I just was notified by my online bill paying service that one of my automatic payments was over the threshold I had set. It was my AT&T bill and it had a 22.95 charge from some company called OAN Services.
After contacting AT&T, they gave me a number to talk with that company. It seems that I had "signed up" for VOIP with them. They said they had called me. Nope. They hadn't. Ir, if they had, I hadn't answered. They also said they had e-mailed me. They had my blog e-mail address. That address is only used for my blog. Not for anything else. I'm sure it dropped into my spam bucket as I never saw it and, as such, never answered it. They said they would credit my bill and gave me a confirmation number. We'll see what happens.
I googled OAN Services and it turns out they've been ripping off a lot of people. So start checking your phone bill every month for charges from this ripoff company.
I recently had four such charges on my AT&T phone as well. There were 3 charges of 19.99 and one for 9.99. The wonderful customer service person told me that they get this all the time. These services can grab you anytime you visit a website and they are called "Third Party Sign-ups" AT&T credited my account and put a hold on my number to keep others from doing the same. I have to say, the best customer service I've had in a long time.
Posted by: givemeliberty on July 31, 2009 07:39 PMSounds like they've come around a bit. I had a run-in with a similar situation a couple of years ago.
Posted by: Joan of Argghh! on July 31, 2009 08:49 PMInteresting. I'll have to go look, although if my phone bill varies at any time, I always check to find out why. So far it hasn't happened. (that doesn't mean it won't)
As for getting your info just by visiting a web site - no, you'd have to fill out something. Although it would certainly be possible to fill out a form that went somewhere other than where you intend. This is why I'm always leery about signing things like online petitions if they want more info about me than my name/email. Or filling out forms just to do some silly little game like thing online.
If you have the time, try to find out who you would go to and file a complaint. Until they tick off enough people nothing happens. Remember the recent shut down of those fake auto insurance call centers - it happened because they pissed off enough people to get themselves noticed. If they had stuck to regular calling hours and left off calling cell phones - they'd still be operating because then most people would ignore them and not file a complaint. Heh.
Posted by: Teresa of Technicalities on August 1, 2009 12:49 AMIsn't this, uhh, like, uhh, "FRAUD" ?!? Much as I hate to say it, where's our mighty Gummint watchdogs on this ? Of course, it's prolly one of those wafer-thin technicalities that crooks like these thrive on, so the Feds piously look the other way...I just wish I could ban that gawdam "Shellcon Hidden Window" that shows up EVERY TIME I shut 'er down..
Posted by: Sandy G. on August 1, 2009 06:37 AMHow did they manage to tie your blog email address to your ATT bill?
Just wait until we are all on obamacare. "We can't treat you because some website claims that they sent $1,000.00 of their elixer and you are over your limit for the month."
Posted by: PB on August 1, 2009 08:14 PMI signed you up for this. I've also signed you up to receive e-mail from liberal organizations. Aren't I clever?
Posted by: Sally on August 5, 2009 01:15 AM