telephone slamming
long distance telephone service - - corrupt practices - - united states. | telephone slamming - - united states - - auditing .
telecommunications [ electronic resource ]: telephone slamming and its harmful effects: report to the ch ...
the exploding problem of telephone slamming in america [ microform ]: hearings before the permanent subco ...
telecommunications [ microform ]: telephone slamming and its harmful effects: statement of eljay b. bowr ...
and it is not just the smaller, less well - known telephone companies who are facing questions over potential slamming .
slamming is the illegal practice of switching a telephone customer’s long - distance service provider to another carrier without the customer’s permission .
long distance telephone service - - corrupt practices - - united states. | telecommunication - - corrupt practices - - united states. | telephone slamming - - united states - - auditing .
be aware of the methods telephone companies can use to change your authorized telephone company legally. the fcc' s rules require telephone companies to obtain your clear permission to make such a change .
cramming, slamming and ramming are three of a growing number of scams being perpetrated on unaware telephone, wireless and internet customers .
telecommunications [ electronic resource ]: telephone slamming and its harmful effects: report to th... | national library of australia
telecommunications [ microform ]: telephone slamming and its harmful effects: statement of eljay b... . | national library of australia
slamming
- - the unauthorized switching of long - distance telephone service [ microform ]: report made by t ...
ask your local telephone company to place a
freeze
on your account to keep anyone other than you from changing your authorized telephone company selection .
your name and address, the telephone number that was
slammed ,
and a telephone number where you can be reached during the business day .
slamming is the illegal practice of changing your local or long distance telephone service without your permission. before a telephone company can switch a customer, it must obtain the customer’s permission through a written or electronic letter of agency, an electronic verification from the customer’s telephone number or independent third party verification .
the names and telephone numbers of the telephone company employees that you spoke with in an effort to resolve your complaint and the dates you spoke with them .
slamming is the unauthorized switching of a consumer’s local or long distance telephone service to a different company, and it can result in higher rates and unnecessary fees .
victims of slamming should complain to the telephone company in the first instance. if that' s unsuccessful, ofcom has two arbitration services - urltoken or cisas at urltoken
feel the love this month with one month free professional telephone answering for your business .
for more on cramming, slamming and ramming, visit teletruth’s web site, urltoken .
those who have become victims of slamming can complain to one of two independent schemes .
slamming ,
or switching a consumer' s telephone carrier without his or her knowledge or consent, is prohibited by the fcc' s rules. the commission enforces these rules by investigating individual complaints and patterns of slamming practices and punishes those who slam .
you must include a copy of any bill you are complaining about. please indicate on the copy of the bill the name of the slamming telephone company and the disputed charges .
telecommunications [ electronic resource ]: telephone slamming and its harmful effects: report to the chairman, permanent subcommittee on investigations, committee on governmental affairs, u. s. senate
read your phone bill carefully each month and report unfamiliar charges to your local telephone company .
slamming is the illegal practice of switching a consumer' s traditional wireline telephone company for local, local toll, or long distance service without permission. the fcc' s slamming rules help protect consumers from illegal switches, and provide a remedy if you' ve been slammed. the rules also prohibit unreasonable delays in an authorized switch by your local telephone company .
protecting consumers against slamming [ microform ]: hearing before the subcommittee on telecommunication ...
if you have been slammed, but discover it after you have paid the bill of the slamming company, the slamming company must pay your authorized company 150 percent of the charges you paid the slamming company. out of this amount, your authorized company will reimburse you 50 percent of the charges you paid the slamming company. or, you can ask your authorized company to recalculate and resend your bill using its rates instead of the slamming company' s rates .
you do not have to pay for service up to 30 days after being slammed if you have not paid your bill. this means you do not have to pay either your authorized telephone company or the slamming company. after 30 days, you must pay your authorized company for service, but at its rates, not the slamming company’s rates. please be sure to dispute any unpaid charges from the slamming company with your local telephone provider to avoid any interruption of service .
slamming refers to the practice of deceptively switching a telephone customers long distance carrier, without the customers permission. cramming refers to the practice of placing unsolicited monthly recurring charges on a customers bills .
customers have the right to use any telephone carrier they choose and to change carriers whenever they wish. it is important for customers to select their own telephone company because different companies charge different rates .
domain slamming, or domain name slamming, which is similar to telephone slamming scams, refers to the practice of sending fake renewal notices or bills to domain name registrants that are actually disguised service transfer notices. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] responding to a fake renewal notice often results in a higher fee for the registrant' s domain name and an unauthorized transfer to a different registrar or service provider. [ 1 ] [ 3 ] registrar domain locking can help defend against domain slamming attempts .
verisign accused of dns slamming by thomas c. greene (march 26, 2002), the register
anthony williams is one of the thousands of customers who have fallen victim to' phone slamming' .
