FCC Implements A 'Clear Ban' on Surprise Phone Bill Charges
June 8, 2018
The FCC has been willing to tackle surprise phone bill charges for a long time, but now it's more explicitly forbidding the practice. The regulator has approved rules that include a "clear ban" on cramming, or slapping customers with unauthorized charges on phone bills. The activity was already illegal, the FCC said -- this mainly "reaffirms" the agency's authority to crack down on bad behavior.
There are also new rules clamping down on slamming, or switching a customer's phone company through deceptive means. If a company misleads you during a sale call, that fibbing will "invalidate" any permission you gave, the FCC said. Moreover, any phone companies that abuse third-party verification for switches will lose that process for five years and have to use alternative methods. In other words, a company that regularly tries tricking people into changing networks could find itself at a disadvantage.
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