drears@pica.army.mil (Dennis G. Rears (FSAC)) (07/11/90)
I am in the processof moving from an apartment to a house. My
last day in the apartment was today, Jul 10. The person who is moving
to the apartment started moving in today. She had called without my
knowledge and consent to have my phone service disconnected on Jul 9,
and her phone service connected Jul 10. When I got home for lunch
yesterday my phone was out of service.
I called the local NJ Bell repair service. They told me the phone
was out of service but a order had been placed to disconnect the
phone. They gave me a number for the service department. I talked to
a woman who said, If you want your service restored for those two days
it will be an a $42.00 reconnection charge. I protested stating, I am
the sole account holder, and never authorized any change. I then
asked to talk to her supervisor whom after much argument agreed to
turn my service back on with no charge. This conversation took place
at 12:30 PM on Monday. When I left the apartment today at 0900 it
still wasn't on.
Three points I would like to bring up. First, the representative
said that unless somebody specifically tells the phone company they
want any change request for service verified it is not done. This,
however convienent, can be danger. Anyone can call up and say, I am
Mr. Doe, phone number is XXX-XXXX and want my phone service
disconnected. No verification. The second point is that the only way
to get something done is talk to a sueprvisor and be firm on what you
want. The last point is do I have any course of action? I am out
about $25 due to having to use pay phones and lack of a calling card.
Who can I complain to?
Dennisjohn@bovine.ati.com (John Higdon) (07/11/90)
"Dennis G. Rears (FSAC)" <drears@pica.army.mil> writes: > Three points I would like to bring up. First, the representative > said that unless somebody specifically tells the phone company they > want any change request for service verified it is not done. This, > however convienent, can be danger. Anyone can call up and say, I am > Mr. Doe, phone number is XXX-XXXX and want my phone service > disconnected. No verification. This used to be the way it was, period. Several years ago, after certain parties impersonated me to the Pac*Bell business office and made some rather inconvenient changes to my service and got all the numbers to my unlisted lines, a number of us raised some hell. We discussed this issue at length on our old regional telecom news group and the topic was picked up by some in Pac*Bell where the group was distributed. Their solution was to "password" accounts at the customer's request. When a rep pulls up the account, a flag instructs the person to ask the customer for the password and will not discuss the matter further until the correct password is given. After some shakey starts, this has finally been implemented well. I have taken things one step further and have the accounts consolidated under an unlisted billing number. Without that billing number, no one can even bring the account up on a terminal. This may seem terribly troublesome, but you can have security or you can have convenience. Take your pick. > The second point is that the only way > to get something done is talk to a sueprvisor and be firm on what you > want. That is correct. > The last point is do I have any course of action? I am out > about $25 due to having to use pay phones and lack of a calling card. > Who can I complain to? Anyone you like, but you won't get anything out of the telco. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !
ndallen@uunet.uu.net (Nigel Allen) (07/12/90)
drears@pica.army.mil (Dennis G. Rears) had his telephone disconnected prematurely, and wishes to complain. I don't have my list of state public utility commission addresses handy, but anyone can get the address of their commission from the state government switchboard. Some telephone directories have a section in the introductory pages dealing specifically with complaints, which may give both the address of a senior manager of the telephone company who handles complaints, and the state regulatory agency as well. There are two ways to approach a regulatory complaint: you can argue that the telephone company didn't follow established policy, in which case the complaint can be resolved at a relatively low level, or you can argue that the telephone company's policies are incorrect and should be changed. If you choose to file a heavy policy-change complaint with the public utilities commission, you may want to obtain a copy of the commission's rules of procedure, which may set out different rules for handling informal complaints and formal applications, and file it as a formal application. Telephone companies are often wholly or partially exempt from liability for their errors by state law or by regulatory enactments. Nonetheless, the telephone company may be willing to compensate you for your out-of-pocket expenses, even though it may not be legally required. If your work requires you to be on call to receive phone calls, or if you had a sick child at home, or if you had some other reason why the unauthorized disconnection was particularly inconvenient or dangerous, you should mention this as well.