always examine your telephone bill immediately and thoroughly. if you see a new telephone company name on your bill, call the number that' s shown on that portion of the bill and ask for an explanation .
cramming is the illegal practice of adding charges to your telephone bill for services that you did not order .
your local telephone company will continue to provide your local telephone service. your local long distance (local toll service), in most cases, can also be switched to our service. please call customer service .
if you think your telephone company has been changed without your permission, contact your original telephone company. if this does not resolve the problem, contact the telecommunications industry ombudsman (tio) on 1800 062 058 .
taking its strongest action yet against the illegal practice of telephone slamming, the federal communications commission essentially shut down a small long - distance operator called the fletcher companies yesterday and fined it $ 5. 7 million .
domain slamming is perceived as a deceptive and dishonest practice. as the domain name industry claims to value ideals such as
transparency
and
good faith ,
slamming seems to be particularly discordant and harmful .
apart from slamming, there are other forms of mis - selling that primarily involve mis - representation (for example if you are misled as to the relationship between the “new” telephone company and bt) or pressurised selling .
also, tell your authorized local telephone company that you want all charges for switching companies removed from your bill .
pursuant to a congressional request, gao provided information on: (1) which entities or companies engage in telephone slamming violations; (2) the process by which the providers defraud consumers; and (3) what the federal communications commission (fcc), state regulatory entities, and the telecommunications industry has done to curtail slamming .
if you have paid your bill, federal law requires the slamming company to pay your authorized company 150 percent of the charges you paid the slamming company, and then your authorized company must refund to you 50 percent of the charges you paid the slamming company or, alternatively, federal law allows you to ask your carrier to recalculate your bill using the slamming company’s rates (which you may wish to do if the rates were lower than your authorized carrier’s rates) .
the practice, known as' slamming', has become so widespread that the industry watchdog has pledged a crackdown .
slamming is so common because phone companies do not need a signature or written consent to switch customers to their tariffs .
contact the company that slammed your telephone service right away. tell them to fix the problem immediately. if you did not pay the slammer’s bill, inform the slamming company that you will not pay for the first 30 days of service .
in 2008, the fcc imposed a $ 5. 1 million forfeiture action against las vegas - based horizon telecom for slamming. earlier, in 2005, sprint agreed to a $ 4 million fcc consent decree to resolve a slamming investigation .
slamming
is a telephone industry term for switching a customer from one long - distance company to another, without the customer' s consent. we expressly forbid this practice. to make sure slamming never occurs, we use a careful, methodical way of confirming all orders. either we use third - party verification - where an outside company verifies and records your explicit consent to switch service - or we use a your digital signature on your online application. adding a pic freeze to your telephone line (s) is also a good way to deter slamming after your service has been switched .
be sure to dispute any unpaid charges from the cramming company with your local telephone provider to avoid any interruption of service .
pensioner wyn speight, whose telephone is connected to her personal alarm, became a victim of the practice earlier this year .
then there’s the deregulated world of voip, where all that slamming stuff is not necessarily governed by the regulatory communication bodies .
contact your desired long distance provider and notify them of the “slamming, ” and ask them to reinstate your rate plan .
consumer anti - slamming act [ microform ]: report of the committee on commerce, science, and transportatio ...
if you have paid the unauthorized phone company, your authorized company will either credit you 50 percent of the charges you paid the slamming company or, if you prefer, rerate the charges based on its rates instead of the slamming company’s rates. .
after booking, all of the property’s details, including telephone and address, are provided in your booking confirmation and your account .
fcc chairman ajit pai discusses fcc efforts to help protect consumers from the illegal and harmful practices of slamming - the unauthorized change of a consumer' s preferred telephone company - and cramming - the placement of unauthorized charges on a consumer' s phone bill .
telecommunications [ microform ]: telephone slamming and its harmful effects: statement of eljay b. bowron, assistant comptroller general for special investigations, office of special investigations, before the permanent subcommittee on investigations, committee on governmental affairs, u. s. senate
slamming, the practice of switching a telephone customer’s long - distance service provider to another carrier without the customer’s permission, has also attracted sophisticated scam artists. while the federal communications committee (fcc) and state regulators have helped curb the practice, it still persists .
when slamming occurs, a customer' s existing phone company, such as bt, will often pursue a complaint on their behalf .
united states. general accounting office. (1998). telecommunications telephone slamming and its harmful effects: report to the chairman, permanent subcommittee on investigations, committee on governmental affairs, u. s. senate. washington, dc: u. s. general accounting office
united states. general accounting office. telecommunications [ electronic resource ]: telephone slamming and its harmful effects: report to the chairman, permanent subcommittee on investigations, committee on governmental affairs, u. s. senate u. s. general accounting office washington, dc 1998
public service commissions in all other states, the district of columbia and puerto rico process slamming complaints arising within those jurisdictions. if you live in a state or territory that processes slamming complaints, check the website of its public service commission for information on filing a complaint .
