Darren
Neenah,#2Consumer Comment
Wed, September 15, 2004
Matt, It is my guess that phone blocks won't work. From what I understand, these people route the calls through an area code such as #201 and then the connect to the #900 and #976 numbers. If you have software that has been downloaded to your computer that is dialing the modem then your best bet is to get Ad-aware from www.lavasoft.com. It is absolutely free and it searches out for all those adware and malware on your computer and removes them. I recommend running it at least once a week if not more often. They update their program listing quite often, just like the anti-virus programs do. Anti-virus programs won't help you with this kind of problem. Besides cleaning up the dial problem it will also get rid of a lot of the other things that are on your computer that can be sending out your personal information, putting pop-ups on your screen and other benefits. I hope that you can get the charges off your bill if they were not yours. The authorities as well as the phone companies need to do something. I am just as upset at the phone companies. They have to be aware that there are these problems, but as long as they can get their cut they don't seem to care. Good Luck,
Paul
Anaheim,#3Consumer Suggestion
Wed, September 15, 2004
Matt, don't pay the phone bill. You didn't make the calls. Why in the world would you pay for them? Verizon already knows that it's a fraud computer program. If they want tellus and onecall to get paid, let them send the money. Once you inform the company that you didn't make the calls, they must stop billing you. You must pay the undisputed portion of the bill, though. Since Verizon already knows how the call came from your number, they have two choices. They can either put a stop to it, or take the losses. You can't put a stop to it. So, there is no reason to take the loss. Don't waste your time trying to call the companies. Let Verizon handle it. They have a division that handles fraud. Maybe the companies will listen to Verizon. They won't listen to you. They'll just laugh at you. Don't pay the bill. If Verizon damages your credit, file suit. Verizon is the only one that can stop this. If they can pass the loss over to you, they won't get involved. When Verizon has lost enough customers and fees, trust me, they'll end this whole thing.