Vietnamese Billed for Unneeded Phone Services Get Help

Baffled that their telephone bills seemed astronomical in past months, many Vietnamese students enrolled in a job-training program for Southeast Asians in San Diego have been showing their bills to their English-speaking instructors in hopes of getting an explanation.

“We knew they shouldn’t have such huge phone bills,” said Beverley Yip, director of the Union of Pan Asian Communities, a San Diego-based support group that provides job training. “The students were being billed for things like call waiting and call forwarding--a whole package that they didn’t need or want. Some had special rates for calling Imperial County, even though they didn’t know anyone there.”

Since Feb. 14, however, eight Pacific Bell service representatives who speak English and Vietnamese have been helping Vietnamese customers decipher their phone bills and, in some cases, obtain refunds for those who paid for services they didn’t need and didn’t realize they had ordered. Pacific Bell’s Vietnamese Service Center opened in Tustin in December and began serving San Diego County on Feb. 14. Officials plan to begin serving Los Angeles County later this spring.

Charged for Unneeded Services

Many of San Diego County’s 25,000 to 30,000 Vietnamese residents have been charged for the unnecessary services because of poor communication with English-speaking service representatives, said Yip, who sits on a Pacific Bell special advisory committee for the Asian market. Yip said about half of all Vietnamese in the county can speak English fluently.

Many Vietnamese customers who speak English still prefer to speak Vietnamese “when it comes to ordering something as complicated and technological as telephone service,” a Pacific Bell spokesman said.

The representatives take orders for new service, add or change existing features, answer bill-related questions and help customers choose which phone package best meets their needs. Vietnamese customers’ calls are transferred to the Vietnamese Service Center when they call Pacific Bell’s general business number and indicate they speak Vietnamese.

The weekday service, which Pacific Bell officials say might begin statewide later this year, is part of the Pacific Bell Asian Market Plan, which was adopted in 1987 after the company analyzed the demographics, language needs and life styles of Asians in California. The company also provides services for Spanish, Korean and Chinese-speaking customers.

“This service makes good business sense to Pacific Bell,” Yip said.