Website Offers Consumers New Resources To Fight Phone Bill Cramming

USA - English

• Latin America - español

SAN ANTONIO, Oct. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Billing Services Group (BSG) and a coalition of industry leaders have joined together to launch KnowYourPhoneBill.org, a website that offers consumers easy-to-follow guides for understanding phone bill charges and protecting them from phone bill cramming.  

"Our best defense against cramming is diligence," said Gregory Carter, Chief Executive Officer for BSG. "We are committed to working with others across the industry to help ensure consumers are protected from cramming, while also ensuring consumers are able to continue to receive the wide variety of services they value at competitive rates."

Approximately 75 percent of adults nationwide use landline telephones to stay connected. Each year, millions of consumers choose to have charges for a variety of third-party services placed directly on their landline phone bill.  These services include long distance and international calling; operator-assisted calls; search engine optimization; e-fax; directory listings; networking and connectivity; web hosting and design; voicemail and e-mail.  Industry leaders have implemented checks and balances to help ensure that consumers are only billed for services they authorize.

However, a very small number of unscrupulous actors may attempt to carry out "cramming" — placing charges on consumers' phone bills for services they did not request or authorize. Since March 2011, the coalition has offered CheckYourHomePhoneBill.org as a resource to help consumers learn how to protect themselves from cramming.

These resources have been revitalized on KnowYourPhoneBill.org, with a more user-friendly interface, additional interactive tools, and more links to other helpful information sites. Consumers can sign-up to receive e-mail updates and news. An interactive quiz allows consumers to test their knowledge about cramming and their phone bill.

BSG has implemented several measures in the interest of protecting consumers. These measures include a multi‐layered 100-step due diligence process for evaluating and monitoring its merchants, continual monitoring of consumer complaints, and telephone and online customer support agents to help resolve any consumer concerns. The company also requires all of its merchants to provide consumers with the terms and conditions for each purchase, and that each customer provides personal information that enables them to be authenticated for online purchases.  

Other coalition members include IDology, LexisNexis, Infutor and AccuData Technologies.

About Billing Services Group
Billing Services Group (BSG) is the nation's largest third-party billing and settlement clearinghouse for local telephone service billing. BSG partners with hundreds of merchants, as well as several charitable organizations to allow donors to give to their favorite causes by making one-time or monthly contributions charged to their land line telephone.  The Alzheimer's Association and the Humane Society of the United States are just two of the many prestigious organizations that have contracted with BSG for such services. The company is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, USA and traded on the London Stock Exchange (AIM: BILL). For more information on BSG, visit www.bsgclearing.com.

SOURCE Billing Services Group