Current through Register Vol. 42, No. 5, February 29, 2024
(1)
Telephone companies shall comply fully with the FCC's Truth in Billing
requirements and all Commission rules and orders that implement the Truth in
Billing requirements.
(2) Telephone
companies shall not knowingly provide billing and collection for
telecommunication providers that do not possess a Commission approved
certificate of convenience and necessity with the associated authority to
provide the service(s) to be included on the consumer bill, or, for billing
aggregators or third-party providers not registered with and approved by the
Commission for inclusion of their charges on consumer telephone bills. However,
designated third-party providers authorized to bill for their products and/or
services on the monthly bill of a telephone utility business customer, as
referenced in a written contract between the customer and the telephone
utility, shall be excluded from any of the registration and other requirements
for third-party providers referenced herein.
(3) Third-Party Billing
(a) Definitions
1. The term "third-party provider" is defined
as any entity, excluding LEC affiliates, not possessing a Certificate of Public
Convenience and Necessity from the Commission to provide telephone services in
the state of Alabama. Third-party providers' charges are included on a
consumer's monthly telephone bill based on an agreement between the consumer's
LEC and the third-party provider or between the consumer's LEC and a billing
aggregator.
2. The term "billing
aggregator" is defined as any entity that serves as the billing agent for a
product or service offered by a third-party provider.
3. The following are not considered charges
from third-party service providers: charges for local exchange carrier (LEC)
services, charges for services associated with the LEC's bundled service
offerings, charges from the LEC's affiliates, casual billing charges, charges
from the subscriber's designated toll service provider to include those
associated with bundled service offerings, Internet service provider and/or
wireless carrier charges (if offered by the LEC or their affiliates, or the
customer's designated toll carrier or their affiliates), and authorized
regulatory fees, taxes, late fees, and interest charges.
4. The term "casual billing" consists of
collect calls including third-party collect calls, charges from dial around
toll providers, directory assistance charges, and charges for directory
advertising.
(b)
Third-party providers and/or their associated billing aggregators must register
with and be approved by the Commission before their charges may be included on
any consumer bill from telephone utilities subject to the Commission's
regulatory authority. Commission approval is contingent upon acceptance of the
terms, conditions, and requirements for third-party billing as referenced in
the subparagraphs that follow. The Commission will identify procedures for
third-party providers to register with the Commission and maintain a list of
third-party providers and billing aggregators approved by the Commission via
the Commission's website.
1. Third-party
providers that exclusively utilize the services of a Commission approved
billing aggregator as their billing agent for recovery of charges to consumers
through the telephone company bill need not register separately with the
Commission provided the third-party provider's billing aggregator requests
separate authority for the third-party provider.
2. In addition to providing the Commission
with current and accurate information about their company, the identity of
clients whose charges will be included on telephone company bills, and the
names (and contact information) for billing aggregator representatives that the
Commission may contact directly for purposes of resolving consumer disputes,
billing aggregators must register with the Commission those clients whose
charges will be included on any telephone company bill. Registration will
include identifying information about the client, and a description of the
services that may be billed. Additionally, billing aggregators will fully
disclose, to the Commission satisfaction, the method(s) utilized by the client
for obtaining consumer subscription to the client's service(s) in such detail
that the Commission may determine that Alabama consumers are not being
subjected to cramming or other fraudulent and misleading marketing
practices.
(c) Charges
on telephone bills shall have sufficient detail and explanation to allow a
subscriber to understand the charge's purpose and origin. Lists of fees such as
"service fee," "membership," "miscellaneous," and "calling plan" are deemed
insufficient detail and are not permitted. The charge should, at a minimum,
describe the service, the date the service was provided to the subscriber, and
the name of the service provider.
(d) A toll-free number for the third-party
provider or their designated billing aggregator shall be listed on the
subscriber's bill from the telephone utility so that subscribers can inquire
about the nature of the charge and request redress. If the telephone utility
has a contract or policy agreement with the third-party provider or their
designated billing aggregator that authorizes the telephone utility to respond
to consumer inquiries and to grant credits to the consumer for the third-party
charges on the third-party provider's behalf, the telephone utility may
alternatively list their own toll-free number for subscriber inquiries
regarding the applicable third-party charges.
