IV. STAFF'S ANALYSIS OF CRAMMING COMPLAINTS AGAINST AMERICATEL

A. Cramming Complaint Data From Americatel

As part of its investigation, Staff requested from Americatel data related to customer inquiries or complaints regarding unauthorized services/charges. On February 23, 2009, Americatel provided the total number of complaints received in 2008 (see Table 3).³⁵

Table 3. Number of California Complaints

Alleging Unauthorized Charges by Americatel

(Jan 2008-Dec 2008)

Month	Number of Complaints
Jan-08	108
Feb-08	62
Mar-08	71
Apr-08	100
May-08	566
Jun-08	2,721
Jul-08	6,341
Aug-08	5,693
Sep-08	882
Oct-08	922
Nov-08	559
Dec-08	524
Total	18,549

Source: Americatel Data Response Dated April 3, 2009 ³⁶

Source: Americatel Data Response Dated February 23, 2009

Table 3 shows that complaints began to increase beginning May 2008 (a nearly five-fold increase from the month before) and peaked at 6,341 complaints in July 2008. The total number of complaints in 2008 of 18,549 significantly rose by more than 10 times from 1,681 in the prior year. The chart above illustrates the staggering year over year comparison.

B. Cramming Complaints Data From CAB

Based on the CAB database, (as shown on Table 4 below), the complaints received by CAB for Americatel total 512 in 2008. Of the 512 complaints, 262 (51%) were categorized as cramming complaints and 94 (18%) were categorized as slamming complaints. As depicted by the complaint data from Americatel, complaints received by CAB also significantly grew in 2008 (from 117 complaints in 2007 to 512 in 2008).

Table 4. Number of Consumer Complaints

Against Americatel Based on Data from CAB

(Jan 2008-Dec 2008)

Month	Source: CPUC CAB Database as of March 16, & 17, 2009 and CIMS Database as of July 6, 2009 (Attachment M-2) Number of Complaints
Jan-08	6
Feb-08	9
Mar-08	10
Apr-08	8
May-08	12
Jun-08	77
Jul-08	220
Aug-08	90
Sep-08	26
Oct-08	21
Nov-08	13
Dec-08	20
Total	512

Source: CAB Database as of April 6, 2009 ³⁷

C. Complaints with CAB Show that Most Consumers Alleged Cramming, Continuous Billing Even After Cancellation Was Requested and Inadequate Service Provision

Staff reviewed the complaint details recorded in the CAB database and noted that consumers complained about unauthorized charges by Americatel or cramming; continuous billing post cancellation; and/or, inadequate/poor customer service. Below are examples of consumer complaints in the CAB database:

CAB Complaint Number 08043584: "My last two statements from phone company (AT&T) shows charges from a phone company called Americatel. I've never heard of Americatel before; I never requested service from them. I do not have any reason to get services from Americatel..."

CAB Complaint Number 08044383: Consumer states she is being crammed by Americatel and that she never solicited an account with Americatel. Consumer states she has used 10-10-123 before when she needed to call due to an emergency but she never signed up for a calling plan.

CAB Complaint Number 08043718: "Americatel Corp is charging long distance service thru my telephone service provider (AT&T). I never ordered/requested any long services to Americatel..."

CAB Complaint Number 08044985: "For over six months I have been trying to remove "Americatel" from my phone bill Verizon. At first, when I contacted "Verizon" they told me that there was nothing they could do to help me. I had to call "Americatel" direct and ask them to remove themselves from my phone bill. I tried many times to contact them and they refused to help me by hanging up on me or keeping me on hold for many minutes to see if I would hang up..."

CAB Complaint Number 08045110: "Dear Sirs, we have a problem with a company called Americatel Corp. Last month they added a charge on our AT&T phone bill of a plan we never agreed to, saw or had any Knowledge of. We called AT&T and they removed it. This month Americatel did it again and now the charge is for $20.34 for a plan called "Plan Uniendo America...."

CAB Complaint Number 08045722: Consumer states father has been crammed by Americatel Corp. Consumer states father has not authorized any services from Americatel. CPUC spoke with the daughter and she states father is deaf and would not answer the phone or be able to give authorization...

CAB Complaint Number 08045979: "Enclosed please find 2 bills, consecutive months showing a plan to Americatel Corp. For $15.23 and $20.72, which I nor anyone in my household contacted for. All this seems to be an international/Spanish calling Plan. My household makes no international calls, nor are we Spanish speaking. My household consists of 2 people, the undersigned and my husband. I have been trying to reach Americatel Corp for 2 months, and they just put the call a hold and never return. I have held as long as 30 minutes. I am on hold with them now, as I type this, for over 50 minutes..."

CAB Complaint Number 08045845: "I received my AT&T bill with charges from a company called Americatel Corp. This is an international phone service that I, nor anyone in this household have used. I have called several times to have these charges removed. Being an international based phone company, I do not speak the language of their customer service representatives. I have work for weeks to remove these charges and I keep getting passed around. I have yet to speak with anyone who speaks English to assist me. The Americatel Corp is phone slamming me into paying for service I have never used. I want the charges off my phone bill and to never be charged or contact by this phone company again."

CAB Complaint Number 08050751: "We received an AT&T phone bill last month that had charges from Americatel Corp. We have no idea why this Spanish speaking company is charging us on our phone bill. There is no explanation of service and we have not signed up with this company. We speak only English. We do not speak Spanish.... Well it's next month now and the Americatel charges nearly doubled. For what, we still have no clue. We make 7 calls to Americatel to try to resolve the issues, waiting for 20 minutes at a time with no one to help and mostly Spanish speaking recordings...."

D. Declarations From Complainants Show Americatel Crammed Them

Although Staff relies on Americatel's admission that cramming occurred, Staff conducted a small-scale interview of some complainants who complained to CAB in 2008. Staff interviewed 11 complainants regarding their experience with Americatel. Nine of the 11 respondents alleged being charged for services they did not authorize. The remaining two respondents complained about charges for monthly fees even after they have repeatedly requested the cancellation of the service. Staff obtained declarations from these customers attesting to their complaints. In addition to the declarations, staff obtained permission from these consumers to obtain telephone information from their respective local telephone companies. In reviewing the telephone bills, Staff confirmed the charges for a calling plan called "Uniendo America" with no information regarding call usage.³⁸ The declarations from consumers support the conclusion that Americatel placed unauthorized charges on their phone bills.

³⁵ Attachment E-3

³⁶ Printout of Excel Worksheet from February 23, 2009 Americatel Data Response (Attachment E-3) and April 3, 2009 Americatel Data Response (Attachment F-1)

³⁷ Printout from CAB listing 512 complaints (Attachment M-1)

³⁸ Attachment L