Have you ever been scammed by "cramming"?

[Lurknomore]

I received a letter at work from some supposed online ad agency- JumPage Solutions- telling me they will bill $39.95 to my phone bill for "registering" with their company. I have never in any way signed up or authorized any agreement with them, and googling them seems to bring up similar stories. Apparently, I was called at work by some supposed phone company rep, who claimed they just wanted to "update" my company info. Unfortunately, I did give them my company info, including my name and address, and now I see this in the mail.
What's the best recourse?
I will try to call them Monday to de-list me and cancel, but I don't trust that they'll actually follow through.
Can my phone company-Verizon- cancel these charges ( I haven't received my monthly statement from them yet) or should I wait till I get my phone bill to dispute any unauthorized charges? Should I tell Verizon that only they may bill me , and not any third party?

 

[BlueAcolyte]

This would be a good time to get the BBB.

 

[QueBert]

You will have a tough time dealing with Verizon on this, my GF's son was getting text messages asking if he wanted to buy ring tones and to reply with STOP if he wanted no tones and to stop getting text's from them. The bill came and there was a $9.95 charge, she was on the phone with them for about an hour explaining it and trying to sort it out. She ended up talking to the manager and basically as Verizon tells it, they have no control over 3rd party billing and the only way they could prevent it in the future was to totally block text messaging from his phone. She had to fight tooth and nail to get the charge removed, and was stuck because if it happened again she would have to pay. They said they can't block any company at all, it sounded crazy and stupid but that's their policy. Sounds like crap to me, but I listened to the entire call on speaker phone and was really shocked to hear them say "oh well" Her son was tricked, and did exactly what he should have done according to the text message and still got charged? Great to know if it happens again Verizon will say it's not their problem and they can't help.

makes you wonder if they're not somehow in on the scams.

 

[Lurknomore]

I checked the website of the Attorney General of NY State.
Supposedly, AG Spitzer back in 2005 reached an agreement with Verizon to try to help people against unauthorized cram charges.
But, who knows, this prolly means that you have to file a complaint with the AG if Verizon doesn not follow through with any action, not necessarily that Verizon will resolve all this in the first place.
Lesson to anyone here- if someone calls you to "verify" any personal or business info by having you repeat the info over the phone, just HANG UP!

 

[Greenman]

I was once in a pizza place and there was a pile of entry forums on the counter for a vacation giveaway. They wanted name, address and signature. When I read the fine print on the back, it turns out that by singing the form you were agreeing to have your long distance carrier changed., and had to pay fees that would be on your first bill.

 

[ObiDon]

a few years ago, i had phone and dsl from verizon. at least once a month verizon would call and ask if i wanted blankety-blank package. every time i told them i didn't need it.

well, i guess one day they decided that my $90/month for unreliable internet access and a phone line i barely use wasn't enough. i received a bill that was higher than normal, and there it was! i got crammed by my own provider!

so, i just stopped paying them and bought a wireless phone and switched to comcast for internet. i have never regretted that choice

 

[moparacer]

Watch for the "other charges" on your phone bill....

I got hosed with the "mytelebill" charges for 8 months till realized it....

I managed to get it taken off and the previous charges credited but it was a pain......