Hello, I have had a phone w/the same # for the past 4 years at this present home. About 2 years ago I lost my job and got a computer the same day. I have dial up and only one phone line. During that time of unemployment I was on the computer like 14 hours a day so getting and making phone calls during my online time was impossible. I have unlimited internet so none of the charges on my phone bill are for that. Anyway, starting the same month I lost my job my phone bill kept going up and up. I'm talking a couple hundred a month. And the bill kept going up and up over each month. I have requested dup bills for the past 2 years at least 10 times. They, the phone co, keep telling me they sent them but I never got em. I have asked them to let me p/u the bills, they say no. I have asked them to send them to me certified to prove I got em. They said no. They claim I owe $550.00 and I say no way. It's impossible. Now they put it on my credit. What should I do to resolve it? Thanks in advance. Jane $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Jane, If you have any of your phone bills from the time you got laid off till now, go through them with a fine-tooth comb. Could the phone charges be due, in part, to the fact that the number you dialed to get onto the Internet was not a local phone call from your home? Even if you have "unlimited internet," if the number you dial into is not local to your home phone exchange, then the phone charges could well be toll charges for accessing the Internet. If you have your previous phone bills and if the number dialed was that of your internet provider, then you're on the hook for the charges. Just about every ISP disclaims responsibility for toll charges incurred for dialing in to them. Also, you may have some spyware on your computer. One type of spyware will dial phone numbers in the 809 area code (Bermuda) without your being aware of it until you see the phone bill. Now is a good time to run an antivirus check on your computer. It's also a good time to download anti-spyware programs. I recommend using both Adaware (http://www.lavasoft.de/) and Spybot (http://www.safer-networking.org/) to check for spyware on your computer. Hope this info helps. John
John, Thanks for the reply. None of these charges are for my internet. I made very sure I picked a local access number even going so far as to call the phone co and make sure it was a local access number. I even put a block on my phone that does not allow me to make even local toll calls. It didn't help. The bill kept getting higher each month. The calls are all 3rd party calls which means that without the actual bills the 3rd party billing won't even discuss this with me. They say they need exact times and dates. I do remember that their were lots of collect calls from a phone booth 15 mins away from me to my house. The thing is, I don't know anyone where the calls originated from that would call me collect and all the collect calls were exactly 1 minute in length. I let the phone company take away all services from my phone except for basically the dial tone for which I pay anywhere from $6.00-$9.00 a month for it. I have refused to pay another dime of these old bills until they *prove* I owe it and they refuse so far. They claim they sent the dup bills but seeing as how I never got them even after so many requests I no longer believe a word that they say. So now my phone is always being disconnected when I am on a call or the internet. I literally am talking on the phone and it goes dead as if I hung up but I didn't. It has happened over 100 times. I even had the repair people at the phone co check the line and it's perfectly fine. I suspect the phone co is screwing with my service cause they are so pissed at me. They say no but what else explains the mysterious trouble with my phone line? It only started to happen when I refused to pay them another dime on these bogus phone bills. Jane &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Could someone else be connected to your phone line? Could they have someone else's account or address crossed with yours? Send a complaint to your public utility commission that you have repeatedly requested copies of the disputed statements, and have yet to receive any.
Are the calls "collect" calls to your number, or are they calls made from another number to another number, but charged to your number? Do you have voice messaging? There have been some recent scams where hackers have taken over phone company supplied voice messaging services, altered the customer's message, and used it to "authorize" 3rd party calling for international calls.
I think the suggestion to contact the public utility commission is a good one. While you're at it, when you send your complaint to the public utility commission, copy the FCC and your state AG. Make sure that you send a copy of that letter to the phone company as well, and make sure at the bottom you show CC: FCC and State AG. My husband, long before we were married, had a separate line in his father's house. It only rang downstairs, where he lived. One time I was out of town and called and someone else answered. I said I must have dialed a wrong number, called back and got him. The next day when I called someone else answered again. Then he got calls from people asking for someone else. When he asked what number they were calling, they gave his number. After a lot of calls back and forth, it turns out the phone company had assigned the same number to someone else. It took a while to get it straightened out, but they eventually did. Since he had the number first, he got to keep it. But he got calls for a long time for other people. They said it happens rarely, but they can occasionally assign the same number to two people.
