Scammers Charge Phone Bills - It Happened to MEEEE!!!!

I had an extremely bad headache today. And to be perfectly honest, I don't get headaches very often. It was so bad, I actually felt sick to my stomach and had to take an Aleve.

The sad part is, I had this headache from dealing with a headache ( disaster that is ) thanks to my phone company. So, let me explain.

Did you know that you can charge your phone number for services you sign up for online?

If you knew that, you are a lot smarter than I am. I had no idea. I knew you could use a credit card online. I knew you could use a debit card. I knew you could even pay for services with your checking account online. But, I had no idea you could have companies charge your phone number.

To me, it is the MOST bizarre concept to ever exist in the history of the Internet!

I looked at my phone bills today for the last few months ( they get paid automatically, which I have shut off today until these items get cleared ), so I hadn't noticed that I was paying around $3 a more a month for the last few months. In fact, if a group of companies would not have charged me $19.95 a month I probably wouldn't have been alerted.

But, I logged into my company today and found I was getting charged $20 from Talent & More, $8.23 from Agora, $15 from Employee Notification. It is ridiculous.

I called Cincinnati Bell and they informed me these were companies I signed up for and I gave them my phone number to charge.

WHAT?

I didn't give them my credit card, I didn't give them a debit card..I gave them my phone number? Do you realize that companies can bill it?

Cincinnati Bell told me I need to call each company individually to get credit issued and they could do nothing. All in all, I am out hundreds of dollars. HUNDREDS!!!

I called the companies, and they told me I agreed to the service. By the way, the service is to display your head shots for talent agents for modeling and acting to contact you. That made me laugh!! Yes, I am a regular Angelina Jolie, didn't you all know? I need professional head shots and hope to be in the next big movie.

Here is the Better Business Bureau report on the company, if anyone is interested in reading about this ridiculous charge. They are rated F. Imagine that!

Anyway, they told me they could give me one month's charge back. So, I asked them to tell me which IP Address signed up, because it wasn't me. So, they looked it up and it was someone in NY. Since I have never been in New York, I happily told them that it was not me and I wanted all my money back. That got them to issue my credit. I will be anxious to see if the charge actually comes through. If I had not brought up the IP Address, they were not going to issue me credit.

So, how does this happen?

After some research, I have found that it is called CRAMMING. The FCC knows about the issue, and you can read more about the issue here and file a complaint. It is a known issue where companies charge users phone numbers knowing they won't notice a $3 extra charge here and there amongst all the fees and taxes on a bundled phone bill. Isn't that rotten?

In fact, when I did my research today I noticed a charge that has been on my bill since last August, but was small so I didn't notice it. I assumed it was a new fee. I came to find out today that it was a crammer. So, I am now fighting to get all the money back.

Does this happen to others? Sure does. Here is a board where others are complaining about charges they got on their AT&T bills.

What can you do to protect yourself? Call your phone company today and tell them you want a block on your phone bill for any outside charges. They CAN do this. They did it for me today. My question is, why isn't this standard? Why is your phone number not blocked from the get go?

My main problem with this whole issue? Cincinnati Bell's desire to NOT help me. If charges come thru to your credit card or debit card, you can dispute them. Cincinnati Bell did not give me this option. From boards I read, AT&T and other phone companies allowed their users to dispute charges.

I am going to call Cincinnati Bell again and unless they agree to allow the charges to be disputed and give me credit, I will be leaving this company for better options. I hope to have some good news, since I hate to have a long standing relationship with Cincy Bell end.

The moral of this story? Check your phone bills item by item just like your credit card or bank statement. If there is a charge for $1 you don't recognize, CALL! Don't let them companies continue to CRAM unsuspecting citizens and get rich.



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