OAN Services, Inc. / USA Voicemail / SBC ripoff - $12.95 for a voicemail service I never authorized or have even heard of Nationwide

i am senior with life line and they tried to rip us off by putting the above amount.

phone co said would take off....

I received my SBC phone bill. The last page was from a company called OAN Services, Inc., in which they allegedly are a billing company for USA Voicemail. USA Voicemail was trying to charge me $12.95 for a voicemail service I have never heard of and never authorized. It took four phone calls and a few hours to supposedly get the credit issued for the service. At the same time, still no one can justify how the charge magically appeared on my statement. How does this type of company exist, legally? How can someone sue them or take them to court?

Most phone companies can let third party companies whom you subscribe to phone related services bill through them. You can prevent this by calling SBC and telling them that you do not authorize any third party companies to bill you through your phone bill. Also, tell SBC that those charges are fraudulent and to send them back to the original company and SBC will not hold it against you.

Just to point out, if you have a company other then SBC for long distance, they too will have to start sending you seperate bills, but it is easier to keep track of who's charging you what this way.

I had a long distance carrier charge me over a thousand dollars for some over seas calls I never made, (before SBC's unlimited long distance service) and told them I don't authorize third party billing. Since the original company doesn't have anything to go by but a phone number, they have no where to send the bill. Any company that you do business with shouldn't need to bill you through your phone bill.

I hope this helps, and I hope people will start realizing the importance of learning about these things. SBC doesn't want to bill you for other people services either, as it's just more work (more money lost) for them.

HeX