“Customers are working with phone companies to see how much they’ll be forced to pay.”
I wouldn’t pay squat.
Shows how out of touch I am...I thought the ‘900’ numbers went away during the 80s.
Would not pay either. I think our Bell company (Qwest, formerly Northwestern Bell) is fully responsible for the wiring on the outside of the home.
Locking the box on your house does nothing. Call the phone company and block all 900 calls on your account. Also, block all long distance while you are at it. Use your cell for long distance and quit paying ATT’s exorbatant LD rates.
What these phone hackers are doing is hitting a remote junction box and tapping into the lines with a “Butt set”. Easy to do, takes seconds to find a dialtone and make a call.
These remote boxes are everywhere and not locked or monitored.
Billing Errors and Disputes
The 900 Number Rule has procedures for resolving billing disputes. Always check your telephone bill for 900 number charges. For each 900 call, your statement should include the date, time, and, for services that have per-minute rates, the length of the call. These charges must appear separately from local and long distance charges. Your statement also must include a local or toll-free number for questions about your pay-per-call charges.
Under FCC regulations, the phone company cannot disconnect your regular local or long-distance service if you don't pay a 900 number charge. However, you could be blocked from making future calls to 900 numbers if you don't pay legitimate 900 number charges.
If you find an error on your bill, follow the instructions on your statement. They will tell you who to call or write to dispute the charge. In most cases, it will be your local or long-distance telephone company, but it could be the 900 number company or an independent firm that provides billing services for that company.
You must notify the company listed on your bill within 60 days from the date the first statement containing the error was sent. The company must acknowledge your notice in writing within 40 days unless it has resolved the dispute by that time. Within two billing cycles, but no longer than 90 days, the company must:
* correct the billing error and notify you of the correction, or
* investigate the matter and either correct the error or explain the reason for not doing so.
A company cannot charge you to investigate or respond to a billing dispute. No one can try to collect the disputed charge from you — or report it to a credit bureau — until the company handling the dispute either has corrected the error or explained its reason for not doing so. Companies that don't comply with these rules lose their right to collect up to $50 of each disputed charge.
However, even if the 900 number charge is removed from your bill, the service provider might pursue the charge some other way, such as through a collection agency. If so, you have additional rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
The standard should be that all 900 numbers are blocked unless asked for.
Some how the word ‘’rash’’ and ‘’sex’’’ look, I dunno, kind of ironic together.
Muslim terrorists.