AG files petition against third-party charges

TALLAHASSEE, FL – Attorney General Bill McCollum and Public Counsel J. R.
 Kelly today filed a petition before the Florida Public Service Commission
 (PSC) seeking a prohibition against all Florida telecommunication
 companies from placing unauthorized third-party charges on consumers’
 telephone bills. The charges are usually for products or services not
 requested, authorized, needed nor used by the consumer. The companies
 named in today’s petition include Embarq, and Verizon, as well as
 BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc., which does business as AT&T Florida
 and AT&T Southeast.

 “This practice of phone companies placing unauthorized charges on
 telephone bills has increased dramatically in recent years and must not be
 allowed to continue,” said Attorney General McCollum. “Florida consumers
 have a right to expect their telephone bills will not be used as a billing
 and collection service for every vendor selling its wares.”

 Attorney General McCollum and Public Counsel Kelly have asked the PSC to
 declare that the statutory authority relating to telephone companies does
 not permit billing for non-telecommunication vendor products and services,
 and that billing for such charges by the telecommunication companies is
 prohibited. The petition, which addresses a practice known as “cramming,”
 was prepared by the Attorney General’s Economic Crimes Division with the
 Office of the Public Counsel. Cramming occurs when unauthorized charges
 are added to phone service bills often without the consumer’s knowledge or
 consent.

 “Telecommunication companies should be concerned with serving their
 customers, not adding on third-party charges for profit," said Public
 Counsel J. R. Kelly. "Consumers should not have to pay for services they
 neither wanted nor authorized.”

 Through internet advertising and telemarketing, vendors are able to bill
 for their products and services by obtaining the telephone numbers of
 unsuspecting consumers. For example, consumers accepting free coupons and
 other free benefits over the internet often do not realize that, when they
 provide their phone number as part of the acceptance, they may be
 unknowingly approving the purchase of some other unwanted product or
 service. Once vendors of these services have a phone number, they forward
 any charges to a billing aggregator, which in turn provides the charges to
 the consumer's local telephone companies for placement on the consumer's
 monthly bill. The local telephone companies and the aggregators both earn
 a certain percentage of the total amount of charges billed to consumer
 telephone bills.

 Consumers frequently complain about these products and services, which
 include voicemail boxes and other non-essential items, but are unaware of
 whom to contact for resolution and reimbursement. Other consumers are
 often unaware of the unauthorized vendor charges because of the length and
 complexity of telephone bills. From July 2007 to August 2008, Florida
 telecommunication companies billed approximately 387,000 Florida consumers
 for third-party charges totaling over $26.9 million.

 The Attorney General advises all consumers who have discovered cramming
 charges on their phone bills to file a complaint with the Attorney
 General’s Office by calling 1-866-966-7226 or by filling out a complaint
 form online at: http://myfloridalegal.com/phonecompanies. Consumers may
 also contact their local telephone company to obtain a “block” on all
 third-party non-telecommunication charges on their telephone bills.

 A copy of the petition is available online at: http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/KGRG-7PCQ3T/$file/PSC-Cramming-Petition.pdf