PUC Consumer Complaint Line

* Re “Fraud Suspected in Phone Bills to 39,000 in Valley,” Dec. 10.

Did you try to call the PUC’s consumer complaint line listed in the article about [suspected] fraudulent charges on GTE customer bills in the Valley? I did . . . and was propelled further into the Catch-22 I’ve endured for three months.

When FTC’s charge appeared on our September bill, we called GTE. They told us to call OAN, FTC’s billing agent. We did. They told us to call FTC. We did. Eternally on hold, and finally a clerk who said it was a computer error, and promised to remove the charges.

October. New bill. Same charge, now deemed “late” by GTE. More calls. Same story. More promises to remove the charge by November.

November. Guess what? I call and speak to a GTE customer service representative. She says its my responsibility to correct errors GTE makes on my bill. I tell her if I treated my clients that way, I’d be out of work. Silence. I ask for a supervisor.

Same story. Yes, she’s heard of “a few” customers who have had problems with FTC. (If GTE’s idea of “a few” is me and 39,000 of my closest friends and neighbors, I’d hate to see how they define “a lot.”) She, too, says it’s my job to correct the error. I insist that it’s hers.

She relents and calls FTC. The clerk says we must have called because they stopped billing us, but the original charges weren’t reversed because “someone” forgot to do it. Yes they’ll do it . . . in 30 to 60 days.

And GTE still tells us our payment for services we never ordered and never received is overdue.

[Then] I see a number for the PUC “consumer complaint line.” I’m delighted. Finally . . . someone with the authority to tell GTE to fix its own bills. I dial. Voice mail hell: The PUC says to call my phone company, call the long distance carrier, write the phone company, write the long distance carrier . . . anything but talk to the PUC. I can’t even leave a message.

You can call me next month and ask if the charges have been removed. I’m ready to lay odds they won’t be. And what will GTE and the PUC say? Take care of it yourself. After all, you’re the customer.

MARCY M. ROTHENBERG

Porter Ranch