ANTI-CRAMMING
BEST PRACTICES GUIDELINES
Definitions:
Billing Agents: Any entity which provides billing service for service providers directly or indirectly through a billing telephone company.
Customer Complaint: Any written or oral communication to a Billing Telephone Company or Billing Agent from a person or entity which has been billed for a charge which the person or entity alleges was unauthorized or resulted from false, deceptive, or misleading representations and which was billed, either directly or indirectly, through a billing telephone company.
Service Provider: The person or entity that originates the charge or charges that are billed to the subscriber.
Billing Telephone Company: A telephone corporation that bills a subscriber for products and services provided by a third party, including corporate affiliates.
1. Authorization Required: Prior to billing or causing to be billed any charge to a subscriber on a telephone corporation bill, the service provider shall obtain the subscriber's authorization. The requirements for written authorizations are set out in Pub. Util. Code § 2890(c). Oral authorizations must contain the same information as written authorizations. All disputed oral and written authorizations for which no record of verification is available are subject to a rebuttable presumption that the charges are unauthorized. With regard to direct dialed telecommunications services, evidence that a call was dialed is prima facie evidence of authorization.
2. Billing for Authorized Charges Only: Billing telephone companies may bill subscribers only for authorized charges. Billing agents and service providers may not submit, directly or indirectly, charges for billing through a billing telephone company that have not been authorized by the subscriber.
3. Records of Billing Disputes: Every billing telephone company shall maintain accurate and up-to-date records of all customer complaints made to or received by it for charges for products or services provided by a third party, including corporate affiliates. Such records shall be retained for three years. Every billing agent shall maintain accurate and up-to-date records of all customer complaints regarding charges billed through a billing telephone company made to or received by it. In the case of billing telephone companies, the records shall also include information on all consumer complaints received involving entities that bill directly or indirectly on the billing telephone company's bill. In the case of billing agents, the records shall also include all consumer complaints received for service providers that use the billing agent to bill for the service provider on the telephone corporation bill. These records shall include the following information:
a. the subscriber name;
b. the subscriber telephone number and the unique subscriber identifier;
c. the name of the service provider responsible for the charge complained about;
d. the name of the billing agent or agents, if any;
e. the amount of the alleged unauthorized charge and the date the charge was incurred and billed;
f. a description of the product or service billed;
g. the number of contacts by the subscriber;
h. the disposition of the dispute;
i. the total dollars billed and total amount refunded by the billing telephone company or billing agent for each service provider; and
j. the total number of telephone lines billed by the billing telephone company or billing agents for each service provider.
These records shall be provided to Commission staff promptly upon request. Staff may request that any billing telephone company or billing agent provide some or all of this information to the staff on a continuing basis and the entity shall comply with all such requests.
5. Quarterly Calendar Month Summary Report: All billing telephone companies and billing agents shall create a calendar month summary report which shall include the following information:
a) the total number of consumer complaints received each month for each service provider and billing agent
b) the name, address, and telephone number of each entity receiving complaints;
c) the total number of subscribers billed for each entity for which complaints were received;
d) the total dollars billed for each entity for which complaints were received.
The Calendar Month Summary Report shall be submitted to the Director of the Commission's Consumer Services Division pursuant to the following schedule:
· Report for January, February, and March due no later than April 30th
· Report for April, May and June due no later than July 31st
· Report for July, August and September due no later than October 31st
· Report for October, November, and December due no later than January 1st of the following year.
If no complaints exist, in lieu of this report, a letter shall be sent to the Director of the Consumer Services Division affirmatively stating that no complaints exist for the quarter.
6. Effect of Failure to Supply Report. Pursuant to § 2889.9(f), any billing agent which fails to submit its report in a timely fashion may be the subject of a Commission decision or resolution ordering the billing telephone company to cease providing billing and collections service to that billing agent or service provider, in addition to the Commission's other remedial statutory authority as provided in § 2889.9(b).
(End of Attachment B)
Consumer Education Plan
Objectives:
(1) To ensure that Billing Telephone Companies consistently inform customers of third party billing dispute procedures and avenue for redress
(2) To ensure that Billing Telephone Companies consistently inform customers that local telephone service will not be disconnected for failure to pay non-local charges.
Contents: At a minimum, each Billing Telephone Company shall inform its residential and small business customers:
(1) That all erroneous, unauthorized, or questioned charges can be disputed
(2) Of the customers' recourse for disputed charges, including a Billing Telephone Company's authority to address the dispute, in any, as well as the Commission's complaint process
(3) Availability of any multi-lingual capabilities
Means of Education:
(1) Bill insert or information printed on bills
(2) Inform Community Based Organizations of Plan contents for their dissemination to their constituents
(3) Customer service representatives
Role of Public Advisor
The Public Advisor shall review and approve all Consumer Education Plans.
(End of Attachment C)
SEE FORMAL FILES FOR ATTACHMENT A