as of july 1, 1998, state law makes slamming illegal in georgia. slamming happens when a local or long distance telephone company switches your service provider without your knowledge or consent. previously limited to long distance service, slamming is on the rise as competition expands to local service and local toll calling markets. the georgia public service commission may penalize a phone company up to $ 15, 000 for each violation. additionally, a penalty of $ 10, 000 may be assessed for each day on which said violation (s) continues .
the names of your local and long distance telephone companies and the long distance company to which you were changed without your knowledge or permission .
united states. general accounting office. 1998, telecommunications [ electronic resource ]: telephone slamming and its harmful effects: report to the chairman, permanent subcommittee on investigations, committee on governmental affairs, u. s. senate u. s. general accounting office washington, dc
at the fcc open meeting on june 7, 2018, the commission approved measures to help consumers with slamming and cramming. learn more .
if you have been slammed but have not paid the bill of the slamming company, you do not have to pay the slamming company for up to 30 days after being slammed. you also do not have to pay your authorized telephone company for any charges for up to 30 days. after 30 days, you must pay your authorized company for service, but at its rates, not the slammer' s rates .
“sliding” is a form of slamming. it takes place when a phone company uses a customer' s request for a change in service to add, change or “slide” the customer to an unauthorized telephone service. for example, a customer may request to change their long - distance service provider. when the customer receives their telephone bill, they discover that their regional toll service was also changed, but without the customer’s permission .
the fcc' s new rules also strengthen the verification procedures used by carriers to confirm telephone carrier switches. in addition, the fcc adopted procedures to regulate
freezes ,
which are services offered by local telephone carriers that enable consumers to protect themselves from slamming. if a consumer asks the local telephone carrier to place a freeze on his or her account, generally no carrier will be able to make changes to that account unless and until a consumer expressly agrees to lift the freeze. the fcc' s new rules will go into effect in april of 1999 .
call your local telephone company. tell them that you did not order service from the new long distance company, that you would like to be reconnected to your long distance company, and that you want any
change charges
( the charge for switching companies) taken off your telephone bill .
a growing number of scams are being perpetrated on telephone and internet customers. think you can easily identify bogus charges on your bill? good luck .
if this has happened to you, you are one of a growing number of people who have been a victim of
slamming
. slamming is the name the telecoms industry has given to the practice of swapping a consumer' s residential phone line over to a new company without their consent .
illegal churn
is officially known as
slamming
. people telecom has form for this offence, having accepted undertakings for slamming from accc in 2010, two years after the m2 takeover .
accepting undertakings
is a complicated business, but if you read the text at the link :
although btc broadband is not responsible for slamming incidents, we are doing everything possible to help you protect yourself and to help straighten things out if you are a victim of slamming. that’s because we’re committed to being your most trustworthy and reliable provider of telecommunications services and to delivering the best customer performance .
asking for written information in response to a telephone solicitation. sometimes if you do not specifically say that all you want is information, you are slammed .
yes. when you place your order and your verification process has been completed, you will need to call your local telephone company and ask that the freeze be removed. our customer care associates can give you the proper code to use when you call your local telephone company. please call with any questions .
domain slamming can result in the unauthorized transfers of domain names and higher renewal rates or fees. it also erodes user confidence with fraudulent offers or statements .
call your local telephone company, state that you did not consent to the switch, and ask that it return you to your chosen local or long distance company at no charge (no charge for the switch or for the switch back to your chosen carrier). request a “pic freeze” to avoid future slamming .
that was by far the largest fine the commission had levied for slamming, communications industry jargon for switching a customer' s long - distance provider without explicit permission. since the breakup of the bell system in 1984, the commission had assessed a total of less than $ 2 million in fines for slamming violations .
respect the privacy of others. urltoken will make an effort to obscure email addresses, telephone numbers, website addresses, social media accounts, and similar details .
it is not known exactly how widespread slamming is, but ofcom has investigated several respectable household names - including the post office and tesco - over the issue .
carefully read all promotional forms and printed literature, including the fine print, before signing up for telephone or any other services that will be billed to your phone .
respect the privacy of others. urltoken will make an effort to obscure email addresses, telephone numbers, website addresses, social media accounts, and other similar details .
