We have written before about the practice called "cramming." A report recently issued by Senator John Rockefeller of West Virginia highlights the tremendous impact that cramming has on consumers.
Cramming is the practice in which consumers find mysterious charges on their telephone bills for services that they had not purchased. The report issued by Senator Rockefeller notes that the practice of cramming began appearing in the 1990s, when telephone companies opened their billing platforms to an array of third-party vendors offering a variety of services. For the first time, telephone numbers became a payment method equivalent to credit card numbers, whereby consumers and businesses could purchase products and services with their telephone numbers and the charges for the services would later appear on their telephone bills. The evidence obtained during Senator Rockefeller’s investigation suggested that third-party billing on telephones has failed to become a reliable method of payment for consumers and businesses to conduct legitimate commerce, but instead has created the opportunity for third parties to cram consumers’ telephone bills with unwarranted and unauthorized charges. The report cites some extreme examples of cramming: third-party vendors have enrolled deceased persons in their services and charged family members’ telephone bills for it; senior citizens’ telephones have been enrolled in web hosting services even though they have never used the Internet; a children’s hospital was charged for a celebrity tracker e-mail service that provided daily celebrity news feeds, photos and videos; and a national bank’s telephone lines were charged for credit protection plans.
Allowing third parties to charge consumers for their services through telephone bills has resulted in tremendous impact on consumers. The report estimates that telephone companies have generated over $1 billion in revenue by placing third-party charges on their customers’ telephone bills. Unfortunately, many of these consumers have been charged for products or services that they never used, and often fail to discover the crammed charge because of the complexity of telephone bills these days. Furthermore, it can be difficult for consumers to remove the charges from their telephone bills if they do discover the charges. Obviously, some of the third-party charges are legitimate, but it appears that third-party billing through telephone bills has become an avenue for fraud and deceit.
If you or someone you know has been the victim of cramming, please contact us to discuss your legal rights.