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If you’ve seen any suspicious charges on your phone bill for services you did not order, you might be due a refund. The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office has reached a $53,000 settlement agreement with Billing Services Group, an incorrigible outfit that’s been pulling the same scam for nearly two decades.

The attorney general’s office has received at least 53 complaints from across the commonwealth about cramming by Billing Services Group. Funds from the settlement will be paid as restitution to consumers who were victimized.

Based in San Antonio, Texas, Billing Services Group specializes in cramming consumers’ phone bills with phony charges for “enhanced services,” such as voicemail, web hosting and streaming video, which the consumers had not purchased and did not even know they were receiving.

It is not the first time Billing Services Group has gotten spanked for this scam. In 2012, the Federal Trade Commission sought a civil contempt ruling against the firm, alleging it placed more than $70 million in fraudulent charges on consumers’ phone bills in violation of a previous court order. For example, the company allegedly billed tens of thousands of consumers for voicemail boxes during a period when only 209 boxes were actually used, and billed over 250,000 consumers for a streaming video service when only 23 movies were actually streamed, some by the crammers’ employees.

To be considered for a refund, you must submit a complaint to the Bureau of Consumer Protection by Sept. 19.

Car salesmen and home improvement contractors have earned a dubious distinction, leading the 2016 list of the Nation’s Top 10 Consumer Complaints, compiled by two consumer advocacy groups. At the bottom of the list were online sales and fraud, which tied for last place.

The Consumer Federation of America and the North American Consumer Protection Investigators surveyed 31 consumer agencies from 21 states about the most common complaints they received in 2014.

The list is as follows:

1. Auto. Misrepresentations in advertising or sales of new and used cars, lemons, faulty repairs, leasing and towing disputes.

2. Home improvement/construction. Shoddy work, failure to start or complete the job.

3. Utilities. Service problems or billing disputes with phone, cable, satellite, Internet, electric and gas service.

4. Credit/debt. Billing and fee disputes, mortgage modifications and mortgage-related fraud, credit repair, debt relief services, predatory lending, illegal or abusive debt collection tactics.

5. Retail sales. False advertising and other deceptive practices, defective merchandise, problems with rebates, coupons, gift cards and gift certificates, failure to deliver.

6. Services. Misrepresentations, shoddy work, failure to have required licenses, failure to perform.

7. Landlord/tenant. Unhealthy or unsafe conditions, failure to make repairs or provide promised amenities, deposit and rent disputes, illegal eviction tactics.

8. Household goods. Misrepresentations, failure to deliver, faulty repairs in connection with furniture or appliances.

9. Health products/services. Misleading claims; unlicensed practitioners.

10. (Tie) Internet sales. Misrepresentations or other deceptive practices, failure to deliver online purchases. Fraud. Bogus sweepstakes and lotteries, work-at-home schemes, grant offers, fake check scams, imposter scams and other common frauds.

Christine Young
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_Christine-Young-5.jpg.optimal.jpgChristine Young

Christine Young

Consumer Watchdog

Reach Christine Young at [email protected].