FCC Bans Misrepresentation in Sales Calls & Unauthorized Charges

The Federal Communications Commission approved new rules to help protect consumers from the illegal and harmful practices of slamming, which is the unauthorized change of a consumer’s preferred telephone company, and cramming, which is the placement of unauthorized charges on a consumer’s phone bill.  With the action, the Commission’s rules now include a clear ban on misrepresentations made during sales calls and provide that such material misrepresentations invalidate any authorization given by a consumer to switch telephone companies. The Commission’s rules also now include an explicit prohibition against placing unauthorized charges on consumers’ phone bills. 

Under the new slamming rules, phone companies that abuse the third-party verification process will be suspended from using that process for five years. The Commission also took action to improve the efficiency of the third-party verification process by eliminating the requirement that a phone company must obtain the authorization of a consumer for each service being sold—a time-consuming step that the Commission found can confuse consumers.