Irvine Telephone Company Settles ‘Slamming’ Charges

IRVINE — National Telephone & Communications Inc. has agreed to pay nearly $56,000 to settle charges that it illegally switched the long-distance service of at least 41 Connecticut consumers.

The Irvine telephone company forged consumers’ signatures on forms to switch their service to NTC, Connecticut Atty. Gen. Richard Blumenthal said.

Corporate executives weren’t available for comment.

Some of the consumers may have been contacted by telephone before the switch was made, though others appear to have been “pulled out of a hat,” said Mark A. Shiffrin, commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Consumer Protection.

Nearly one-third of the consumers targeted in the scheme, known as “slamming,” had Asian or Latino surnames, Shiffrin said.

Blumenthal called the slam “blatant, flagrant and clearly a violation of the law.”

NTC will have to refund consumers affected by the slam for all long-distance phone charges and must pay each consumer at least $100 in restitution.

The company, without admitting any wrongdoing, also agreed to pay the state $50,000 to settle the charges.

The state also will require NTC to take extra steps before switching a consumer’s service in the future. Any change must be verified by an employee in the NTC’s corporate office. It later must be verified again by an independent third party and confirmed by the customer in writing.

As competition increases, “we are going to be very vigilant in looking for slam scams,” Shiffrin said.

Blumenthal warned consumers to beware of callers pitching new long-distance services. He said some “slam artists” send bills with logos and print similar to those of large, nationally known long-distance companies.