Seven Companies Agree To Pay $1.2 Million in Slamming, Cramming Investigation
Seven companies will pay a total of $1.2 million in civil penalties to settle an FCC Enforcement Bureau investigation into the companies' “slamming” and “cramming” of customers, the agency said Wednesday. The companies also agreed to adopt “comprehensive, rigorous compliance…
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plans” to prevent them from changing customers’ long-distance carriers without authorization and assessing charges on phone bills without consent, an agency news release said. The companies are: Business Network Long Distance, of Denver; Reno-based Communications Network Billing; Integrated Services, of Northbrook, Illinois; Multiline Long Distance, of Cincinnati; National Access Long Distance, of Henderson, Nevada; Nationwide Long Distance Service, of Southfield, Michigan; and Las Vegas-based Network Service Billing, the release said. Back Office Support Systems, of St. Clair Shores, Michigan, which manages many functions for the companies, is also subject to the compliance plan, the agency said. Saying “slamming” and “cramming” are “persistent problems,” Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc said in the release that the agency “has aggressively responded to hold phone companies accountable when they prey on the public, and these settlements demonstrate that we will continue to do so.” The companies didn't comment Wednesday.