' slamming’ is the most severe form of mis - selling. it' s when your service is transferred to a new phone company without your knowledge or consent .
slamming is when your long distance company or local service provider is illegally switched by a competing long distance company or local service provider - without your knowledge or permission .
slamming practices can result in a breach of icann' s registrar accreditation agreement (raa) if information on domain name transfers is not reported correctly. [ 9 ]
in december 1998, the fcc adopted new anti - slamming rules. the new rules take the profit out of slamming by excusing customers who have been slammed from having to pay for some slamming charges. under the new rules, any carrier that a consumer calls to report being slammed must inform the consumer that he or she is not required to pay any slamming charges incurred for the first 30 days after the unauthorized switch. if the consumer fails to notice that he or she was slammed and has already paid the bill of the slamming carrier, the unauthorized carrier is required to remit those payments to the authorized carrier. after receiving that amount, the authorized carrier shall issue the consumer a refund or a credit of any amount that he or she paid in excess of the charges they would have paid to the authorized carrier .
cramming is the illegal practice of placing unauthorized charges on your local, long - distance or wireless telephone bill, usually by a third party not known to the customer .
you know who does remember those days? the somewhat “demented” couple in this aussie ad for panasonic cordless phones, whose marriage improved immeasurably once they cut the telephone cord .
the fcc recently proposed a $ 5. 3 million fine against tele circuit network corporation for apparent slamming and cramming. consumer complaints helped spur the fcc' s investigation .
an industry source said it was difficult to prove that sales managers were knowingly encouraging slamming, but ofcom is likely to call on them to tighten up their monitoring procedures .
you can protect against slamming by calling your local telephone company to request that your account includes a “pic freeze” and other consumer - protection features such as a third - party billing block. a pic freeze prevents your phone company from changing your long distance company without your express approval. a third party billing block prevents your local phone company from acting as a “billing company” and adding another company’s charges to your phone bill. these features will ensure that your long distance carrier cannot be changed without your written or verbal consent, and it discourages slamming because carriers other than your chosen carrier cannot bill you for services by placing their charges on your local telephone bill. other actions to consider include :
these scams have been around for years but continue to be replayed on unwitting telephone customers. however, the newest scam, ramming, adds a new dimension to the game :
the term slamming was coined by mick ahearn who was a consumer marketing manager at at & t in september 1987. the inspiration for the term came from the ease at which a competitor could switch a customer’s service away from at & t by falsely notifying a telephone company that an at & t customer had elected to switch to their service. this process gave at & t’s competitors a “slam dunk” method for the unauthorized switching of a customer’s long distance service. the term slamming became an industry standard term for this practice .
{ { citation | title = telecommunications [ electronic resource ]: telephone slamming and its harmful effects: report to the chairman, permanent subcommittee on investigations, committee on governmental affairs, u. s. senate | author1 = united states. general accounting office | year = 1998 | publisher = u. s. general accounting office | language = english } }
so, eric, like you, i think this is most likely an administrative error, not
illegal churn
( aka
slamming
). people telecom' s previous offence was for misrepresentation resulting in slamming, whereas in this case, they do not appear to have contacted the op at all. straight up telephone slamming, where a marketer simply falsely notifies a telco that a subscriber is switching, is rarely mentioned in australia, though it is not unknown in the us. however, if the op has real evidence (or could obtain this through legal discovery, of say, e - mail trails) that people telecom did this deliberately, the consequences for m2 could be dire, since this would be a repeat offence .
it is a good idea to provide these notices to the slammer and to your authorized company in letters as well as by telephone, so that you have a written record of your actions .
call the slamming company and tell it that you want the problem fixed and that, under fcc rules, you don' t have to pay for the first 30 days of its service .
while annoying, slamming seems to happen to few consumers. the commission said it received more than 20, 000 complaints last year; there are more than 90 million american households with phones .
often, minnesota as well as federal laws apply because the slamming carrier may be regulated by state as well as by federal law, and the bills may include calls that are governed by both laws. minnesota law applies to companies providing local telephone service as well as to carriers that handle long distance calls made entirely within the state. federal law applies to companies that provide wireline service and carry only calls made between states or international service. because minnesota law incorporates the most stringent provisions of federal slamming law as a part of the state’s slamming law, if your bill includes mixed charges or if you are unsure whether state or federal laws apply, it is wise to follow the complaint procedures that will ensure that you receive the best protections of both laws, as detailed below .
state and federal laws prohibit slamming and give protection against unauthorized charges. for example, minnesota law requires that the slamming carrier bear all costs of immediately returning the customer to the customer’s original carrier, which can sometimes include both disconnection and reconnection costs, and must bear all costs of serving that customer during the entire period of unauthorized service. in contrast, federal law allows only the first 30 days of unauthorized service to be free to the consumer. minnesota law requires that the carrier is liable for slamming unless it provides evidence of the consumer’s knowing and intelligent consent to a change in carrier .
