FCC Rules Will Take ‘Slammed’ Consumers Off the Hook for Fees

Swamped with complaints, the government is expected to adopt tougher rules today to reduce illegal “slamming,” in which telephone companies switch customers’ long-distance service without their consent.

The biggest change expected from the Federal Communications Commission: exempting slamming victims from paying any long-distance phone charges to the offending company for a period of time, probably 30 days, according to telecommunications and government sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The proposal anticipates that customers would be switched back to their designated long-distance carrier during that time. But if that didn’t happen and the customer continued to be billed after 30 days, the person would not have to pay the offending company anything, the sources said.

Most of the time, customers--whether they realize they were slammed or not--pay for long-distance charges out of fear of having credit problems or telephone service turned off, experts say.

Victims who do pay the full amount would be liable only for the amount they would have paid to their designated carrier. That means a victim would get a refund or credit for the difference.

And under the new plan, victims would be entitled to this relief without having to first file a complaint to the FCC, as now required.

Also Wednesday, the FCC announced that Minimum Rate Pricing Inc. agreed to pay the government $1.2 million--the FCC’s largest voluntary anti-slamming payment--to resolve slamming complaints against the company. While admitting no wrongdoing, the Bloomfield, N.J.-based company did agree to take steps to prevent consumers from being slammed in the future.

Millions of people deliberately switch long-distance companies each year. But nearly 20,000 people this year have complained to the FCC that they were switched without their consent. It’s the No. 1 source of complaints.

In its new proposal, the agency also is expected to restrict the ways that long-distance companies can switch people.

Specifically, it’s considering doing away with one controversial method: Often after a telemarketing call, phone companies mail to prospective customers a package of information, including a post card. Customers who don’t return the post card in 14 days are automatically switched.

The new rules would go into effect by March.