Pacific Bell Plans Refund for Its Unpushed Buttons

Pacific Bell said Wednesday that 112,000 rural customers who were charged extra for push-button telephone service that the company never provided will receive credits averaging $42 on their phone bills this fall.

The credits stem from a $5-million settlement the California Public Utilities Commission approved last week in a closed-door “executive session.”

The settlement culminated a three-year effort by George Sawaya of rural Pollock Pines in the Sierra foothills east of Sacramento, who said he was induced by a Pacific Bell mailing to sign up, at extra cost, for “Touch Tone” service so his calls would be completed faster. He noticed no difference in service, however, and later learned that Pacific Bell’s local telephone switch was not equipped to provide the service. Although he obtained an immediate refund, Sawaya filed a class-action complaint on behalf of other customers who paid extra for service that was never provided.

Pacific Bell spokeswoman Kathleen Flynn said the company expects to submit details of the refund plan this month. She called the billing problems “an oversight.”

PUC Deputy Counsel Michael Day said the commission considered Pacific Bell’s action an unintended mistake stemming from commission-approved rate changes intended to compensate the company for upgrading its switching equipment throughout much of the state.