choose not to answer telephone survey questions or use an affirmative statement other than “yes. ” slammers may cut and paste your recorded “yes” response to fraudulently suggest that you agreed to a change of carriers .
become a careful consumer. carefully review your monthly bill every month and make sure you understand every charge. look for unfamiliar company names, calls you did not make, or services you did not order. if anything is unclear or there is a company name you have not seen before, call your local phone company for an explanation. telephone companies must clearly highlight a change in telephone service providers .
many of those affected by slamming are left distraught and out of pocket as they are charged to sign up to their original provider again. it can cost £125 to be reconnected to a bt line .
if you have not paid your bill, federal law allows for no payment to the slamming company for up to 30 days after the unauthorized switch and that the consumer need not pay for any services provided by the slamming. after the first 30 days of unauthorized service, federal law requires the consumer to pay the unauthorized provider but only at the rates and charges that would have been charged by the original carrier .
icann' s transfer of registrations between registrars policy between registrars may help reduce slamming as a standardized form of authorization (foa) is required from the registrant before a transfer can take place. [ 12 ]
long gone are the days that telephone bills were simple and easily understood. today, bills include charges that are often confusing and hard to understand. the following information may help you decipher your landline phone bill .
domain slamming is used to trick users into unknowingly switching their registrar often at the users' expense. the fake renewal notices utilized by slamming registrars frequently claim that the registrant' s domain name is expiring and needs to be renewed quickly; however, the company or registrar sending the notice is not the registrar the domain name is currently using. [ 4 ] registrants may not be sure which registrar their domain name is registered with. [ 2 ] this confusion, combined with official looking emails, mail, or phone calls may be enough to trick the registrant into
renewing
their domain name with the slamming registrar. [ 2 ]
if your complaint is slow being dealt with, you could also try using accc or the threat of going to accc with a slamming complaint to expedite a response, or even get compensation for your wasted time and money .
the
slamming
of telephone customers from one firm to another without their permission has ominous echoes of the deregulation of the gas and electricity market, which was plagued by doorstep mis - selling and the fraudulent switching of customers. deregulation of the domestic power markets enabled many people to plug into a better deal, but it also seemingly unleashed an army of unscrupulous sales people who would stoop to anything in order to get people to sign the forms .
unscrupulous telephone companies might conceal the fact that they are asking you to change your telephone service provider by using confusing language, referring to your current provider, or suggesting that you are agreeing to a lower price rather than a new service provider. similarly, long distance companies might implement an unauthorized switch by submitting a fraudulent change order to a local telephone company. additionally, a consumer can unknowingly and inadvertently cause a change of local or long distance provider by responding to a survey or to a notice of a “free” gift, only to learn later that the fine print on the bottom or on the back of the gift said that response would result in a change of providers .
carefully examine your entire telephone bill. be particularly vigilant for unauthorized charges after you have contacted your local or long distance carrier for any reason or after a company has contacted you. ask your carrier to explain any unfamiliar charge .
keep a note pad by the telephone and write down each phone service (e. g. , voice mail) that you authorize, as well as any long distance calls and calls to informational or
900
services .
call the slamming carrier, state that you did not authorize the change and ask that the carrier confirm that it will remove all switching charges (no charge for the switch or for the switch back to your chosen carrier) .
ask your local phone company to make sure you are switched back to their service. if your long distance was slammed, ask your local phone company to switch you back to the long distance company of your choice. they can also remove any disputed charges from the slamming carrier. once you have been switched back, check into whether or not your local phone company can put a freeze on your local or long distance account to help prevent future slamming .
most people don' t know that their telephone bill can sometimes be used like a credit card - with third party companies placing charges for unrelated services or merchandise on the phone bill. this practice is known as
cramming .
if someone sends you a letter or postcard
verifying
that you have switched services, 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 .
every month, thousands of people are finding out that their telephone supplier has been switched without their knowledge or consent. watchdog ofcom is finally baring its teeth - but is it a case of too little, too late? miles brignall reports
be sure to include a copy of the bill you are complaining about and note the name of the slamming carrier as well as the specific charges that you object to. it is also important to provide the name of your original carrier .
most readers would be amazed to know there is nothing to stop a telephone company armed with your basic details (phone number, address and in some cases your date of birth) from signing you up, whether you agree to it not .
since the 1980s, telephone companies have competed fiercely for consumer dollars. they have waged advertising battles on tv, promised special low rates and high - quality service, offered incentives such as frequent flyer miles, and engaged in massive telemarketing campaigns .
contact your authorized telephone company to let them know about the slam. ask them to help you reinstate the same calling plan you had before the slam occurred, and tell them to remove any
change of carrier
charges from your bill .
