"Cramming” is the illegal practice of placing unauthorized charges on your telephone bill.  Crammers rely on confusing telephone bills and vague wording to trick you into paying for unwanted services. Charges may be labeled as a service fee, service charge, mail server, calling plan, membership, monthly fee, or other fees on your bill.

How to fight back   Here are some tips from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for fighting unauthorized charges on your telephone bill:

Carefully read all forms and promotional materials – including the fine print – before signing up for telephone or other services to be charged to your phone bill.  Be equally careful if you receive an offer by phone.

Thoroughly review your telephone bills every month. Monitor them just as closely as you would review your monthly credit card bill or bank statements. 

Make sure you recognize the names of all the companies listed on my bill and what services they’re providing.

Do not ignore small charges, which can add up to big amounts. Crammers often try to go undetected by submitting $1.99 or $2.99 charges to tens of thousands of consumers.  

If You Suspect Unauthorized Charges   Ask the company for an explanation before paying when you don’t know what service was provided for a charge on your bill. If you don’t receive a clear and accurate explanation, immediately call the company that charged you for services you did not authorize and request adjustment to your bill for any incorrect charges.

If that doesn’t work, call your own telephone company and request to have the incorrect charges removed.  And if that doesn’t work, you can file a complaint with the FCC for charges related to telephone services between states or internationally, or with your state public service commission for telephone services within your state.

Have a nice weekend,

Andrew Nevens
InnerTag
407-949-0106
andrew@innertag.com
www.innertag.com