How Do I Get a Long Distance Company to Stop Charging Me Monthly Usage Fees When I Don't Even Use Their Service?? Ahhhhhhhhhh!!
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How Do I Get a Long Distance Company to Stop Charging Me Monthly Usage Fees When I Don't Even Use Their Service?? Ahhhhhhhhhh!!
A very well-known long distance company started charging me monthly service fees last year despite the fact that I don't make long distance calls and I didn't sign up for their service.
I'm not being charged for any actual long distance calls, but simply for being "enrolled" with their company (once again, I never enrolled with them to begin with).
I called back in September and cancelled their service and obtained a refund for the money I had been forced to pay since the long distance service is billed through my local service.
Well, last month I opened my phone bill, and once again there's this same long distance company charging me usage fees for being enrolled with them. No actual long distance calls were made, but there's a charge for being enrolled.
So last month I sat on the phone for an hour between being placed on hold and actual speaking to a real person. Once again, I was told that my service would be cancelled and that I would receive a refund.
I just got this month's bill, and sure enough, not only has the service not been cancelled but they're STILL charging me. So I sat on the phone again for yet another hour and am once again being told that I will receive a refund and this time I'll be placed in their "protection program" free of charge. The protection program supposedly means that I will not be charged for anything unless I actually make a long distance call.
How do I ensure I'm really cancelled this time and that I'll get my refund, and that they won't be charging me yet again on my next bill?
I'm so sick of this. I don't make long distance phone calls and have absolutely no reason to pay for a long distance carrier. My local phone carrier wants to charge me to sign up with long distance through them so the long distance carrier won't keep billing me. I don't want to be charged for anything - I don't make long distance calls - GRRRRRRRR!!
Thanks for letting me vent!! I'm so aggravated!!! Anyone else been through this? Any advice from anyone? Thanks!!
I'm doing the exact same thing! No idea how to make them stop but it is making me insane! Let me know if you find a way to get rid of them permanantly.
First rule in successful complaining: Do it in writing, not by telephone. You don't get put on hold, you get your whole story out (on one page if possible) and you have a record.
Second rule in successful complaining: Direct your letter. In this case, I would go to the phone company's web site and find the name and address of their regional manager or the CEO, and direct the letter to that person.
Third rule in successful complaining: Sometimes it doesn't matter who you address the letter to, but who you send copies to. I had a problem with my phone company service with being charged toll units for calls which were in local area codes and wrote three letters with no success. On the fourth letter I showed a copy to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and my problem was resolved within two weeks, including a full refund.
What I would do first is write a letter to the phone company (don't call - write - see above), detailing when the billing started, how much they have charged you, when they gave you the first refund but DID NOT stop charging you, the steps you have taken to stop them from charging you, and how much of a refund you expect. If you made notes, list the dates of your phone calls and the names of the people you spoke with. At the bottom of the letter show the following:
cc: Illinois Commerce Commission (527 E. Capitol Avenue, Springfield, IL 62701
and
cc: Federal Trade Commission (since telephone companies are federally regulated) (Midwest Region, Federal Trade Commission
55 East Monroe Street, Suite 1860
Chicago, IL 60603-5701)
You might, in your letter, say who your long distance carrier was (or how you were accessing long distance services) and that you believe you have been "slammed". (Slamming, that is, switching your phone service without your permission or through fradulent practices, is a serious, serious no-no to the FTC.)
Here is the link to filing a complaint with the Illinois Commerce Commission, which oversees utilities:
http://www.icc.state.il.us/ci/publicutility.aspx
And, here is the link to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission:
https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_SUBMIT_FLAG=Y
But first try the letter with the copies show, mail the copies, and give it about 3 weeks. Keep a copy of the letter.
Tink: In California it is the California Public Utility Commission: http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/ gives you the address and a link to a complaint form.