friedl@uunet.uu.net (Stephen J. Friedl) (07/12/90)
Dennis Rears tells of moving and how the new tenant got his phone disconnected early without his knowledge or approval. The phone company gave him a big hassle about this (threatened $42 reconnect charge) and it was a bummer all around. Apparently anybody can call in for service requests for anybody. > The last point is do I have any course of action? I am out > about $25 due to having to use pay phones and lack of a calling card. > Who can I complain to? Just have the new tenant's phone disconnected in about three weeks. The satisfaction should probably be worth much more than $25 :-) Stephen J. Friedl, KA8CMY / Software Consultant / Tustin, CA / 3B2-kind-of-guy +1 714 544 6561 / friedl@mtndew.Tustin.CA.US / {uunet,attmail}!mtndew!friedl
Blake Farenthold <blake@pro-party.cts.com> (07/13/90)
In-Reply-To: message from drears@pica.army.mil [Stuff about moving out and the new resident having his phone cut off] >her supervisor whom after much argument agreed to turn my service >back on with no charge. This conversation took place at 12:30 PM >on Monday. When I left the apartment today at 0900 it still >wasn't on. They will, of course turn YOUR phone service back on AFTER you move out and the lady moving in will be running up your long distance. :-) >First, the representative said that unless somebody specifically >tells the phone company they want any change request for service >verified it is not done. Southwestern Bell does the same thing. Its really bad when you are running a BBS. I had to remove a user's account for doing something nasty (in fact, a few months later the FBI came knocking on my door asking about a guy who was arrested for defrauding a long distance company out of about $30,000 who had my BBS number on something they confiscated). Anyway this user (he may not have been the phreaker, I'm not sure) called SW Bell to have the BBS line disconnected. The SW Bell rep volunteered that I had twelve other lines (including my main non/published voice line) and would he like those disconnected as well. After a fair amount of complaining and some threats about going to the PUC about it I got the lines re-connected. Apparently they gave away one of my pairs because one line didn't come back for almost a week and there were a lot of phone trucks in the neighborhood. After this incident they said that they could put in the record to ask for either my driver's license or social security number before processing an order. This didn't strike me as that secure as my Drivers licence was on every check I wrote and my social security number was on enough paper to worry me (credit aps, student ID', and every test I took at the Univ. of Texas. I suggested a "password" but they couldn't phathom that so we finaly agreed that they'd do nothing without calling my voice line for confirmation. ALWAYS ASK THE PHONE COMPANY FOR THIS SERVICE. They may not be security concious, but YOU CAN BE. I have, however, wondered if you could get around some of these security measures by saying the subscriber is DEAD... >The last point is do I have any course of action? I am out about >$25 due to having to use pay phones and lack of a calling card. Not worth worrying about I'd suspect. I can't believe that they couldn't have got it right back on if they were using a digital swich. I was able to get a phone cut off for non-payment of a bill turned on within 20 minutes (without paying) by citing a Texas PUC regulation forbidding disconnects (for non payment or the like) on the day before the business office will be closed. You could check your states PUC regs, there MAY be somthing about speed of repairs/correcting errors but I doubt you'd be able to get consequential damages without litigation, and perhaps not even then. UUCP: ...!crash!pnet01!pro-party!blake Internet: blake@pro-party.cts.com Blake Farenthold | Voice: 800/880-1890 | MCI: BFARENTHOLD 1200 MBank North | Fax: 512/889-8686 | CIS: 70070,521 Corpus Christi, TX 78471 | BBS: 512/882-1899 | GEnie: BLAKE
ritchie@hpdmd48boi.hp.com (David Ritchie) (07/14/90)
> The last point is do I have any course of action? I am out > about $25 due to having to use pay phones and lack of a calling card. > Who can I complain to? You might try calling/writing the regulatory body for the telco in your state. Of course, you may just be wasting a stamp :^>. Another approach that I have used is to talk to a progression of persons, each of which are higher in authority than the last person I talked to. Getting names of persons I am talking to when I first start talking to them also helps in this regard. Keep notes of the conversation. Eventually, you will talk to someone with intelligence and/or who wonders why his/her subordinates could not handle this problem. I have went up as high as four levels this way, but I have never not had a problem solved to my satisfaction. Dave
ritchie@hpdmd48boi.hp.com (David Ritchie) (07/14/90)
> The last point is do I have any course of action? I am out > about $25 due to having to use pay phones and lack of a calling card. > Who can I complain to? You might try calling/writing the regulatory body for the telco in your state. Of course, you may just be wasting a stamp :^>. Another approach that I have used is to talk to a progression of persons, each of which are higher in authority than the last person I talked to. Getting names of persons I am talking to when I first start talking to them also helps in this regard. Keep notes of the conversation. Eventually, you will talk to someone with intelligence and/or who wonders why his/her subordinates could not handle this problem. I have went up as high as four levels this way, but I have never not had a problem solved to my satisfaction. Dave