David
Goodlettsville,#2UPDATE Employee
Wed, September 13, 2006
BellSouth frequently receives calls regarding "other" charges. In these instances BellSouth is only acting as a third-party billing agent for the "other" company. That's the "criteria". BellSouth has an agreement with the "other" company to deliver the "other" company bill along with the BellSouth bill and collect the payment. If the "other" company is charging for services, BellSouth has no knowledge of these charges nor can they refund the charges. However, each "other" company bill must include instructions/telephone numbers, etc to dispute the charges. Also, BellSouth service will not be jepordized if you refuse to pay the "other" company charges. BellSouth will discontinue the billing agreement if they receive complaints about charges from the "other" companies. Personally, I had the same experience with my phone bill, also with a voice messaging company, and it turned out that my son had called an 8xx number and ordered his own personal voice mail, of course without my permission. Not saying that that's what happened to you, just that it is easy to get things charged against your phone bill. You are correct to say that you should check your phone bill for mysterious charges, and report them to BellSouth as well as disputing with the "other" company, but also understand that BellSouth is simply passing along the billing for these charges, they didn't generate them.
S.n.
Bucyrus,#3Consumer Suggestion
Sun, August 27, 2006
Let MyTeleBill and Bell South explain to the AG what the "criteria" is for adding additional charges to your phone bill that are not yours.