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Common Complaints

PCWorld.com spoke with dozens of businesses identified as Spoonfull.net customers on its Web site, and found many were being charged for the firm's services without realizing it.

Melissa Darrow, treasurer of the Atlanta Women's Club, was angered to discover the organization may be a victim of cramming. The group has been charged $4.07 for the past five months for "Internet access services" that Darrow says no one at her organization authorized or requested. "I've never heard of Spoonfull.net," she says.

A partial Web directory listing appears on Spoonfull.net with the name, address, and phone number of the Atlanta Women's Club. The text that accompanies the listing is gibberish that repeatedly reads: "If the inverting-core acceptor deflects the complex." This language is filler text generated by a plug-in to the Macromedia Dreamweaver site-design program, and it is found in dozens of Spoonfull.net directory listings.

"The audacity of these companies--to just stick these charges on my bill," says Paul Pettys, president of the Florida firm Pettys Design. Like all of the business owners willing to talk with PCWorld.com, he was amazed that Spoonfull.net had managed to charge the firm's phone bills without consent.

A representative of Massachusetts retirement home Pulaski Heights says the business was unaware it had been billed by Verizon on behalf of Voicenet since March 2002.

Limited Access

Evaluations of Internet access services offered by Spoonfull.net and the text-to-voice e-mail service from Voicenet raise further questions. Both services repeatedly failed to work over the past three months in which PCWorld.com tried to independently test them.

Since early November, a toll-free number listed on Voicenet's Web site for retrieving e-mail by phone has been mostly inoperable. One customer service phone number was functioning in mid-January, but a recorded message asked callers to leave a message in a voice mailbox that was too full to accept messages. A toll-free customer service number appeared to be disconnected.

After PCWorld.com asked to review Voicenet, the toll-free e-mail retrieval phone number became operational on January 17. Using a Voicenet house account, we successfully retrieved e-mail messages and heard them read them back using text-to-speech technology. However, when in the same timeframe PCWorld.com tried to test the service independently--as a consumer user rather than as a media reviewer with a house account--we failed to obtain service at all. In addition, Voicenet sent no confirmation for the independent order. The Voicenet e-mail retrieval number has offered a "no longer in service" message most of the time over the past few months.

Spoonfull.net's dial-up Internet access number has consistently not worked since PCWorld.com first tried testing it in early November. Repeated attempts to reach its service failed--we checked at least once each week for months. After PCWorld.com inquired, on January 17 Spoonfull.net posted a message stating dial-up service was "temporarily unavailable" and would be restored on January 20; however, it has remained inoperative when tested at least weekly since then.

Willoughby Farr blames network "stress" on company computer systems for technical problems with Voicenet and Spoonfull.net. When asked to explain patterns of people denying signing up for his service, he insists that someone at the home or business billed agreed to the service.

Changing Partners

Spoonfull.net previously worked with billing aggregator ILD Telecommunications, which passed the Spoonfull.net charges to telephone companies. After three months, ILD "abruptly" terminated its relationship with Spoonfull.net and Voicenet, says Fred Lloyd, ILD senior vice president. Lloyd wouldn't comment on why. In November, Spoonfull.net and Voicenet began working with billing aggregator Integretel. That relationship also lasted only a few months.

Now that Integretel is no longer acting as a billing integrator for Spoonfull.net, the firm may need to find another way of getting the company's charges onto phone bills.

The other partner in this business scenario--the telephone company--walks a fine line. Many major telcos report a jump in customer complaints claiming phantom tack-on Internet services such as Web sites, e-mail boxes, and Net access. BellSouth and SBC say they've experienced a significant increase; Qwest and Verizon also report a spike in cramming complaints.

"We are required by law to work with these third-party billing agents," says Beverly Levy, an SBC representative.

However, telephone companies can cut off the relationships under some circumstances. For example, SBC last year stopped accepting Spoonfull.net charges from Integretel in Connecticut, citing an unspecified but excessive number of complaints.

BellSouth has implemented guidelines when dealing with aggregators, says Stephanie Landry, BellSouth director of billings and collections. For charges to appear on BellSouth statements, billing firms must be able to provide on request a voice recording or written or electronic authorization from customers approving the charges, Landry says.

Each telephone company has different requirements for billing aggregators, says Jacquelene Mitchell, who chairs the Coalition to Ensure Responsible Billing, a trade association of billing aggregators. Mitchell says billing agents must adhere to telephone company requirements.

BellSouth's Scott says billing aggregators share the responsibility of making sure customers authorize the service fees, since it's the aggregator who deals with the Web service firms. But the problem of cramming remains.

"The bottom line? Always, always check your phone bill," says SBC's Levy.

Avoiding Cramming

Despite the phone companies' increased diligence, telcos say customers are responsible for reviewing their phone bills just as they review their credit card statements. Here are some tips to avoid being crammed:

• Check your monthly phone bill for mystery charges. Scrutinize the "Miscellaneous Charges and Credits" section for small obscure charges.
  
  
• Be wary of salespeople who call to offer a "free" service, such as a no-cost Web site or Internet yellow pages listing.
  
  
• Formally ask your phone company to ban third-party billing on your account. For example, BellSouth, SBC, and Verizon allow customers to block third-party billing unless expressly permitted.
  
  
• Carefully read all service offers, especially for phone and Internet services.
  
  
• You may want to check out an offer, but be judicious in calling the toll-free numbers for services you're not familiar with. Such calls can often give your phone number to the party you're calling, which may enable them to put unwanted charges onto your phone bill.
  
  
• Report suspected cramming to your phone company and to federal and state authorities as well as to consumer advocacy groups.