AT&T Is Paying $7.75 Million in Refunds and Fines Over Sham Calls (fortune.com)

AT&T will pay $7.75 million after a federal investigation found it allowed unauthorized third-party charges on its customers' telephone bills, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission said Monday, reports Reuters (via Fortune). From the report: The company allowed "scammers to charge customers approximately $9 per month for a sham directory assistance service," the FCC said Monday. The fraud was uncovered by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration while investigating two Ohio companies for drug-related crimes and money laundering, the FCC said. The settlement includes $6.8 million in refunds and a $950,000 federal fine, the FCC said. AT&T signed a consent decree with the FCC and agreed to cease billing for nearly all third-party products and services on landline bills and adopt procedures to obtain express consent from customers prior to allowing third-party charges. The company also agreed to revise its billing practices to ensure third-party charges are conspicuously identified on bills.

Comments

Tricks of the Mouth

[Tablizer]

We've had the experience whereby we order a new service or discount program. The AT&T "operator" starts talking fast and rattling off obscure names and words. When we ask for clarification, the operator just changes the subject, or says, "one second, let me check on something". Then a month and a half later, strange fees start showing up on our bill. After giving us the transfer run-around, we finally ask to have the fees removed. The "operator" says, "Sorry, they must have gotten there by accident".

I suspect these "operators" get a cut of any add-on service they sell, and thus have an incentive to stick you with a service using well-honed tricks of the mouth. In case the conversation is recorded, they have their "sloppy talk" as an excuse. In the end, it's "just a misunderstanding".

Why are all their "misunderstandings" in THEIR favor and not ours?

If there truly is a hell, these "operators" will roast crispy and crunchy (along with the managers who know about it and do nothing).

Re:Tricks of the Mouth

[TroII]

When we ask for clarification, the operator just changes the subject, or says, "one second, let me check on something". Then a month and a half later, strange fees start showing up on our bill.

One scam I've encountered before, and I'm not saying AT&T does this but other companies do, is they'll record your entire phone call. When they say "one second, let me check on something" and you reply with something like "that's fine," now they have a recording of you saying "that's fine." If you challenge the charges later on, they dig up the recorded phone call and someone spends a couple minutes stitching it together so it sounds like you said "that's fine" after they asked "Would you like to order $EXPENSIVE_SERVICE?"

I'm very leery of saying any affirmative phrases ("OK", "yes," "sure") over the phone unless I initiated the call or I know the other party.