Phone Slamming - An Old Trick From Long Distance Phone Companies
Have you ever opened your phone bill and suddenly you discover it is from a completely different phone company than you signed up with? If so, then you have probably been slammed. Phone slamming is when your phone company switches your service to another provider without your permission. The practice is completely illegal!
If you think this may have happened to you already, go ahead and contact the telephone company that you did sign up with. Tell them very clearly that you want to reconnect your original long distance calling plan that you signed up for. The company is not allowed to charge you for this switch, and hopefully you haven’t already paid your bill because by law, you don’t have to pay the charges for the time you were switched to the other company without your permission.
However, if you did happen to pay the bill, the law says that the company that “slammed” you has to pay you back 150% of your payment. If they refuse, be sure to get in touch with the FCC to make a formal complaint.
Another way to avoid this altogether is to drop your long distance company. You can have a home phone line and with PhoneHog, you can earn free long distance minutes. It’s very easy to sign up and earn the minutes. It’s as easy as using a pre-paid phone card, but without the cost. Try it for yourself to see, and post a comment to tell us what you think!
If you think this may have happened to you already, go ahead and contact the telephone company that you did sign up with. Tell them very clearly that you want to reconnect your original long distance calling plan that you signed up for. The company is not allowed to charge you for this switch, and hopefully you haven’t already paid your bill because by law, you don’t have to pay the charges for the time you were switched to the other company without your permission.
However, if you did happen to pay the bill, the law says that the company that “slammed” you has to pay you back 150% of your payment. If they refuse, be sure to get in touch with the FCC to make a formal complaint.
Another way to avoid this altogether is to drop your long distance company. You can have a home phone line and with PhoneHog, you can earn free long distance minutes. It’s very easy to sign up and earn the minutes. It’s as easy as using a pre-paid phone card, but without the cost. Try it for yourself to see, and post a comment to tell us what you think!
Labels: FCC, long distance calling plan, long distance company, phone slamming, PhoneHog
