GTE Fires 17 Suspected in Billing Scam

GTE said Friday that it has fired 17 employees at its Spanish-speaking customer service center in Los Angeles for allegedly enrolling unsuspecting consumers in optional services they did not request.

The fired workers include the manager and two other supervisors of GTE’s Language Assistance Center in Mar Vista, the company’s only service center for its Spanish-speaking customers in California. Last month, the company temporarily suspended 20 workers. Three of the suspended workers, all supervisors, were disciplined and allowed to keep their jobs.

A representative of Local 9000 of the Communications Workers of America, which represents the fired workers, said it intends to fight the dismissals by filing a grievance Monday with the company, the first step in the union’s appeal process.

Although GTE originally believed the alleged abuse at the Mar Vista center affected potentially thousands of Spanish-speaking customers, the company said Friday that just 61 subscribers have reported being billed for extra services they did not order. The majority of the callers, the company said, have been issued refunds.

Although GTE service center employees do not receive commissions for selling such extra services as call waiting, three-way calling and speed dialing, they do receive bonus points for persuading customers to subscribe to the services, each of which adds between $3 and $3.25 per month to GTE’s $11.85 standard charge. The bonus points are redeemable for merchandise ranging from coffee mugs to cruises.

The company said that although it plans to retain the incentive program, still-unspecified modifications will be made to reflect the problems uncovered at the Mar Vista center. “There will still be a sales incentive system, but we recognize that some customers can be vulnerable to sales pressure,” the spokesman said.

The Mar Vista site is the only one dedicated to dealing with Spanish-speaking subscribers.