Check your phone bill.

Dave76 · 04-09-2009, 11:15 AM

I learned a lesson this week and thought I'd pass along my experience. My telephone service is with ATT. I have two land lines and one cell phone on the bill. My monthly phone bill is about 7 or 8 pages long with line after line of charges that I don't really understand. Federal tax this, state tax that, access fees, ect, etc. I gave up trying to understand the phone bill a long time ago.

As I was scanning the phone bill, I saw one line that really had me scratching my head. It said "247mp3s mth subscr" and was a charge for $14.99 (plus tax, of course).

I go to the website and it's access to 24/7 downloads of MP3s. They blatantly advertise that no credit card is required. All you need is a name and phone number and they'll put it on your phone bill. In other words, all you need to do is randomly pick a name and number out of the phone book. Whoever did this had an old email address for me that I haven't used in years. I'm not sure where they got the information.

I called this company and discovered that this has been going since June 2008. I've been promised a refund but we'll see what happens.

Anyway, I'll be checking all 10,000 lines on my phone bill in the future.

blabber · 04-09-2009, 11:25 AM

It is just criminal how easy it is to get ripped off.

DaddyR · 04-09-2009, 11:25 AM

Good point. On my (Verizon) old land line I had a charge that appeared every month from another company with a similar add-on like that. I had to find and write to the company making the fraudulent charges in order to get them to stop charging me, and even then, after 6 months or so the charges re-appeared. I eventually just cancelled my land line service entirely. Verizon steadfastly refused to remove ANY of the fraudulent charges no matter how loudly I protested that they were fraudulent and unauthorized.

It's a ripoff and nobody seems to want to do right by you. Definitely keep an eye out!

dbx · 04-09-2009, 12:07 PM

Dave, I'm not sure what kind of plan you have, but I would notice such a charge on a single bill. For anyone with family or friends in other states, they need to look into flat rate billing. I've had it for approx 7 or 8yrs. Even before that, I used the cheapest (but quality!) "by the minute long distance" deal companies.

And as a side note; AT&T is the poster child for monopolies, and was among the first to be forced to split up. Now? They're buying up "Ma Bells" and others across the country again....and they suck even worse than anyone could have ever imagined. I've been using an "unknown" phone company for 7+ yrs now, and couldn't be more pleased.

Oh, and of you really want to get reamed, visit Cancun (or any other Mex city) and call home

. We're talking $75 per minute (yes, that's $75 DOLLARS). And it can be even worse. Had it happen..negotiated..and walked away bruised, but not totally beaten

.

blabber · 04-09-2009, 12:20 PM

The practice is called "cramming" and it's totally illegal, at least in California. Pacific Bell used to be pretty good about removing and reversing the charges because it was a fraudulent practice.

Dave76 · 04-09-2009, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbx

Dave, I'm not sure what kind of plan you have, but I would notice such a charge on a single bill. For anyone with family or friends in other states, they need to look into flat rate billing. I've had it for approx 7 or 8yrs. Even before that, I used the cheapest (but quality!) "by the minute long distance" deal companies...

Oh, and of you really want to get reamed, visit Cancun (or any other Mex city) and call home

. We're talking $75 per minute (yes, that's $75 DOLLARS). And it can be even worse. Had it happen..negotiated..and walked away bruised, but not totally beaten

.

I have a flat rate for long distance. $20 per month (plus every imaginable tax and fee) for unlimited use. It seems like something changes every month so the bill is never identical. The cell phone is the usual culprit for that.

BTW, several hotels in Cancun now have free phone calls back to the US. We stayed at the Sun Palace last year and they had free service. I was checking trips the other day and noticed that several hotels advertised free phone calls.

I don't blame ATT. I blame the MP3 company. They are obviously trying to make it easy to join. What does it really cost them if they have to refund a few scam accounts? They're just trying to make it easy for teenage kids to add it to dad's bill. How hard would it be to provide an access code that needs to be called in from the home phone before the account is activated? That's the way new credit cards work. It wouldn't stop the teenage kid but it would stop the fraud. Unless, of course, someone breaks into my house to complete the fraud.

dbx · 04-09-2009, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave76

I have a flat rate for long distance. $20 per month (plus every imaginable tax and fee) for unlimited use. It seems like something changes every month so the bill is never identical. The cell phone is the usual culprit for that.

BTW, several hotels in Cancun now have free phone calls back to the US. We stayed at the Sun Palace last year and they had free service. I was checking trips the other day and noticed that several hotels advertised free phone calls.

