Despite a 2001 settlement with the Federal Trade Commission which barred Enhanced Services Billing Inc. (ESBI) and other billing aggregators (telephone "crammers") from illegally debiting phone bills for charges consumers didn't authorize (http://www.ftc. Gov/opa/08/billing3. Shtm), ESBI continues it's scam today.
In June ESBI placed an unauthorized $14.95 monthly charge on my AT&T bill for voicemail from Intelicom Messaging, LLC. When I called ESBI at 800-681-6010 and explained about the unauthorized charge, the representative said the first and last name of my wife and asked how she was related to me. I said she was my wife. The rep. Then told me that my wife had signed up for the service on the Internet and asked if I had an e-mail address where she could send confirmation that I was canceling the service. When I said no, she told me my wife's correct Gmail address and asked if she could send confirmation to her Gmail address. I said yes, though I wondered how this sleazy company acquired my wife's correct Gmail address in the first place. I knew this was a sleazy company because I'd dealt with a cramming scam before when I had Sprint (which became Embarq) local phone service in Tennessee. I dont remember the name of the previous crammer, though, as that happened several years ago.
Of course, my wife made no authorization for any voicemail from Intelicom Messaging, LLC, but even if she had tried to add such a service to our phone bill, she would not have had the authority to do so because the phone bill is in my name only. Furthermore, we have voicemail through AT&T, so why would we even need to sign up for any additional voicemail?
After "canceling the service" my wife and I had never ordered with ESBI, I called AT&T, gave them the cancellation confirmation number, and they deducted the charge from my bill. I also had AT&T add a third-party billing block to my account to prevent this from happening again. With the previous cramming scam in Tennessee, I also had a third-party billing block added.
Fortunately, with both cramming scams, I caught them the first month they tried to add them to my bill, but I know from other cramming-scam complaints that Ive seen posted online that other consumers have been ripped off for months or even years before they discovered what was going on.
Sleazy companies such as Enhanced Services Billing Inc. And other telephone crammers shouldnt just undergo settlements with the Federal Trade Commission; they should be put out of business, especially when theyre continuing their same illegal practices 7 years after their settlement.
Before filing this consumer complaints, I also filed a complaint regarding ESBI with the Federal Trade Commission. I encourage every other consumer who files cramming-scam complaints with the complaint to also file complaints with the Federal Trade Commission (https://www.ftccomplaintassistant. Gov).
ESBI should also be added to consumer complaints Top Rip-off Links. At the time of this consumer complaints writing, 79 consumer complaintss have been filed against this company since 2004.
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