pmayor@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Pankaj Mayor) (03/03/91)
I was placing a call from a pay phone the other day and noticed that it had no identifying phone number. It also charged $0.50 for 1-800 calls. So I called up the operator (I think from Payline communications) and complained to her. She told me that it was legal for privately owned pay phones to charge for 1-800 calls. Was she right? Pankaj [Moderator's Note: If such charges are legal, they should be billed to the recipient of the 800 call. That person has, after all, agreed to pay the charges associated with connecting the caller to him. I really do not think they are legal however, but I'm not sure. PAT]
john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) (03/04/91)
On Mar 3 at 2:00, TELECOM Moderator writes: > [Moderator's Note: If such charges are legal, they should be billed to > the recipient of the 800 call. That person has, after all, agreed to > pay the charges associated with connecting the caller to him. I > really do not think they are legal however, but I'm not sure. PAT] They are legal in some states, including California. The only thing that keeps them from being universal, even when allowed, is that when a phone wants money for what everyone knows is a "free" call, COCOT PR sinks even lower. As far as billing the recipient is concerned, this is impossible. There are as many 800 number billing arrangements as there are hairs on your head. None of them have any provision for "charge backs" from COCOT operators. My 800 number bill says in essence, "X hours--Y dollars" and that is all. No detail of any kind; and certainly no provision for slimy COCOTs. Besides, when I signed up I only agreed to the market hourly rate -- not the possibility of "extra charges". John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! [Moderator's Note: When someone calls you collect from a COCOT, the AOS handling the calls figures out some way to bill the recipient, don't they? They work through the local telco in many cases. So let them do the same thing with their bogus handling charges for 800 calls. PAT]