I've been victimized by telephone "cramming". My telephone company "Qwest" defines it as "Unwanted fees and charges placed on your phone bill without your prior consent or knowledge or permission".
I hear about these scams on TV and consumer websites, but I never thought it would happen to me. Last month I placed a 20 minute telephone call to Seattle. Seattle is about 8 miles from my home. The telephone number I called was a local call. It had a 206 area code and all calls made from my home phone are local calls. They are not toll calls, long distance or 900/976 calls. After placing the call I was not given any warning that I would be charged $12.25 for the making the call. I had no prior warning that I would be charged for this call. I had called the exact phone number several times in the past, and I was never charged for the call. Without prior warning the phone call was now costing money.
I was charged for this call despite my honest efforts to avoid "cramming" or "slamming" by toll call companies or long distance carriers. When I first got my phone through Qwest almost four year ago I enacted "toll restriction". It's a free service from Qwest that blocks my ability to make toll calls from my home phone. I also have filed a "freeze" with Qwest preventing any long distance carrier from adding their services to my phone without my consent and prior knowledge. Furthermore, I have 900/976 blocking on my phone so I cannot be charged for any telephone service companies.
Despite all my efforts, Integretel managed to access my phone and bill me $12.25 for making a local call.
I have notified Qwest and they did not give me a satisfactory response. They allowed Integretel access to my phone despite toll restriction, a "freeze" on long distance carriers and 900/976 blocking. I have contacted Qwest again regarding my responsibility for paying Integretel and I am awaiting a response.
I attempted to file a complaint on Integretel.com using their "Bill Inquiry" option. I tried to file the complaint several times. Not surprisingly, the "Bill Inquiry" feature does not work on their website.
I attempted to call Integretel at the 800 number on my Qwest phone bill. When I called I get the message, "This number is no longer in service..."
When I attempted to file this report on usacomplaints.com, I had to provide Integretel's US mailing address. I looked all over their website and they do not provide a mailing address or even a clue as to where their company is located. I found a phone number and entered it into the Reverse Phone Directory on SuperPages.com. Nothing came up. I was only able to locate their mailing address after reading several Reports on this website. Why does Integretel make it so hard to find them?
Oh yeah, this is a major scam... Make no mistake... Regardless of what the company representatives have claimed on this website in their Rebuttals, they have to know, they must know, that what they are doing is simply wrong. They can't feel confident charging people huge sums for making phone calls to locations I can quite literally walk to in an hour or so...
How do we stop them? I'll be reporting them to the Better Business Bureau, Federal Trade Commission, FCC, Washington State Attorney General's Office and whatever agency I can think of to make every attempt to restrict Integretel's ability to do business.
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