In the previous posts I wrote about slamming and cramming.

The following are some actions to take to protect yourself against this unscrupulous behavior.

Ask the following questions when reviewing your monthly phone bill (the same can apply to cell phones and pagers as well):

1.) Do I recognize the names of all the companies listed on my bill?
2.) What services were provided by the listed companies?
3.) Does my bill include charges for calls I did not place and services I did not authorize?
4.) Are the rates and line items consistent with the rates and line items that the company quoted to me?

Companies compete for your telephone business. Use your buying power wisely and shop around.
If you think that a company’s charges are too high or that their services do not meet your needs, contact other companies and try to get a better deal.

Please share with our readers some of your experiences you may have had with phone companies and bad behavior.

In the last post we discussed how slamming and cramming in the world of Information Technology and Telecommunications has nothing to do with basketball.

We briefly wrote about slamming and in this post we will write about cramming.

The FCC defines “cramming” as “the practice of placing unauthorized, misleading, or deceptive charges on your telephone bill.

Entities that fraudulently cram people appear to rely largely on confusing telephone bills in order to mislead consumers into paying for services that they did not authorize or receive.”

Like slamming, the FCC has cramming liability rules set in place to protect the consumer and penalize the telephone companies for their illegal actions. For either one of these violations you are entitled to file a complaint with your state attorney generals’ office and the FCC.

Cramming are charges that are often hidden in the mountain of charges on your phone bill and are usually flagged by general statements like the following: “service fee,” “service charge,” “other fees,” “voicemail,” “mail server,” “calling plan,” “psychic,” and “membership;” “monthly fee,” or “minimum monthly usage fee;”

Cramming charges can appear on local, long distance, and even cell phone and pager bills. The FCC’s Truth-in-Billing rules require companies to make bills easier to read for the average consumer. It also requires all companies to provide a toll free number on all bills for billing inquiries.

To protect your self from Cramming your should carefully review your phone bill every month.
Treat your phone bill like any other major purchase and review that bill.

If you do not understand what a charge is for call your company and if you are not satisfied with the answer then contact the FCC.

Slamming and Cramming in the world of Information Technology and Telecommunications has nothing to do with basketball.

Slamming and Cramming are probably two of the most common illegal actions taken by unscrupulous phone companies and their sales representatives.
We will first define Slamming, then we will discuss your rights and what to do if you are victim.

According to the FCC “”Slamming” is the illegal practice of changing a consumer’s telephone service – local, intra-lata service, or inter-lata service (including state to state, in state and international long distance) – without permission.”

The FCC has slamming liability rules set in place to protect the consumer and penalize the telephone companies for their illegal actions. For either one of these violations you are entitled to file a complaint with your state attorney generals’ office and the FCC.
When it comes to Slamming, the customer has to address the issue based on whether they have paid the bill or not.

If you have not paid the bill in question from the carrier who slammed you:
1.) You are not liable for the damages for up to 30 days after being slammed. This includes not paying your authorized phone company (the company you actually chose to provide service) or the company who slammed you.
2.) You are liable for charges for service beyond 30 days to your authorized company. However, you should only pay the current rates your authorized phone company is offering, not the slammer’s rates.

If you discover your have been slammed but HAVE paid your phone bill:

The slamming company is liable for 150% of the bill you send them. The slamming company must pay this amount to your authorized phone company.
From this amount, you will be reimbursed by your authorized phone company for 50% of the charges you paid to the slammer.

These FCC rules were put in place to protect the consumer and take the profit out of slamming.

If your authorized phone company has been charged without your consent:
1.) Contact the slamming company and tell them they must fix the problem and that you have not paid. Be sure to state that you are not liable for the first 30 days of service.
2.) Inform your authorized phone company of the slam and ask them to change your phone service back to its original phone plan. Also tell them to remove all “change of carrier charges” (charges for switching companies) from your bill.

For further information contact the FCC’s Consumer Center at 1-888-CALLFCC (voice) or 1-888-TELLFCC (TTY).

