Examining your bill is a good way to avoid being "slammed." Slamming occurs when your long distance carrier is changed without your consent. Unfortunately, the courts may have a different definition of "consent" than you do. In a decision handed down on April 8, 2003, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that telemarketers must only believe they're dealing with a customer capable of authorizing a switch. If the carrier is wrong, the switch is still legal. Thus, as long telemarketers can prove they had reason to believe that the person with whom they spoke was authorized to change your service – even if that person was your babysitter or your 12-year-old daughter – the switch is legal.
Even with the court's ruling, however, slamming remains a crime, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has initiated measures to protect consumers from this practice. Here's what you can do to prevent slamming:
Ask your local phone company for a "primary interexchange carrier" freeze, which prevents any change unless you authorize it in writing.
Sign up for the federal "do not call" list to limit (but not eliminate) telemarketing calls selling long distance service. (Any company with a "prior business relationship" with you, such as a company you once used for service, may still call you.)
Promotions, such as those that use "free" checks, may authorize a change in long-distance carriers when you endorse the check. Read the terms carefully.
If you've been slammed, you are not required to pay service charges for the first 30 days after you make a complaint. Afterward, you must pay, but at your old company's rates. Call the carrier you want and ask it to restore your calling plan and remove all "change of carrier" fees. Report the slamming to the FCC, state regulators, or both. The slamming company must pay your long-distance carrier 150 percent of any amount it collected from you. Your authorized company will then refund 50 percent of the charges you paid.
