Phone bill cramming

[zxcvbob]

Church treasurer gave me a copy of the phone bill and said it didn't look right.  There's a third-party provider charge of $39.95 (plus tax) for BROADVIEWMEDIAMONTHYLFEE.  It also says something about ILD Teleservices, and has both a local phone number and a (800) number.

I looked BMC up on the Internet and it's a company that supposedly does search engine optimization consulting for a setup fee of $9.95 and a monthly fee of $39.95.  ILD seems to be an electronic payment clearinghouse for phone charges -- so that's BMC's billing company.  There are hundreds of complaints against ILD for bogus 3rd-party phone charges; ILD claims it's just a victim of [hundreds of] innocent misunderstandings.

I checked with the other church board members to make sure it wasn't somehow a legitimate charge.  Time to go "Old Testament" on somebody; where to start?

I'll call the phone company tomorrow and dispute the charge and see if I can turn off all 3rd party billing.  Then maybe call the FCC and the state Atty General.

[Jim147]

You might try your county prosecuting attorneys office. Someone there may be able to help.

jim

[KD5NRH]

I checked with the other church board members to make sure it wasn't somehow a legitimate charge.  Time to go "Old Testament" on somebody; where to start?

Skip the frogs and other sissy stuff and go straight to boils.

[Azrael256]

Phone company and then FCC.

I had to call rhe FCC on Sprint recently... Because of themselves.  Brilliant, that lot.

[zxcvbob]

Skip the frogs and other sissy stuff and go straight to boils.

I was thinking more along the lines of The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.  (but boils is good too)   

[Bogie]

Been there, done that...
 
If someone answers a phone "Yes?" that is grounds for the numbnuts to add it to your bill. Thing is, you can happily tell the phone company "I'm paying your bill. I'm not paying the part that goes to these losers." and they (at least when I did it...) will take it off your bill, and lock down your account.