bowron, eljay b. & united states. general accounting office. (1998). telecommunications telephone slamming and its harmful effects: statement of eljay b. bowron, assistant comptroller general for special investigations, office of special investigations, before the permanent subcommittee on investigations, committee on governmental affairs, u. s. senate. washington, d. c. (441 g st. , nw, rm. lm, washington 20548): u. s. general accounting office, urltoken
bowron, eljay b. and united states. general accounting office. telecommunications [ microform ]: telephone slamming and its harmful effects: statement of eljay b. bowron, assistant comptroller general for special investigations, office of special investigations, before the permanent subcommittee on investigations, committee on governmental affairs, u. s. senate u. s. general accounting office washington, d. c. (441 g st. , nw, rm. lm, washington 20548) 1998 < urltoken >
bowron, eljay b. & united states. general accounting office. 1998, telecommunications [ microform ]: telephone slamming and its harmful effects: statement of eljay b. bowron, assistant comptroller general for special investigations, office of special investigations, before the permanent subcommittee on investigations, committee on governmental affairs, u. s. senate u. s. general accounting office washington, d. c. (441 g st. , nw, rm. lm, washington 20548) < urltoken >
{ { citation | title = telecommunications [ microform ]: telephone slamming and its harmful effects: statement of eljay b. bowron, assistant comptroller general for special investigations, office of special investigations, before the permanent subcommittee on investigations, committee on governmental affairs, u. s. senate | author1 = bowron, eljay b. , 1951 - | author2 = united states. general accounting office | year = 1998 | publisher = u. s. general accounting office | language = english } }
be wary of calls offering to reduce your rates for telephone service or asserting that they are part of, related to, or working with your current provider. make sure you confirm who the caller represents, and what they are asking you to agree to .
how would you feel if you came home one day to find two letters? the first thanks you for choosing a telephone company that you had never heard of, and a second is from your existing provider, saying it' s sorry to be losing you .
if you receive an unsolicited call about changing local or long distance telephone service, state clearly that you do not want a new carrier, ask to be put on the calling company’s “do not call” list, and ask that it strike your name from its database .
you remember slamming? that’s the practice of switching a landline subscriber’s phone service without permission. while this carrier thievery still goes on, there are various rules and laws that protect all of us against unauthorized changes to a phone plan, and for fining misbehaving players .
the commission has undertaken a number of initiatives to make it quicker and easier for consumers to file slamming and other telephone - related fraud complaints. starting in january 1999, consumers will be able to file complaints electronically. later that year, the fcc will permit consumers to file complaints over the phone, including calls placed to the fcc' s toll - free number. also in 1999, the fcc will establish an electronic interface with carriers to improve industry response time to complaints, as well a as speed fcc resolution of complaints .
if you live in alaska, arizona, delaware, florida, georgia, hawaii, illinois, missouri, new mexico, pennsylvania, rhode island, tennessee, virginia, west virginia, wisconsin or the virgin islands, you can file a slamming complaint with the fcc .
well, you may not remember that. chances are you were born into a cordless and mobile phone generation and will never know the shame of having your parents hover over every phone call or the glory of slamming down the phone in annoyance instead of quietly pressing ‘end’ .
last september, willoughby farr, of west palm beach, fl, received a 21 - year federal prison sentence for cramming. from april 2003 to december 2005, while farr was incarcerated in the west palm beach county jail he used three west palm beach companies - - nationwide connections inc. , access one communications inc. , and connect one communications inc. - - to defraud telephone customers of approximately $ 35 million in collect calls. because the charges typically appeared on the last page of consumers’ telephone bills, people automatically paid the charges .
slamming is illegal. minnesota statutes § 325f. 693 states that it is illegal to request a change of a consumer’s local or long distance carrier without the customer’s verified consent. the new local or long distance company bears the burden of showing that the customer authorized the switch .
last year the f. c. c. more than doubled the penalty, raising it to $ 40, 000 for each violation from $ 15, 000, but politicians still pressed for a highly visible move against the practice. the senate subcommittee on investigations is to open hearings tomorrow on the government' s response to telephone slamming.'' at the f. c. c. , consumers come first,'' william e. kennard, the new chairman, said in a statement.'' we will not tolerate slammers.''
industry giant verisign was taken to court and investigated by the ftc over allegations of domain slamming notices sent in the mail. [ 6 ] [ 7 ] while it was determined that verisign did not break the law, [ 7 ] verisign agreed not to send out notices similar to the ones previously used, and it had compensate those tricked by the notices. verisign was also sued in class - action lawsuits for domain slamming but settled out of court. [ 2 ] [ 7 ] other registrars have also been accused of domain slamming, such as brandon gray internet services' domain registry of america (droa), which has a reputation for consistently using slamming techniques. [ 8 ] brandon gray internet services was given an icann breach of notice of its raa for a failure to disclose information relating to the transfer of a domain name in 2013. [ 9 ] in july of 2014, droa was suspended by icann due to violations of the 2013 raa. [ 10 ]. if its compliance issues and the compliance issues of its resellers are not fixed, the registrar may lose its accreditation. [ 10 ]
telecoms regulator ofcom is coming under pressure to take action against mobile phone companies that, it is claimed, are
actively colluding in slamming
- that is, signing up customers, without their consent or knowledge, to a new contract that can last up to two years .
