I am also a victim of this 'cramming' (a term I found on the FTC and FCC websites). I received charges on my Verizon bill (which will appear for 2 months I am told) from a billing company called ESBI, Enhanced Services Billing, Inc. Verizon states it's a third party billing company with whom they apparently have an agreement with. As such Verizon is not obligated to verify any charges from ESBI.
I contacted ESBI and was not given any information about the company. I was told my charges would be credited back, however they would not answer any questions about how the charges were placed without my authorization. They would not transfer me to any other departments to ask questions about the company and their verification practices etc. I was transferred to a call center called Techmax Solutions located in Iowa.
The call center in Iowa also stated my charges would be removed in 2 billing cycles. Once again they would provide me with no information other than the company is called Voicemail Services, and they claim it is located in Palm Harbor, Fl. They stated they are not allowed to answer any other questions about the company. I could not get an address, phone number, manager name, company information - nothing.
I did find out that voicemail services "offers" its service on many websites, the one my information came from was www.usprizedraw.com. This is a fraudulent site claiming to be an entry form to Win a Trip to Vegas. When investigating the source code it became apparent that the site is built to gather information and then it errors out at the end.
I tested this website to find out how this could have happend. I wanted to be armed with information in my fight against these criminals. The form asks for name, address, phone number and email and once you enter that you are asked to select one of the many offers on the site. I scrolled through and clicked 'no' to all of them until I found the Voicemail offer. (The website says you have to select 'yes' to at least one offer to be entered in the sweepstake).
So, this is how the service gets ordered - one of the many ways. Apparently their offers are 'hidden' in many sweepstakes type websites like this one. The company does not verify the authenticity of the person ordering the service, they simply bill whoever's information is put in that form. Completely illegitimate.
Verizon states it's not their problem, it's completely up to me to try to contact the company. The company ESBI states it's not their problem, the call center Techmax Solutions who work for Voicemail Services say it's not their problem and they are instructed not to give out any company contact information. It's very frustrating and I'm committed to doing something about this. Is there a class action lawsuit we can join? I'll be near Palm Harbor next week and am working on locating the company to pay them a visit.
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