Watch your phone bill About This Page:

[duck addict]

Watch you phone bill.

My phone bill jumped $20 due to two third party companies that extract payment through the local phone bill.

The bad news is that I did not order their services (I had never heard of them

They claim the services (e-mail and voice mail services) were ordered over the internet. Apparently anyone can order services online and put in your phone number for billing. (and the state PUC cannot do anything as FEDERAL requires that the phone company accept the additional billings

The good news, is ATT is marking them contested and removing them from my bill.

The bad news ATT says it can't prevent it from happening You cannot flag your account for NO third party billing/collections.

The good news is they are allegedly cancelling the accounts and removing the charges

I will believe it when next month comes and they are removed.

Check your bill twice!
A quick internet search showed both companies allegedly scamming people across the country for several years.

[lukeandbrookesmom]

I had the same thing happen last month Don I caught mine because they did it through PayPal. My account was charged the $20 by a company called Ringtoindia.com and I got the PayPal confirmation. I immediatedly contested the charge with PayPal but it took almost 3 weeks to get resolved. They had to contact this Ringtoindia place to see if it was a legimate charge (they didn't believe me of course!!) and gave them 7 days to respond. Obviously they didn't and then PayPal reimbursed my account. What a mess it was!

[Sandra Bostwick]

That is really scary!

[KMB733]

Thanks for the heads up!

[lauren-roxy]

Thanks for the info, that's really scary.

[Colexis Mom]

Thanks for the info!!

[my2twinboys]

Wow! Something similar happened on our cell phones. DH did not order services, but we were charged an extra $30 in May. DH complained to AT&T, but they refused to take the charges off our bill. DH then sent AT&T a written email request to cancel the services that we were charged extra for. Well, this past month the same charges were on there for another $30. I called AT&T and they said that they had our request for cancellation, but never put it through. So they refunded the $30 for June, but still won't do anything about May.

Since we don't use the internet on our cell phones, I had them put a purchase blocker on it so that this cannot happen again. The purchase blocker is free. If DH wants to use the internet, we were provided with a pin code that he can use to override the blocker.

[DrDolphin]

Thanks for the heads up Don!!

[Luvsun]

Thanks for the info Don!

[jenjen1127]

It happened to me and it took three months for them to finally stop charging me. I complained to Verizon and someone was nice enough to call the third party with me on the other line and insist that they cancel the service which I never ordered. Same like everyone else they said I ordered it on the internet which I DID NOT. Watch your bill!!!!

[stretch2864]

Thanks for letting us know! That is scary!

[Disney_Scarlett]

Scary! Thanks for the heads up!

[Ruth Andre]

The same thing happened to us about 3 months ago. Only, there was a company that charged us $4.95 for a Long distance "extra service". We already have long distance and didn't "ever" order this on the internet. It was removed right away by Verizon but thats because we check our bill. What about the people that don't and just pay with faith that you bill is correct.

[goofysdtr]

Originally Posted by Ruth Andre

What about the people that don't and just pay with faith that you bill is correct.

That's exactly what they are counting on. Imagine how much $ they are making off unsuspecting people, & it sounds like they can completely get away with little to no repercussions!

[home4us123]

Thanks for the info!!