TRAC Cites Rise in Slamming to Urge Court to Modify Stay
WASHINGTON, DC -- Citing new information that suggests slamming is reaching all time highs in some parts of the US, TRAC, the Telecommunications Research and Action Center, today filed a motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals asking that it act immediately to allow strong anti-slamming FCC rules that were stayed by the Court on May 18, 1999, to go into effect immediately.
According to the TRAC filing, in May 1999, as the FCC's new anti-slamming rules were about to go into effect, slamming complaints dropped significantly. The next month, after the stay of the anti-slamming rules, slamming complaints began to rise and have risen significantly in most parts of the country. In some cases, the complaints have risen to all time highs
New FCC anti-slamming rules were scheduled to go into effect in May. The rules, in part, would have allowed consumers not to pay phone bills received from slammers. Referred to by TRAC as the "absolution rule," this provision would have treated the consumer as the victim of slamming and absolved him/her from any liability for phone bills from slammers if the consumer acted within 30 days of receiving the bill (and did not pay it).
The long distance industry, lead by MCI, filed a petition with the US Court of Appeals asking the rules be stayed. The Court on May 18 granted the request for a stay, but urged a speedy resolution by the FCC of the issues raised by the long distance industry. TRAC today asked the Court to change its order in the limited way that would permit the "absolution" portion of the rules to go into effect.
"TRAC is a strong supporter of the new FCC rules. We applaud the Commission and Chairman Kennard for their pro-consumer leadership in this area. We wish they would now be more vigorous in defending their position," said Samuel A. Simon, Chairman of TRAC's Board.
"Consumers should not have to pay anything to a company that slams them. The FCC understood this and created pro-consumer rules to implement this simple idea. The long distance industry treats slamming as a cost of doing business. The FCC rules would have made it too expensive for companies to slam consumers. This is obvious when we see slamming complaints drop before the rules go into effect and soar when the rules are stayed."
TRAC's filing is technical in nature. It points out to the Court that the order that stayed all contested parts of the proposed rules was overly broad. The "absolution rule," which allows consumers not to pay a bill from a slammer within 30 days, according to TRAC, was not seriously contested. It was other, more controversial parts of the rules that were the most problematic. TRAC has not asked the Court to lift the stay as to other portions of the rules.
TRAC, a Washington, DC based consumer group, has been charting and comparing long distance rates for consumers since 1983. TRAC is the publisher of TeleTipsรค , a Residential Long Distance Rate and Small Business Long Distance Rate Comparison Chart. TRAC also produces a free Internet service at http://www.trac.org featuring WebPricer, a joint service with San Francisco based Salestar, which allows consumers to get an instant call analysis by entering the calls from their bills onto a form and have the calls compared among various carriers.
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Click here to see a copy of the filing.
