Billed ATT for unwanted charges

ComplaintsScamsTHE BILLING RESOURCE

Complaint

0
Kathryn Teachout
Country: United States
Came home today to open our ATT monthly bill and found charges had been applied to our account for voicemail set up. Tried contacting them, and they could not tell us how this happened.  Very bad Company!!

Comments

  • 0
    tj
    Notify ATT that the charges that "The Billing Resource" added to your phone bill are fraudulently crammed charges for "voicemail" you never authorized or ordered.  Call them on the phone now, then get their dispute address to follow up IN WRITING, sent certified return receipt requested, so you have a verifieable record of submitting your timely dispute to ATT.

    Then file complaints with your state Attorney General, and with FTC.  You may also wish to contact the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Consumer Protection Unit, as this company is located in San Jose, in Santa Clara County.  

    In some states, ATT itself is under settlement agreements to assist customers in dealing with fraudulently crammed charges and to cut off sources of charges with high rates of disputes for fraud.  Contact your state Attorney General for more information.

    ATT should be able to reverse and block any fraudulent charges.  If they won't, contact your state Attorney General to discuss their role in perpetuating this fraud.

    The Billing Resource (also known as "Integretel") is what is known as a billing aggregator, a company that accepts supposedly legitimately authorized charges from other companies, and sends them to telecom providers to be added to consumer phone bills.  The problem is that this company, like a number of others in this business, has a history of assisting scam companies in making fraudulent charges to consumer phone bills.  

    In effect, they turn your phone number into an account they are able to charge, with the telecom companies collecting the payments, but one that can be bought from sellers of telemarketing lists.  This has resulted in a steady stream of scam companies using this mechanism to defraud consumers and businesses.

    The scam companies have made fraudulent charges for supposed "adult services", "voice mail accounts", "internet services", and similar dubious "products" which cost nothing to the "seller", especially if the sucker (I mean "alleged buyer") never even knows they have been paying for them and never ordered them in the first place.

    The Billing Resource is still the target of legal action by FTC in connection with their role in submitting unauthorized charges for several scam companies.  FTC settled with several of their "clients", but apparently a settlement has yet to be reached with this company, since refunding a sizable amount of fraudulently collected charges is at stake.  

    After you file your FTC complaint, contact FTC directly by phone to discuss the matter.

    http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/03/cram.shtm
    http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/03/phone.shtm
  • 0
    tj
    FTC rules make billing aggregators responsible for the fraudulent charges of their clients in cases where they assisted in, or ignored indications of, fraudulent billing schemes resulting in high complaint rates.
  • 0
    Granpa1
    Scam still active.  My bill from AT&T today included charges from PaymentOne for WEBEXTREME,LLC for $16.99.  I have never heard of, done business or authorized either to make charges to my telephone bill.  I have asked AT&T to block such charges.  Apparently they like the revenue they earn from these outfits as they scam.  These companies make thousands of unauthorized charges and only a small number of those charged recognize the charges as being on the bill.  The telephone bills are so complicated that most consumers cannot decipher what is valid and what is not.

    AT&T, Verizon and other telephone companies should be held liable for participating in this theft.
  • 0
    tj
    This opportunity for fraud arose out of Judge Greene's mid-1980s decision opening up the phone systems to competition, in effect turning the telephone book into a convenient published list of alternative "credit card" numbers.

    The telecom companies like revenue, as long as they get to keep it.  ATT and Verizon have gotten stung by several states over crammed charges through billing aggregators, so they aren't as happy about handling other's billing as they might once have been.  


    Follow up with a WRITTEN fraud dispute to ATT, mailed certified.  FCC billing rules require that telecom bills be disputed within 60 days of the statement.  Don't let that written notice slip, or you lose.

    If you get any flak, file written complaints against all parties (ATT, PaymentOne, and WEBEXTREME) with FTC and your state Attorney General.



    Other complaints consistent with "cramming" fraud through PaymentOne.

    Note how they evade attempts to dispute fraudulent charges, despite the claims by their trade organization that they supposedly have fraud prevention programs in place.  

    http://www.consumeraffairs.com/cell_phones/paymentone.html
  • 0
    David
    I just canceled The Billing Resource with a minimum of effort. The lady claimed I had registered for this service online and gave me information that indeed was mine, like my birth date and home address. I explained to her that I never gave that information to this company online. She did cancel the service, which will save me $14.95 a month. She did not offer a refund from the other months I've been charged. Watch out for this on your phone bill as well as Enhanced Services Billing, which will sock you for another $14.95 a month — or more. I also called them today and had their "service" dropped. Enhanced Services Billing credited me for three months and also agreed to drop the charges from my monthly bill.
  • 0
    tj
    Demand a refund of the rest of the money they took, and if they don't return it, file a fraud complaint against both the billing aggregator and the scam company, with FTC and your state Attorney General.

    In addition, you would be wise to block this type of billing through your phone company.

    What were the names of the alleged companies that submitted charges to The Billing Resource and Enhanced Services Billing?
  • 0
    4real
    I to have been been scamed by ATT. I received July  bill with charges for $4.95 monthly long distants service which I did not request.  As I have a cell phone that I use for long distance. I called and inquired why they charged me for a service I did not request. A gentleman told me a lot nonsense which I do not understand. He said these charge would be on my account from now on. I have had this phone service since 1971 without any trouble.  Aaso, there aare three other charges for parts of the following month which overlap each other, this is pure fraud and -scamming activity.
  • 0
    4real
    I to have been been scamed by ATT. I received July  bill with charges for $4.95 monthly long distants service which I did not request.  As I have a cell phone that I use for long distance. I called and inquired why they charged me for a service I did not request. A gentleman told me a lot nonsense which I do not understand. He said these charge would be on my account from now on. I have had this phone service since 1971 without any trouble.  Aaso, there aare three other charges for parts of the following month which overlap each other, this is pure fraud and -scamming activity.
  • 0
    Claudia
    On my AT&T wireless bill there was a charge of $9.99 for 'Navigator'...which is a GPS system.  I never o.k'ed a purchase or downloaded any kind of app for this - but the was Icon on phone.  AT&T took the charge off my bill and I now have a 'pin' for future use.

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