulently cram people seem to depend largely on confusing telephone bills in order to mislead consumers into paying for services that they did not authorize or receive.
Local telephone companies often bill their customers for long distance and other services that other companies provide. When the local company, the long distance carrier, or another type of service provider either accidentally or intentionally sends inaccurate billing data to be included on the consumer’s local telephone bill, cramming occurs. “Cramming” shows up in many forms, and can be hard to detect unless you go over your phone bill very carefully.
How to Protect Yourself from Cramming:
• Review your monthly phone bill each and every month, just as if it were a bank statement or credit card statement.
• Check to make sure you recognize all the names of the companies listed on your bill. Keep track of what services were provided by listed companies, and learn what fees are for what service.
• If you don’t know what service was provided for a charge listed on your bill, call your telephone or long distance company and ask them to explain the charges.
• Make sure you know what even “small” charges are for. Crammers often try to go undetected by submitting $2.00 or $3.00 charges to thousands of consumers.
• Keep a record of the telephone services you have authorized and used - including calls placed to 900 numbers and other types of telephone information services. These records can be helpful when billing descriptions are unclear.
• Carefully read all forms and promotional materials, including the fine print, before signing up for telephone services or other services to be billed on your phone bill. Contact your agent or company with any questions you may have.
What to Do if You’ve Been Crammed:
• Immediately call the company that charged you for calls you did not place, or charged you for services you did not authorize or use. Ask the company to explain the charges. Request an adjustment to your bill for any incorrect charges.
• You can also report incidences of cramming to the FCC.
So what is “Slamming”?
“Slamming” is the practice of switching a customer’s long distance carrier without his or her knowledge or consent. It is illegal, under Section 258 of the Telecommunications Act.
How to Protect Yourself from Slamming:
• You can freeze your existing carrier, which prohibits another carrier from claiming that it has been authorized to request a carrier change on behalf of the consumer.
• Review your phone bills carefully each month. If you see any unfamiliar names, or charges that you cannot identify, call your local phone company and ask about these items. Never sign anything without reading it carefully.
• If you receive a phone call about long distance service and you are not interested in switching your service, be sure to tell the caller that you are not interested in receiving his or her service.
• If someone sends you a letter or postcard “verifying” that you have switched services when you did not initiate or consent to the switch, notify them that you did not authorize the change, then call your local telephone company to confirm that you are still with your preferred carrier.
What to do if you’ve Been Slammed:
• Call your local telephone company and tell them that you did not order service from the new long distance carrier and you would like to be reconnected to your long distance company. Also, tell your local phone company that you want any switching fees (charges for switching companies) taken off your bill.
• Next, call the long distance company you were switched from and report the switch. Ask to be reconnected. You should not be charged for this reconnection.
• Call the company that slammed you and let them know that all charges within 30 days of the slamming should be removed from the bill. Any other charges should be reduced to those that would have been charged by the authorized carrier. If this carrier will not adjust these charges, contact the FCC.
If you are unable to resolve your complaint with the company that switched your service, you can file a complaint with the FCC.
FCC Contact Methods
FCC stands for Federal Communications Commission and it is the governing body over telecommunications services in the United States. To contact the FCC, you can reach them by mail, phone or the web below:
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20554
Website: www.fcc.gov
Email address: fccinfo@fcc.gov
Phone: 1-888-CALL-FCC
TTY Phone Number: 1-888-TELL-FCC
As an independent government agency, the FCC is responsible for the regulation of radio, wire communications, satellite, cable and television as dictated in the Communications Act of 1934. The FCC also provides tons of consumer information about the above services and is committed to helping consumers protect themselves from and report fraud.
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