The best way to keep from being slammed,
or having a long distance company change your service without your permission,
is to request a "PIC freeze" for your line. PIC, or pre-subscribed
inter exchange carrier, is the telecom industry's term for a long distance
company. By "freezing" your PIC, you are asking your local phone
company to ensure that your long distance carrier is never changed without
your permission. It's easy to do and can save you a lot of time, money and
headaches in the future.
To IMPLEMENT a PIC Freeze on your telephone you need only
call your local telephone provider and request the freeze to be implemented
or request the form required to sign and return. Most companies do not require
a form. With Western Iowa Networks you need only request the freeze and provide
appropriate verification data (such the last four digits of your social security number) for your
freeze to be implemented or lifted, and this can be done at any time. When
requesting a PIC freeze, it will apply to all your long distance services
including intraLATA/interstate, interLATA/intrastate, and interLATA/interstate
service.
To LIFT a preferred carrier freeze, most companies only require a request by phone while providing the
appropriate verification data. WIN will also accept your written and signed
authorization for lifting the freeze.
Call WIN at 888-508-2946 if you are a local telephone subscriber and would like to have a PIC Freeze
added free-of-charge to your account. Your local telephone provider (not your
long distance provider) is the only one that can add or remove this service.
Help! I've Been Slammed!
Has this happened to you?
You open your phone bill and give it a quick once-over before
pulling out the checkbook and grabbing your pen. Wait a second - what catches
your eye, under the list of normal phone charges? That's not your usual long
distance carrier. Someone has switched your long distance carrier without
your permission. What happened?
You've been slammed. Your "new" carrier has illegally
switched you from your usual long distance provider to their own service,
without your permission! If it's any consolation, you're not alone. According
to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), slamming is the single largest
source of complaints filed, and it has been on the rise in recent years. American
consumers filed 21,868 slamming complaints in 1999, up from 12,795 in 1996.
What is being done about it?
"Slamming," or switching a consumer's telephone carrier
without his or her knowledge or consent, is prohibited by the FCC's rules.
The Commission enforces these rules by investigating individual complaints
and patterns of slamming practices and punishes those who slam.
The FCC has recently strengthened the rules designed to combat
slamming. In cases where the consumer has not yet paid the slammer, the consumer
does not have to pay for service for up to 30 days. If you have paid, the
slamming long distance carrier is required to forward the payment to your
authorized carrier, which will issue you a refund or credit for any amount
you overpaid. Additionally, an offending long distance carrier can be fined
up to $40,000 per incident of slamming. One well-known carrier was recently
fined over $4 million by the FCC for slamming consumers. With these new FCC
rules, carriers that slam are harshly punished, and authorized long distance
providers now have incentive to go after the offending carrier. In addition,
consumers usually receive compensation for being slammed. So, if you are slammed,
fight back.
What can you do to prevent being slammed?
The best way to avoid being a slam victim is to implement
a PIC Freeze. Know who your current long distance carrier is and be sure
that their name, and not another long distance carrier's name, is listed each
month on your bill.
A second thing you can do is exercise caution when entering
contests or responding to offers for "free" merchandise. Some unscrupulous
long distance companies hide the fact that you are authorizing them to switch
your long distance carrier by signing your name on the entry form.
What do you do if you are a victim of slamming?
If you are a victim, there are several things you should do.
First, call your local phone company to let them know you have been slammed
and ask that they return you to your original long distance carrier.
Second, call your original carrier and let them know that you
have been slammed. Ask them to reconnect you to your original plan. You should
not be charged for the reconnection.
Next, call the long distance company that slammed you. Demand
that all charges within 30 days of the slamming be removed from your bill.
If the carrier is unwilling to waive the charges, contact the FCC.
Finally, file a complaint with the FCC, who can then deal with
the offending carrier, possibly prosecuting them under federal and state laws.
You can file a complaint electronically at: http://www.fcc.gov/cib/ccformpage.html.
It may be a good idea to add a PIC Freeze to your account to
assure that this does not happen again. Instituting a PIC Freeze, carefully
screening your own bill for slamming, and supporting tightened regulations
by the FCC should help reduce your chances of being 'slammed' in the future.
