Complaint Review: OAN Services

OAN Services in May 2009 billed me for services I did not request, do not want, as a third-party provider under Verizon's complex unified billing system. When challenged, they agreed to remove the charges but claimed there would be 60-90 days until the correction took effect.

There was an old-time computer fraud in which banks' accounts were tapped for the 5th decimal place of interest charges, essentially rounding errors and the millions of such charges dripped into a bogus account where their tiny amounts times millions of charges created a false balance. This kind of thing sounds like that in a different venue: They get caught, but the money is in their hands for 60 days and when they return it, they've earned interest on it against no expense for actual services and only the cost of electrons for the transfers.

It is astonishing that there needs to be a separate law for every separate version of a scam; it is astonishing that this is a matter for consumer complaint and not criminal prosecution. A person who steals from a store is not entitled to get off just by giving the merchandise back; neither should these scammers.

I have filed a consumer complaint with the Consumer Affairs Division of the State of New Jersey. OAN is the second company (ILD tried first) to pull this stunt, and Verizon has allowed it. Shame! Verizon.

BTW, note that many scams related to OAM can be found via Google Search. The first hit has a link to www.oanservices.com, which does not go there, but redirects to billview.com

xaxx
Ridgewood, New Jersey
U.S.A.