OAN Long Distance unauthorized charges; failure to credit amount when complaint issued Harpon Springs Florida

In March I noticed a strange charge on my phone bill, under OAN Long Distance Charge on my phone bill. Next to that was a not saying Toll Charge Inquiries call (800) 944-9646. I tried to call the number but there was a wait and I didn't have time to do it.

Next month I noticed the charge again and called the number for OAN. First I called my phone service Frontier and they told me I'd have to talk to OAN even though I was charged on my Frontier phone bill. I finally talked to a representative at OAN who said that a friend of mine who she named, whose password was # and she gave me the password, had signed up for a thousand dollars of free groceries in a contest and had given my phone #. On that basis, I was enrolled and charged for OAN Long Distance, apparently.

This rep. first said she only saw the last 3 month of charges, and I said well, surely you can look back and tell me how long back it went. So after a delay she said that it went back Over a year and that I had been charged 158.64 plux tax. She told me it would be credited this amount on my phone bill. When I got the next phone bill, I was charged for TWO OAN bills, March AND April, and I called the phone company to complain, they credited me with $23. Today I called back (June 25) and because I still had not received credit and I was told that "They didn't realize that the phone company was going to get involved and that this had delayed the crediting procedure." They just told me that they would credit me the remainder of $132.20 but this doesn't even sound correct to me, it sounds like I am still getting ripped off for some amount. Now, they said they would issue me a check.

Of course, I never authorized any of this and the scary thing is that if I had never called and questioned this I would be out $158.64 and more. This is completely irregular and not at all right. OAN is gleaning no telling how much from innocent people who never even signed up for their services.

Tennessee resident
Cookeville, Tennessee
U.S.A.