OAN, Privasafe Email SVC On SBC California BillOAN Privasafe Email SVC, And SBC Unauthorized OAN charges on SBC bill & VERY poor customer service from SBC New York, New York

Like others posting here, I had charges show up on my monthly home SBC phone bill. In my case I have two months of unauthorized, unsolicited charges from OAN Services, Inc. Each is itemized as:

1. 5-19 PRIVASAFE EMAIL SVC MONTHLY FEE - $14.95
2. 6-16 PRIVASAFE EMAIL SVC MONTHLY FEE - $14.95

And of course there is a .90 cents federal fee or tax at the bottom (interesting that even the Feds want their cut of the scam too).

There is no other info given on the SBC bill other than from SBC saying this is a charge they are passing on as a service and if you have any "questions" to use the phone number of the 3rd party biller at the top of the page. Neither of the phone numbers given got me anywhere but to an AutoAttendant and then VoiceMail.

I called SBC, talked to an live person, and got attitude. They simply were not willing to acknowledge this was/or from their point of view "might" be fraudulent charges. They kept insisting I call the Number for OAN. When I made it perfectly clear that I am informing them this is a fraudulent charge and I would not be paying it, she said SBC would pass the charge back to OAN as a disputed charge by the customer, me. (why the attitude to just do that?)

When I asked for no further unauthorized 3rd party charges be allowed on my SBC bill, the attitude was amplified. She said there is no such option. At this point I asked to speak to a supervisor. I was put on hold and after a long few minutes was told there is no supervisor available, but one would call me back in 24 to 48 hours. What an absolute crock! They really know how to address customer relations!

In the end I had to settle for the Reps word that SBC will refer this charge back to OAN as disputed. And I send a letter in my bill stating the issue with the OAN charge. (Maybe someone in the billing dept will have gone good sense.)

Does anyone know how to file a meaningful complaint that will get SBC's attention so as to prohibit this sort of unauthorized charges, and to train their people how to recognize and handle these?

Likewise is there anything that can be done to stop/punish shady operators like OAN?

Wayne
Bakersfield, California
U.S.A.