$49.95 CHARGE

ComplaintsScamsTHE BILLING RESOURCE

Complaint

0
DONALD CROSHIER
Country: United States
PHONE BILL WAS CHARGED FOR THIS AND I DO NOT EVEN KNOW WHAT THIS IS OR WHO THEY ARE. I CALLED THE 800 # AND WAS TOLD I WAS RECORDED AND THIS WAS ORDERED IN SEPT. FOR MULTI WEB SITES FOR ADVERTISING MY COMPANY. I TOLD HER WOULD HAVE NEVER ORDERED THIS AND WANTED MY PHONE BILL CREDITED AND CANCEL THIS SERVICE. I WAS TOLD SHE WILL CANCEL THIS BUT CAN NOT CREDIT MY PHONE BILL. I ALSO FILED A COMPLAINT WITH THE UTILITIES COMMISSION AT CONSUMER AFFAIRS. I FEEL SORRY FOR PEOPLE WHO JUST PAY THEIR BILLS WITHOUT DOUBLE CHECKING ON ALL THE CHARGES. JUST THINK HOW MUCH $ IS PAID FOR SERVICES NEVER RENDERED? IT AINT RIGHT!

Comments

  • 0
    tj
    Putting unauthorized charges on your phone bill is known as cramming.

    Some background, and earlier complaints:
    https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/vzeORY5DpADbiAjJnZ2qZA

    As you are probably aware, there are a number of "companies" who run "yellow pages directory" or "website" advertising scams targetting small businesses.  They often contact small businesses by phone, claiming to be "checking your address information", and then later claim some small business "agreed" to advertise through their worthless directory or website.  

    Cramming onto phone bills on the pretense of an "advertising contract" is a common method to extract payment, since it gets spread into small monthly charges that may be missed for several months.  To do that, they have to work with a "billing aggregator willing to look the other way and ignore the resulting complaints.  

    The alternative to cramming would be to submit an invoice for the fraudulent charges, hoping it slips through accounts payable, or threatening to damage the owner's credit if it isn't paid.  That runs the risk of bringing it to the attention of authorities, as the "invoice" for un-ordered services would be evidence of mail fraud.

    Integretel/The Billing Resource is a "billing aggregator" that accepts charges submitted by other companies who allege that phone customers have agreed to, and submits them to local phone companies where they get billed as part of monthly phone bills.

    They have been associated with billing for a number of companies making fraudulent charges in the past, and they reached a settlement regarding those fraudulent charges with FTC.  They are specifically required to properly handle complaints of fraudulent chargs as part of that settlement.

    http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2002/11/integretel.shtm


    Submit a dispute IN WRITING with your local phone company, stating that the charges are fraudulent, and that you never agreed to them.  They should remove them.  Also contact Integretel/The Billing Resource to dispute the charges as fraudulent.  

    If they still make any attempt to collect, either refusing to refund disputed amounts, or even offering to knock the amount down or limit it to only a month or two refund, then document your conversation and file complaints against them with FTC, your state AG, and the Santa Clara County District Attorney, due to their violation of the settlement agreement.  Your phone provider should still be able to reverse the charges, regardless of what they say.
  • 0
    tj
    This is a typical "advertising" scam with cramming.  Since the scammer cannot directly submit chargs to phone companies for inclusion in phone bills, they need to find a cooperative billing aggregator willing to accept the high dispute levels their schemes generate.

    Lawsuit by Illinois Attorney General against yp.com:
    http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/pressroom/2008_11/20081112.html

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