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CURRENT ISSUES
Topics of Interest to Consumers
900 Numbers and
Other Pay-Per-Call Services
Pay-per-call services provide live or
recorded information and entertainment – everything from
sports scores and weather forecasts to psychic readings and
chat lines. Unfortunately,
charges for these services may appear on your phone bill even
if you never agreed to buy them or didn’t understand the
cost.
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Know the cost of dialing.
Services using 900 numbers must state the cost clearly
in their ads and, if it’s more than $2, at the start of the
call before charges begin.
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Not all 800 number calls are free.
Pay-per-call services can be provided through 800
numbers only if consumers are told the cost in advance and
agree to have the charges billed to their phone numbers or
credit cards.
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Some pay-per-call services are also provided
through foreign phone numbers.
While calls to most foreign countries require dialing
011 first, calls to Canada and some parts of the Caribbean
don’t, so numbers in those countries can easily be mistaken
for long-distance numbers within the U.S. Depending on your long-distance service, however, the cost of
foreign calls could be much more.
If you’re not sure where a number is, dial 00 and ask
your long-distance operator.
·
Be wary of messages to call numbers you
don’t recognize. Crooks
use voice mail, faxes and pagers to lure consumers into
calling pay-per-call services.
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Check your phone bill carefully.
If there are any charges for 900, 800, or international
calls that you question, call the number listed on that
portion of the bill and ask for an explanation.
·
Watch out for computer-generated phone
charges. Some
pay-per-call services are offered through programs that are
downloaded from a Web site. Read the user agreement carefully. These services may result in charges for foreign phone calls.
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Know your rights. You can dispute charges for calls to 900 or 800 numbers if no
one made them from your phone or the cost wasn’t properly
disclosed. Your
phone service can’t be shut because you refuse to pay those
charges. However,
you may have to negotiate with your long-distance company
about disputed charges for foreign calls.
For more information about your rights contact the
Federal Trade Commission and your state public utility
department.
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Ask your local phone company about blocking.
You can prevent anyone from dialing 900 numbers from
your phone and you can also block calls to specific countries
if you wish. However,
it’s impractical to block access to 800 numbers.
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