LOCAL BIZ, USA Unauthorized Phone Bill Charges Internet

This company is yet another that will call to say they are only updating information in their database. They will sound very innocent, but in the end, that will not be the case. We are a small business of which they claim to care about, but they end up trying to take advantage of us still in this time of a corrupt economy.

I received my monthly business phone bill to find an additional amount of $34.95 billed on it. I called the number listed for them regarding "questions and rates". The representative asked for my name first thing. When I questioned the charges and how they were authorized, he stated that I had authorized the charges. No. I wouldn't have done such a thing. We already have a web hosting account with another company. So he was quick to say that he would cancel it as of the day I called. So I asked how do we credit the amount already charged. He was silent. I asked for proof of my authorization...to no avail. His defense was that they mailed our account info. to our mailing address in which he read off. Well yes, they would have our address info. from their "innocent" call from before. Heck, anyone in the world can have our address just by looking up our company information online!

So I simply asked for him to email or fax me some shred of evidence he could gather. He was speechless. He quickly realized that yes, he was able to credit my account back. That has yet to be seen; there's a 30-60 day refund time on these things he says. I had to contact my phone company to bring it to their attention as well.

Even if the charge is credited back to my account, this is still a fraudulant way of doing business. While this is not the first or only company to be so coniving or deceitfull, it still has to be put to an end.

So I warn you all...when you get a phone call just "verifying your information", I suggest that you just hang up the phone. In the end, it'll save you time and money!