Make Money Online Blog

Wham-Bam-Slam! THE TELEPHONE SLAMMING

“–This Piece of *&^%…–”

O.K. O.K. Let calm down: telephone slamming is not what you think it is–BUT it can result in your slamming the telephone service provider!…

O.K. Here what it can “potentially” happen: You’re in your pajama, enjoying a nice cup of mocha, in the ‘mochalala mood’ for some billing chores. It’s time to pay your phone bill!

You open your phone bill (still in the ‘mocha mood’), look at the total and start to write a check–BUT–then you notice something! Your long distance carrier has been switched and you didn’t authorize it! At least you didn’t know you were authorizing it…

YOU HAVE BECOME THE VICTIM OF TELEPHONE SLAMMING!

To put it bluntly, telephone slamming is when the *&^% companies switch your long distance carrier to another company WITHOUT your permission or by hiding the authorization in small print.

O.K. O.K. So, you have been a victim of telephone slamming!?! But before I going on telling you what to do, let first talk about what you CAN do to prevent you from slamming your telephone–I mean, telephone slamming :).

Basically, the most important thing do to prevent the telephone slamming scam is to institute a PIC Freeze. What the heck is a P.I.C. Freeze? Well, PIC is short for pre-subscribed interexchange carrier; it’s what the telecommunication industry calls a long distance company. When you institute a freeze you are asking your local telephone company to never change your long distance carrier without your permission. It only takes TWO steps to “freeze” your PIC!

Step 1. Call your long distance company, and ask them for their carrier code, the number that your local telephone company needs to implement the freeze.

Step 2. Call your local telephone company and give them your phone number and ask for your PIC to be restricted. They will ask you for a carrier code, you received this is step 1.

Once you have made the request, the phone company will put a block on your account and you will also be asked for a password.

You need to remember this password and remember no one, not even you, can switch your long distance carrier. In the future, when you want to switch you will have to have the PIC freeze removed. They will need the password you gave them to do this.

Another way to help prevent being slammed by your telephone service provider is to use caution when entering contests or responding to offers for “free” merchandise. (Ah, “free”–the most dangerous word on the internet…not only in telephone slamming but spam slamming as well!)

O.K. Back to telephone slamming: Watch out for some companies that hide the fact that you are authorizing them to switch your long distance carrier by signing your name on the form. Read the tiny print or forms around you to see if this might be done.

The FCC has recently strengthened the rules to help combat telephone slamming. If you haven’t paid the telephone slammers yet (NO! Not you :)) , you do not have to for up to 30 days. If you have paid, the slammer is required to forward the payment to your authorized carrier, which will issue a refund or credit for any amount you over paid. A telephone slammer (again, NOT you) can be fined up to $40,000 per incident. One carrier was fined over $4 million by the FCC! The telephone slamming victims eventually receive compensation for being slammed. Now, that’s a slam dunk on the *&^% slammer! =P.

O.K. Here are a few tips on what to do when you have been a telephone slamming victim:

• The FIRST thing you should do is call your local telephone company and let them know. Also ask to be returned to your original long distance carrier.

*Make sure you tell your telephone provider that you will NOT pay the fees for returning you to your authorized carrier.

Next, you should call your original carrier and let them know that you have been slammed and ask them to reconnect your original plan. They shouldn’t charge you for the reconnection.

• Now, you should call the *&^% slammer and DEMAND–don’t request–DEMAND that all charges within 30 days of the slam be removed from your phone bill! Retaliate your slammer with your own telephone slamming! And if the slammers won’t waive the charges, tell them that you will be contacting the FCC (and will wait for FCC’s million dollars slamming :).

• Finally, you should file a ‘telephone slamming‘ complaint with the FCC who can deal with the offending carrier. They possibly will prosecute them under federal and state laws. You can also file the telephone slamming complain electronically at: http://fcc.gov/cib/ccformpage.html.

O.K. That’s all there is to it–to the *&^% telephone slamming ruckus.

You should be back enjoying your mocha moment with your pile of bills =P…But at any rate, I hope these slamming tips will prevent you from having to deal with telephone slamming or slamming your telephone to your *&^% slammer!

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