The results are in. I tallied a some associates of mine about how they use cell phones in their personal and business life.

The results surprised me. Most use the cell phone for the basic features that it offers.

Below are some of the quotes:

” I’m a total junky. I just picked up a Motorola Q , I can surf the net, email, pictures, video, microsoft word, excel, PowerPoint and PDF Files contact management, calendar, windows media, MP3 player, Bluetooth, connect my laptop to the net, pc synchronization, and about 100 other things I haven’t figured out yet.
Oh yeah, i’m pretty sure I can make phone calls with it too “
Pat Lovell
Lovell Technologies

“I use my cell for emergencies, basically. It takes pictures and such, but I’m not big on that stuff. It’s a phone.
When I got my first one back in ‘98, my daughter was little and I wanted to be available when she was at school, in case she got sick or whatever. Now, we use it to locate one another in the mall. LOL
I like being available for some clients whenever they need me, but nobody ever does.”
Pat Marcello
Freelance writer

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“Like Pat, mine is basically for emergencies. I purchased one only after a friend of mine was in a car accident and ended up at the bottom of a ditch in the middle of a Michigan winter in a snowstorm. Had she not had her cell phone to call for help, she would have died there within the hour.
It would have come in very useful when our vehicle stalled in the fast lane on an extremely busy 6 lane highway in Georgia as well! Thankfully, a gentleman behind us had a cell phone and was able to call for emergency help. ”
Gina Weiss
Blogger and Marketer

“I’m a junkie.
While I’ve yet to figure out all the functions of my cell phone I use it exclusively for business. I only keep it in my office when I’m at home, so if i’m watching a movie or spending time with my son ….I let voice mail get it. If I leave home, the cell goes with me. “
Jennifer Herold
TDH Central

That is just a few of the comments I received when I asked them if they were a cell phone junkie. I was very surpirsed as to the results from the folks who own their own business. I can honestly say it seems most use their cell phones just like everyone else.

How does everyone else use their cell phone?

Well, like a phone silly. How else?

I am getting ready to start winding down this little series on cell phones and cellular technology. Before I do I am going to have a few guest posts from some associates.

These associates are succesful business people. Some use their phones at the most basic level and some use all the whizz bang functions that come with the cell phone.

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Either way, both types of individuals will share with you how they use cell phones to improve their business processes and their daily lives.

As I have stated, a cell phone is a great tool, but can be a great hinderance in life as well. We will ocmpare the guests uses of their cell phones and see which of these two categories they falll into.

In my local paper there was a piece in the Consumer Watch section titled “Cell Phone Safety for Kids”, by Bonnie Throckmorton.

She states the following which we have hit on before;

Monitor how your children use their phones
Discuss safeguards with your carrier
Check your monthly bill

Cell phones can be a good tool for keeping your children safe, but when not monitored properly it can also be unsafe. Pay attention to what they are doing, their welfare depends on it.

Most of you reading this have more than likely possesed more than one cellphone.

What did you do with your old one?

Did you give it to someone, throw it away, sell it on E-bay? If you did, you more than likely erased all the information in the phone beforehand, right?

If by using the basic delete or erase functions on the phone, you think the information was erased, think again.

With the right software and know how, a person can access and recover this information from your old phones. Information such as IMs, contacts, notes, documents, account numbers, etc… A theifs dream and your nightmare.

The basic delete and erase functions will not completely erase the information from your phone. Most manufacturers do have a fool proff way to make sure this information is erased, but do not readily make it available or easy to do.

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Why, you ask. Simple, if they made it easy or readily available we would have people constantly erasing their information on their phones. This may sound funny, but I have seen this and I am sure you have to with other “do not touch or else” warnings. There are always those idiots that will try it just to see “if it works”.

If you need to discard a phone refer to the thick user manual for the instructions on wiping the memory of the phone or call the manufacturer for the information.

So, how many old cell phones have you come across at a dump, in the trash, at a thrift store, yard sale, etc..? Now you can wonder what kind of information these still hold.