Consumer Group Asks PUC to Halt PacBell’s Repeat-Dialing Service

A consumer advocacy group Friday asked state regulators to halt a new Pacific Bell service that triggers a sales pitch for the phone company’s repeat-dialing service whenever a customer calls a number that is busy.

The state’s Office of Ratepayer Advocates, an independent arm of the California Public Utilities Commission, charged that the new service includes a rate increase not approved by regulators and violates several PUC rules as well as the privacy section of the state’s Constitution.

The ORA’s arguments are laid out in a formal complaint filed Friday. The group asks the PUC to force PacBell to immediately stop the practice pending further review, reverse the per-use fee increase and compensate unlisted customers for the intrusion.

A PacBell spokesman said the company is reviewing the claim. “Based on our initial review, we think the complaint lacks merit,” PacBell spokesman Steve Getzug said.

Although the complaint procedure does not set forth an immediate deadline for commission action, an ORA representative said the PUC probably will take swift action.

PacBell, the state’s largest local phone company, introduced its “prompted repeat-dialing” service in Los Angeles, San Francisco and other regions of California in July.

It works like this: When a caller gets a busy signal, a PacBell recording automatically clicks in, telling the caller that the phone company will continue trying the phone number every 45 seconds for the next 30 minutes and will call the customer back using a distinctive ring when the line is clear. The cost is 95 cents and is activated when the customer presses the “3” button and hangs up.

The new system represents a substantial change from the phone company’s previously approved repeat-dialing service, which has been in service since 1998 and until recently cost 75 cents per use or $3.40 a month for subscribers.

Under that standard service, which has not been replaced, callers who want to activate repeat dialing must hang up from the busy call, then enter a code (“*66” on push-button phones and “1166” for rotary phones) and hang up again. A special callback ring signifies that the number is no longer busy. There is no interference or prompting from the phone company.

On June 2, PacBell raised the per-use fee for repeat dialing by 20 cents, or 27%, to 95 cents. The monthly fee for the service was reduced by 17 cents, or 5%, to $3.23. Customers were informed of the changes in April.

The PUC’s consumer unit alleges that there was insufficient notice for the rate increase, and that the automatic sales message violates PacBell’s own agreement not to contact its unlisted customers by phone with sales pitches.

PacBell has more than 10 million residential customers, and about half of them pay a monthly fee of 28 cents to keep their phone numbers private.

The ORA also believes that the intrusion violates California’s Constitution, which guarantees residents a right to a reasonable expectation of privacy.

Several surprised customers have called the PUC to complain about the new sales messages, and some have said the messages came on even when the line called was not busy, according to Kelly Boyd, senior telecommunications analyst for the ORA.

“Pacific Bell is inserting itself into a phone call between two people, and that opens a lot of doors that are very bothersome to people,” Boyd said. “And they haven’t gotten the proper authority for any of this.”

Getzug, the PacBell spokesman, said the phone company believes customers will appreciate the new service. “We’re trying to make things more efficient for people. . . . The good news is that people can choose to use it or not.”