whitcomb@uunet.uu.net (Jonathan Whitcomb) (02/22/91)
In article <telecom11.136.6@eecs.nwu.edu> John Higdon <john@ zygot.ati.com> writes: > This evening being bill paying time, I opened my Sprint bill and > discovered an unpleasant surprise. There were about $125 worth of > calls billed from a number that I had changed two years ago. > Apparently, Sprint thought that I still had the number and billed the > calls to my account. Let this be a lesson to anyone who changes or > disconnects a telephone number: be sure to notify your IEC of the > change or you, too, might end up being billed for $125 worth of calls > to Edgecliff, TX. > Funny, I don't recall having this problem with AT&T. And now that I > have signed up for AT&T's "Reach Out California", I will no longer > have it with Sprint, either. I too, have recently been having billing problems with Sprint, but this can't be attributed to sloppy internal communications, but rather to some questionable account policies. I shared an apartment with three other people in Brookline, Massachusetts for two years, and the turnover of roommates was very high. We all took responsibilities for paying a utility bill, and when the person who handled the Sprint account left, I transferred it over to my name, along with the calling cards associated with the account. When it came my turn to leave, I obtained an account transfer form from Sprint, filled out my portion and left it with the person who was going to take over the account. Suspecting that he had not gone through with the paperwork, I called Sprint about a week after I moved out. Sure enough, the account was still in my name. At this point, I felt I had fulfilled my responsibility to my former roommates, and it was time to look after my own affairs, so I asked the Sprint representative to cancel the entire account. He said he would do it, and I thought the affair would be finished. Not so. Sprint recently sent me a bill containing phone card charges dated up to two months after I had cancelled the account. When I called customer service, I was told that my account had been changed to a "card only" account. When I complained that I had not authorized such an account, I was chastised for leaving the phone cards behind, and was asked "You wouldn't leave your Visa card behind, would you?" When I finally spoke to a supervisor, I was told that it was "standard procedure" not to cancel accounts, but rather to change them over to card accounts. My question is this: can Sprint legally change the status of an account without the account holder's permission (other than cancelling it for lack of funds)? Am I obligated to pay for charges made to an account I did not authorize? It looks as if my attempt to save my old roommates some hassles and re-connection charges may end up costing me big bucks! At any rate, if Sprint has these kinds of policies, I for one have no intention of doing any more business with them. Jonathan Whitcomb UUCP: <...!mcnc!aurgate!whitcomb> (919) 850-6231 Raleigh, NC