Slamming and Cramming, PART #2
Posted by Joseph Brochin
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.
