Post by Admin on Oct 9, 2014 8:08:23 GMT -9
How to Stop the $9.99 Monthly Charges on Your Mobile Phone Bill Once And for All
Ross Kenneth Urken Follow
Oct 9, 2014 12:45 PM EDT
How to Stop the $9.99 Monthly Charges on Your Mobile Phone Bill Once And for All
NEW YORK (MainStreet) — The days of cramming are numbered. The seemingly innocuous text messages that offer horoscopes, trivia games, ringtones or other services with imbedded charges that recur monthly have tagged consumers with hundreds of millions of dollars in unwanted charges, usually at a clip of $9.99 each month. Most mobile service carriers have been slapped numerous times by the Federal Trade Commission with enabling these third-party charges: T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon – now it’s AT&T’s turn.
Wrapped within a $105 million settlement with law enforcement officials, AT&T Mobility LLC will pay $80 million to the FTC which will be passed on to consumers as refunds for the unlawful charges, known as cramming.
These third-party charges are nearly impossible to find on a typical monthly bill and carriers have been skimming 30-40% commissions on the fees, so they haven’t been exactly diligent in enforcing the ban on cramming. In fact, this is the FTC’s seventh action against cramming scams since 2013.
At this point, the scam has nearly run its course. Consumers are taking a closer look at their monthly bill and the carriers are losing their margins on the kickbacks due to the multi-million dollar fines. The FTC is requiring AT&T and other mobile service providers to obtain expressed consent from consumers before placing any third-party charges on their mobile phone bills. And those charges can no longer be disguised as “AT&T Monthly Subscriptions” – a billing description offering few details as to what the fees are really for. Under the terms of the settlement consumers are also to be provided with the option to block third-party charges from being placed on their bill.
In this case, complaining really does work. The FTC says AT&T received very high volumes of customer complaints regarding the third-party charges – accounting for more than 1.3 million calls to its customer service department in 2011 alone.
“In February 2012, one AT&T employee said in an e-mail that ‘Cramming/Spamming has increased to a new level that cannot be tolerated from an AT&T or industry perspective,’ but according to the complaint, the company did not act to determine whether third parties had in fact gotten authorization from consumers for the charges placed on their bills," the FTC says. "In fact, the company denied refunds to many consumers, and in other cases referred the consumers to third-parties to seek refunds for the money consumers paid to AT&T.”
If you’ve had such charges made to your account, AT&T must notify you and offer details of the FTC refund program. Ironically, you may be alerted of the settlement by text message.
Ross Kenneth Urken Follow
Oct 9, 2014 12:45 PM EDT
How to Stop the $9.99 Monthly Charges on Your Mobile Phone Bill Once And for All
NEW YORK (MainStreet) — The days of cramming are numbered. The seemingly innocuous text messages that offer horoscopes, trivia games, ringtones or other services with imbedded charges that recur monthly have tagged consumers with hundreds of millions of dollars in unwanted charges, usually at a clip of $9.99 each month. Most mobile service carriers have been slapped numerous times by the Federal Trade Commission with enabling these third-party charges: T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon – now it’s AT&T’s turn.
Wrapped within a $105 million settlement with law enforcement officials, AT&T Mobility LLC will pay $80 million to the FTC which will be passed on to consumers as refunds for the unlawful charges, known as cramming.
These third-party charges are nearly impossible to find on a typical monthly bill and carriers have been skimming 30-40% commissions on the fees, so they haven’t been exactly diligent in enforcing the ban on cramming. In fact, this is the FTC’s seventh action against cramming scams since 2013.
At this point, the scam has nearly run its course. Consumers are taking a closer look at their monthly bill and the carriers are losing their margins on the kickbacks due to the multi-million dollar fines. The FTC is requiring AT&T and other mobile service providers to obtain expressed consent from consumers before placing any third-party charges on their mobile phone bills. And those charges can no longer be disguised as “AT&T Monthly Subscriptions” – a billing description offering few details as to what the fees are really for. Under the terms of the settlement consumers are also to be provided with the option to block third-party charges from being placed on their bill.
In this case, complaining really does work. The FTC says AT&T received very high volumes of customer complaints regarding the third-party charges – accounting for more than 1.3 million calls to its customer service department in 2011 alone.
“In February 2012, one AT&T employee said in an e-mail that ‘Cramming/Spamming has increased to a new level that cannot be tolerated from an AT&T or industry perspective,’ but according to the complaint, the company did not act to determine whether third parties had in fact gotten authorization from consumers for the charges placed on their bills," the FTC says. "In fact, the company denied refunds to many consumers, and in other cases referred the consumers to third-parties to seek refunds for the money consumers paid to AT&T.”
If you’ve had such charges made to your account, AT&T must notify you and offer details of the FTC refund program. Ironically, you may be alerted of the settlement by text message.