USBI, Telliss Another attempted ripoff Eugene Colorado

Like others who have posted here, we too received a long distance bill from USBI on behalf of Telliss for a call to an adult website in England (tel. 0442073358468) on November 26, 2004 1:03PM that we did not make. At first I called our long-distance service (ATT) to see why we got a long distance bill from another company. The guy told me the number was for an "adult entertainment" website, probably an internet pop-up, and I should call USBI. I called USBI several times and each time was put on hold for 7-11 minutes before I could talk to anyone. Each answerer asked for the problematic phone number and then said something like "Oh - that's Telliss; they want to handle their own calls," whereupon they transferred me to a Telliss number. Again, I was put on hold for 5-11 minutes each time, and then I was disconnected - repeatedly. After the third try to USBI, I explained the problem and got them to give me Telliss' direct number (1-877-770-2022). But each time I called Telliss, I again had a long wait and was disconnected. Following the experience of another poster here, I next called our local service provider (Qwest), since all long-distance bills go through them. They were sympathetic and helpful and did something so that we did not have to pay that bill. My spouse wonders if this trouble was worth the $8 bill, but it's the principle that counts.

The reason I *know* this is an illegitimate call is that our second phone line, which I use exclusively for work, was hijacked in September for numerous calls to international adult sites that were billed to us. ATT took care of it right away - and any international calls from that line now require a password (which I can't even remember).

Something related that I have not seen others mention is that we also got a $20 bill from "Premier Premium Communications" for the Nov 26th "pay-per-view" website. Weirdly, it was addressed to my husband -- a carpenter, who doesn't even know how to turn on a computer -- but our telephones are all in *my* name. That was another clue that this was bogus.

Patricia
Eugene, Oregon
U.S.A.