I don't blame ATT. I blame the MP3 company. They are obviously trying to make it easy to join. What does it really cost them if they have to refund a few scam accounts? They're just trying to make it easy for teenage kids to add it to dad's bill. How hard would it be to provide an access code that needs to be called in from the home phone before the account is activated? That's the way new credit cards work. It wouldn't stop the teenage kid but it would stop the fraud. Unless, of course, someone breaks into my house to complete the fraud.

I was simply taking the AT&T wave and riding it. I hate them

But yes, I see your point. I'm also aware that there are safe places/ways to call from Mex to US. This happened to me about 6yrs ago, and was the same trip that an entirely different real estate company tried to bill me $50K for a deal I legally backed out of. Damn you, you've drudged up bad memories

Minotaur · 04-09-2009, 12:35 PM

We got rid of AT&T years ago and switched to Verizon with flat rate calling anywhere in the US, Canada and PR. Then we got an even better deal with Comcast's Triple play (digital voice, internet, TV). We pay less to Comcast for Triple Play than we did for Comcast internet and TV, and Verizon phone. That is, Comcast basically gave us phone service for the same monthly charge we had for internet and TV. No more Verizon.

Dave76 · 04-09-2009, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbx

I was simply taking the AT&T wave and riding it.

lol, I actually despise AT&T. I had a horrific time getting the second line installed to my house. All the wires were in place, all they had to do was make the connection back at the switch. It took me 6 months of calling to get it done. Somehow, their computer kept losing my order and I kept getting placed at the back of their two week waiting period. It felt like the Twilight Zone. I couldn't get them to believe me that they kept losing my order. To make matters worse, they charged over $100 to connect the line claiming that it was that high because of the work they had to do in my back yard. I guarantee you that no one ever entered my back yard. I stubbornly refused to pay it and they shut off my long distance service as a response.

I taught them a lesson, though!!! After the line was installed, I immediately switched my service to Southwestern Bell. They had the last laugh when they bought Southwestern Bell.

GreenWave1 · 04-09-2009, 12:48 PM

Thanks Dave.

dbx · 04-09-2009, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave76

lol, I actually despise AT&T. I had a horrific time getting the second line installed to my house. All the wires were in place, all they had to do was make the connection back at the switch. It took me 6 months of calling to get it done. Somehow, their computer kept losing my order and I kept getting placed at the back of their two week waiting period. It felt like the Twilight Zone. I couldn't get them to believe me that they kept losing my order. To make matters worse, they charged over $100 to connect the line claiming that it was that high because of the work they had to do in my back yard. I guarantee you that no one ever entered my back yard. I stubbornly refused to pay it and they shut off my long distance service as a response.

Yep, those are my guys

blabber · 04-09-2009, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave76

...I taught them a lesson, though!!! After the line was installed, I immediately switched my service to Southwestern Bell. They had the last laugh when they bought Southwestern Bell.

There is no escape, MWU-HAHAHhahaahhhaahhh ! ! ! ! ! !

free816 · 04-09-2009, 05:28 PM

since i work for at&t i thought i would speak up, if you have a phone with a smaller company? trust me you are paying at&t. everything is regulated (not the phone comany fault) get mad at the politicians with all the taxes. about as worse than gas tax and tobacco tax

Dave76 · 04-09-2009, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by free816

since i work for at&t i thought i would speak up, if you have a phone with a smaller company? trust me you are paying at&t. everything is regulated (not the phone comany fault) get mad at the politicians with all the taxes. about as worse than gas tax and tobacco tax

I didn't start the thread to bash AT&T. My complaint was against the MP3 company. I worked for a regulated utility for a long time. I understand more about utility regulations than most people. Blame whoever you wish, you'll have to admit, though, phone bills are outrageously complicated.

free816 · 04-09-2009, 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave76

I didn't start the thread to bash AT&T. My complaint was against the MP3 company. I worked for a regulated utility for a long time. I understand more about utility regulations than most people. Blame whoever you wish, you'll have to admit, though, phone bills are outrageously complicated.

no doubt, just family and friends will always ask (like i know) why is there bill so high. i tell them to really look at the bill, and a good 20% is taxes

jellodirt · 04-10-2009, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave76

Anyway, I'll be checking all 10,000 lines on my phone bill in the future.

Same here. Our daughter was texting on our phones (we don't have the service). I went round and round with them that if we don't have the service we shouldn't be able to access it. They said that since our phones are capable of texting there is no way to block it. That's crap since my phone is capable of accessing their service but is unable to until they authorize it.