Save Money on Cramming-Free Phone Bills

Cramming is the practice of placing deceptive charges on Customer’s monthly bills. They come in many forms and are onerous to detect unless the customer closely reviews his or her monthly phone bill. In 2004, the Arizona Corporation Commission approved rules against cramming, requiring telecommunication companies to erase the charges from customers’ phone bills and give a refund within 45 days from the date the bill is altered.

Recently, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) accused T-Mobile, the U.S.A wireless service provider, of bilking mobile phone users out of hundreds of millions of dollars with bogus horoscope and celebrity gossip SMS charges. “It’s ignominy for a company like T-Mobile to profit from scams against its customers when there were clear warning signs the charges it was imposing were fraudulent, ” said FTC Chair Edith Ramirez. The Federal Trade Commission asked the court to order T-Mobile to stop cramming on mobile bills and provide refunds to customers. Federal regulators are urging customers to review their phone bills for suspicious charges.

“Consumers should not be charged for services that they did not order,” said Travis LeBlanc, acting chief the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau, in a statement. “We will coordinate our investigation with the FTC, and use our independent enforcement authority to ensure a thorough, swift, and just resolution of the numerous complaints against T-Mobile.”

Save yourself and your money from cramming:

• Carefully review your phone bills every month.
• Carefully read all promotional materials before signing up for plans or other SMS services.
• If you think that a company’s charges are too high, contact other reliable phone service providers and try to get a better deal.
• Keep a record of your phone services and plans you have requested and used. 

The Federal Trade Commission has been pursuing  third-party merchants who use deceptive or misleading practices for some time, but the action against T-Mobile, a leading wireless service provider, marks the first time the commission has filed such a suit against a wireless carrier.