a spokesman for ofcom said it was talking to the mobile industry and
watching the problem closely
. this week it censured the post office for
slamming
landline customers; people who contacted the post office solely for information about its phone services were switched over as new customers .
in addition, the commission unveiled a series of new initiatives to make it quicker and easier for consumers to file slamming complaints and to speed their resolution. the fcc is initiating a web site for consumers to file complaints electronically, and eventually will permit consumers to file complaints over the phone .
marcos daniel jiménez, united states attorney for the southern district of florida; eileen j. oconnor, assistant attorney general for the department of justice tax division; michael clemens, special agent in charge, federal bureau of investigation; and brian j. wimpling, special agent in charge of the internal revenue service, criminal investigations, announced today that defendant, arne soreide, former chief executive officer of accutel communications inc. (accutel), was convicted by a jury on july 6, 2004 of all sixty - eight (68) counts of an indictment in a case tried before united states district court judge james cohn in ft. lauderdale, florida. the indictment charged soreide with conspiring to defraud long distance telephone customers and suppliers of telecommunication services by slamming and cramming telephone customers long distance telephone service and defrauding the suppliers, twenty - six (26) counts of mail and wire fraud, thirty - nine (39) counts of money laundering, and two (2) counts of filing false tax returns. in addition, the jury, on july 7, 2004, determined that soreide should forfeit $ 7. 5 million in criminal proceeds, along with his waterfront residence in boca raton, florida .
yes. telephone carriers must comply with federal requirements for obtaining consent, and those requirements are incorporated into minnesota law. see minn. stat. § 325f. 693, subd. 2 (c) (2); 47 code of federal regulations (c. f. r .) § 64. 1120. telephone carriers can demonstrate consent to a change in carrier by obtaining your written or electronic authorization or by having a third - party verification system validate your oral authorization. written or electronic consent can be hidden in fine print on “free” gift offers or other communications from telephone companies, which is why it is very important to carefully read solicitations before responding. third - party verification often takes place immediately following a sales call, when consumers are transferred to another individual or a computer system in order to complete the verification. carriers must retain all recordings or written records regarding verification of a carrier change for at least two years .
cramming charges can be almost anything, but usually involve some type of telecommunications - related service. these services may include, but are not limited to, non - regulated services such as voice mail, personal 800 numbers, paging service and pay - per - use (
900
) calls. services such as these are separate and distinct from your regulated local and long distance telephone service. cramming may also include regulated local telephone service features such as call waiting or caller i. d. , which are offered by your local phone company, but that you did not authorize or were misled about their actual cost .
there are two similar - sounding phone scams that work in similar ways. “cramming” can also happen to mobile users, and is when a company adds charges for things like horoscopes by text or call - in services to your bill without you noticing. “slamming” is when a customer’s long distance provider is changed without their permission .
a regional toll call requires that the user to dial
1
plus an area code before dialing the 7 - digit telephone number. any call made to a destination outside the local calling area but within the lata is considered a regional toll call. a local telephone service provider typically provides and bills for regional toll calls. it is possible however, in states where the regional toll market has been opened up to competition, another carrier may be chosen to provide this service; this is known in the industry as
intralata presubscription .
the chosen regional toll provider can be determined by dialing 1 - (area code) - 700 - 4141 .
his phone provider, at & t, explained that if a company engages in either slamming or cramming, they’ll suspend the company’s ability to bill you directly as a third party. yet this same company paid a hefty fcc penalty a few years ago for the practice, meaning that they’ve probably been at this for a while .
when a call is placed to another state, it is considered an interstate long distance call. interstate long distance calls also requires the user to dial
1
plus an area code before dialing the 7 - digit telephone number. the current interstate long distance provider can be determined by dialing 1 - 700 - 555 - 4141 .
the introduction of slamming came about because the regulatory authorities were keen to remove barriers that stopped consumers from legitimately switching suppliers. consumers are given a minimum cooling - off period of 10 working days in which to halt a switch they knew nothing about, but until now ofcom has had no power to combat companies indulging in underhand tactics .
retired deputy head teacher chris widdows is among those on the receiving end of its recent poor service. he and his wife fiona face a telephone bill of £800 after orange staff mistakenly put them on to the wrong internet dial - up tariff - and, in keeping with other customers, they say their complaints have not been taken seriously .
