My SBC Monthly Statement includes a billing from OANplus for service provided by Telseven LLC for a call to directory assistance in Nevada (702-555-1212). I never placed such a call. The only phone on the line for this billing is on my desk, next to the computer (not on that line) that can be used to access any listed phone number using on-line services, so I would never have called information of any sort. Telseven's recorded message says someone must have called their "1010 equal access number". Their website does not publish their 1010 equal access number. I cannot find their 1010 equal access number, though I search. Thus, I could not have "direct dialed" their number at any time.
When I called their customer service number, "Kevin" told me they would sent a credit to SBC, though I requested a check to me directly. The credit will be applied in "two to three billing cycles". Okay, assuming they do credit SBC, what they have done is obtained an interest-free loan from SBC for "two to three billing cycles". (SBC is aware I wlll not be paying this portion of my bill this month) Whereas I am surely not the only "customer" who has been billed this way, they could be holding a chunk of money from several different phone companies — enough to earn them a tidy sum of interest, even in the short term. But it is not short term. Once they make the initial collection from many phone companies and many customers thereof, they can use each new month's billings to pay the refunds for the billings from two or three previous billing cycles.
I plan to send letters to the following agencies about this (I am retired and can afford the time, even for such a small amount of money they are trying to get from me):
Public Utilities Commission of Ohio
Federal Communications Commission
Federal Trade Commission
SBC
I encourage others who have been improperly billed for services to complain in writing, too.
0 comments