The FTC addresses in California are:
Western Region
Federal Trade Commission
901 Market Street, Suite 570
San Francisco, CA 94103
Western Region
Federal Trade Commission
10877 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 700
Los Angeles, California 90024
For Consumer Complaints contact the Consumer Response Center:
OR, SEND YOUR COPY FOR THE FTC to the Washington DC office.
By mail: Consumer Response Center, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20580
Now - how did I get this information? I googled - Illinois (or California) utility commission, and FTC
That's slamming, if you didn't give them permission to enroll you. Your phone book should have information in the front of it on what to do if you are slammed. Mine talks about TX law, and it says the company who "slammed" you has to do these things:
1. Pay all costs associated with returning you to your original carrier.
2. Provide all billing records to your original carrier within 10 business days of request.
3. Pay your original telephone company the amount you would have payed them had you not been slammed
4. refund to you within 30 business days any amount you paid for charges during the first 30 days after being slammed, and any amount OVER what you would have paid your original company for charges after the first 30 days.
If you have been slammed you can change your carrier back immediately by calling your local telephone company. (For me this is Sprint, and no matter who my LD carrier is, they have the ability to change it to them or no carrier if I request it.) You can also ask your phone company to "freeze" your carriers, which prevents slamming by requiring you to lift the freeze before any changes be made. HTH
Oh, and you don't have to have ANY long distance carrier... I don't because we use our cells.
I'm just guessing that it's MCI....that happened to us - I REFUSED to pay any of their bills, and never used the service. I called my local telephone company and told them to DROP the long distance carrier - they actually have a "fee" if you choose to have *no* carrier. Now I just use 10-10-987 for the very few long-distance calls I make that I can't use my cell for. Good luck and good riddance to pushy phone companies! )
When I lived in IL this hapened to me. Any long distance company can take over your long distance without your permission. I don't know how or why, but we spent many phone calls figuring this out. Our regular L D carrier had to send us a form that stated that we did not want any other company but them period. I had to sign it and send it back to them and it never happened again. I forget what they called this but I think it is very common.
I have the same issue right now, it's with AT&T. I think I will sit down and write a letter today...
Sarah, here's a link to the information about the utility commission in Virginia:
http://www.scc.virginia.gov/division/puc/consumer/complaint.htm
You will see that they ask that you write to the utility first to give them an opportunity to resolve the issue. I would still show a cc to the commmission at the bottom of the letter - AT&T doesn't have to know if you wait a couple of weeks before mailing the copy to the commission with a cover letter telling them that AT&T has not responded (if they have not). And I would copy the FTC also.
This happened to me with Sprint. Sprint was listed as my long distance carrier. I never used it. Then they sent me a post card saying they were now going to charge me a monthly fee even though I didn't make calls.
I called Sprint to cancel. I cancelled it.
To make it "official" I also had to call my phone company. I had to tell them that I had cancelled Sprint. And it worked.
Sprint didn't *tell* me I had to call my phone company, I just happen to call them bec I wanted to ask them about the cost of their long distance services. Then my phone company told me it was a good thing I called bec I needed to tell them I had cancelled Sprint. This is to prevent slamming.
Ginny to the rescue!!!! Thanks for the valuable information. I'm writing my letter tonight, but I'm so frustrated I'm almost considering signing up for long distance with my local carrier just to relieve my frustration and get an immediate end to this irritating situation (for a fee, for Pete's sake). It's shameful that these companies can conduct business in this manner.
Joy, I would encourage you to write the letter anyhow. I do believe you will get all of your money refunded and, as Crystal points out, may well have to pay extra money to your regular carrier as well. And by sending a copy of your letter to your utility commission and the FTC they will get letters from both of those agencies which they MUST respond to - which also costs them money. Given the aggravation you've experienced, why not cost them some money? And, why pay a fee to your local carrier? AND, it really, really puts you on the list of people they don't want to mess with in the future.
Oh, and since the charges are being billed through your local carrier, you should send your local carrier a copy of the letter also - send it Attention: Customer Service, and also show that cc at the bottom of your letter to the long distance carrier. That will put your local carrier on notice that they should not be passing these charges on to you.
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