be wary of sales pitches. telemarketers may tempt you to sign up for a contest promising big prizes. your signature may be represented as an agreement to switch telephone carriers. slammers also may promise children, housekeepers and other persons who answer your phone lower rates and better service if they switch. sometimes service is changed without any customer contact .
we haven' t published the numbers and companies mis - selling and indulging in slamming for the simple reason that the numbers have been difficult to verify. we recently investigated a sample of complaints made by bt and found that around 53% of them actually were the result of these practices - the others fell into different areas ,
says an ofcom spokesman .
domain slammers may get contact information including phone numbers, email addresses, and postal addresses by using public data such as the whois data base. [ 2 ] icann recently released a study on whois misuse; although it does not specifically address slamming, it does look at the misuse of email addresses, postal addresses, and phone numbers found through the whois data base. [ 5 ]
in may 2010, silv communications, a los angeles based interexchange carrier that routes and processes internet telephone services for small businesses, was fined $ 1. 4 million for deceptive practices. according to the complaints submitted to the fcc, silv telemarketers, who claimed to represent at & t, offered respondents a deal they couldn’t refuse - - they only had to switch to another long - distance provider .
you might remember slamming, or switching someone’s long - distance carrier without their knowledge or permission, as a crime of the years just after phone deregulation, when the idea that one could switch long - distance carriers was novel. it’s a scam that still happens to people with landlines, though, and you should know how to prevent it, and what you should warn landline - having friends and relatives not to do .
the federal trade commission (ftc) is charged with investigating fraud and deceptive marketing used to take advantage of consumers. [ 13 ] therefore, domain slamming cases have been addressed by the ftc and u. s. court system. [ 14 ] in the cases mentioned above, both verisign and droa were ordered to stop sending fake renewal notices. [ 14 ] additionally, droa was ordered to provide
monetary redress .
[ 14 ]
a 24 - hour grocery store with only one phone line was put on a plan promoted as an “unlimited toll call” package that included caller id and voice mail. unfortunately, the grocer did not have a caller id - capable phone (and didn’t order the package), nor did the grocer know what a “toll call” meant. the store only needed “basic” pots (i. e. , plain old telephone service) and was overcharged $ 52 a month.
telephone slamming is an illegal telecommunications practice , in which a subscriber 's telephone service is changed without their consent . slamming became a more visible issue after the deregulation of the telecommunications industry in the mid-1980s , especially after several brutal price wars between the major telecommunications companies . the term slamming was coined by mick ahearn , who was a consumer marketing manager at at&t in september 1987 . the inspiration for the term came from the ease at which a competitor could switch a customer 's service away from at&t by falsely notifying a telephone company that an at&t customer had elected to switch to their service . this process gave at&t 's competitors a " slam dunk " method for the unauthorized switching of a customer 's long distance service . the term slamming became an industry standard term for this practice . variations of this concept include " merchant account slamming " or " credit card processing slamming " where a business 's debit/credit processing terminal are reprogrammed so that charges are processed through a different company , and " domain slamming " where an internet domain name registrar is changed . 
telephone slamming is an illegal telecommunications practice, in which a subscriber's telephone service is changed without their consent. slamming became a more visible issue after the deregulation of the telecommunications industry in the mid-1980s, especially after several brutal price wars between the major telecommunications companies. the term slamming was coined by mick ahearn, who was a consumer marketing manager at at&t in september 1987. the inspiration for the term came from the ease at which a competitor could switch a customer's service away from at&t by falsely notifying a telephone company that an at&t customer had elected to switch to their service. this process gave at&t's competitors a " slam dunk " method for the unauthorized switching of a customer's long distance service. the term slamming became an industry standard term for this practice. variations of this concept include " merchant account slamming " or " credit card processing slamming " where a business's debit/credit processing terminal are reprogrammed so that charges are processed through a different company, and " domain slamming " where an internet domain name registrar is changed.
telephone slamming is an illegal telecommunications practice, in which a subscriber's telephone service is changed without their consent. slamming became a more visible issue after the deregulation of the telecommunications industry in the mid-1980s, especially after several brutal price wars between the major telecommunications companies. the term slamming was coined by mick ahearn, who was a consumer marketing manager at at&t in september 1987. the inspiration for the term came from the ease at which a competitor could switch a customer's service away from at&t by falsely notifying a telephone company that an at&t customer had elected to switch to their service. this process gave at&t's competitors a " slam dunk " method for the unauthorized switching of a customer's long distance service. the term slamming became an industry standard term for this practice. variations of this concept include " merchant account slamming " or " credit card processing slamming " where a business's debit/credit processing terminal are reprogrammed so that charges are processed through a different company, and " domain slamming " where an internet domain name registrar is changed.