(e) Telephone utilities that bill for
third-party providers and/or billing aggregators must indicate on the customer
bill that telephone service will not be disconnected for failure to pay
disputed third-party charges. Alternatively, the bill may include a statement
that failure to pay a separately-identified minimum amount, which does not
include any disputed third-party provider and/or billing aggregator charges,
may result in disconnection of local or toll service provided a reference is
included on the bill that third-party charges are not included in the minimum
payment requirement. Telephone utility customer service representatives,
responding to consumer inquiries regarding third-party charges, will fully
disclose to consumers that their service will not be disconnected for
non-payment of disputed third-party charges.
(f) LECs are required to offer their
customers, upon request and free of charge, a service that blocks the inclusion
of charges on the customer's telephone bill from third-party providers.
Telephone companies that do not bill for third-party providers and/or billing
aggregators are exempt from this requirement.
(g) LECs will not include charges from a
third-party or their associated billing aggregator on the monthly bill of
consumers who have subscribed to bill blocking nor will they remove a third
party provider charge block without the prior verbal or written consent of the
telephone subscriber.
(h) Telephone
companies will remove from the consumer's telephone bill any third-party charge
disputed by the consumer and reverse those charges back to their source.
Telephone companies will not take any negative action against any consumer that
disputes third-party charges.
(i)
Third-party providers and billing aggregators will cooperate fully with any
Commission investigation involving charges included on a consumer's telephone
bill and will fully disclose to the Commission marketing practices/methods used
for obtaining consumer subscription to their products or services. Charges may
be disallowed or reduced for the following reasons:
1. When a charge for a product of service
from a third-party provider initially appears on the consumer's telephone bill
and the consumer disputes having subscribed to the third-party product or
service; or, when the third-party provider is found to have overcharged the
customer for the product or services.
2. When the Commission, upon investigation,
determines that fraudulent, deceptive, or misleading practices were utilized by
the third-party provider to obtain the consumer's subscription for the product
or service, or when the Commission determines that the product or service has
been misrepresented or otherwise marketed to the consumer using exaggerated
claims.
(j) The
Commission does not consider consumer payment for charges included on their
telephone bill as acknowledgment that a consumer consents to or accepts the
products or services offered by third-party providers.
1. When a consumer disputes charges from a
third-party provider, the Commission may, upon investigation referenced in
770-X-5-.16, determine that the charge(s) should be reduced or disallowed due
to third-party provider billing error or for reasons of fraudulent, deceptive,
or misleading practices used to obtain the customer's subscription for products
or services. For such overcharges, the Commission expects third-party providers
to comply with the provisions of Commission Telephone Rule 770-X-5-.05(c)(6),
which requires telephone utilities to refund all over-billed charges collected
from the consumer for up to thirty-six (36) months prior to the date of the
customer's objection and to cancel the customer's subscription for the
third-party provider's products or services.
2. In those situations where Commission
investigation, per 770-X-5-.16, determines that no fraudulent, deceptive, or
misleading practices were utilized by the third-party provider to obtain the
customer's subscription for products or services and/or the customer was not
otherwise overcharged due to billing error, the Commission expects third-party
providers or their billing aggregators, upon customer request, to remove
disputed and unpaid charges for the current billing period and, at the
third-party provider's discretion, to refund or credit to the customer's
telephone utility bill, all or a portion of disputed charges for any previous
billing periods. Additionally, the Commission expects third-party providers to
cancel the customer's subscription for the third-party provider's products or
services at the customer's request. This requirement is in no way intended to
discourage third-party providers or their billing aggregators from collecting
for products and services used by the telephone utility customer or from
negotiating with the customer to continue the provision of their products or
services to the customer based on terms mutually agreeable to both the
third-party provider and the telephone utility customer.
3. The Commission expects refunds due the
telephone utility customer to be received by the customer within sixty (60)
days of dispute resolution or, alternatively, credited to the customer's
monthly telephone bill within sixty (60) days of dispute resolution, if such
credits are authorized by the customer's telephone utility based on agreement
with the third-party provider or their billing aggregator. The Commission
expects that third-party providers and/or billing aggregators will not initiate
any negative credit reporting action against the consumer for any refunds,
credits, or cancellation of charges referenced herein but in no way discourages
third-party providers from pursuing redress from the telephone utility customer
for other unpaid charges.
(k) Third-party providers and/or billing
aggregators that fail to maintain updated registration information with the
Commission, fail to comply with Commission rules and Orders related to
third-party billing practices, or, after investigation by the Commission, are
determined to be involved in cramming, fraudulent, deceptive, or misleading
marketing practices and/or failing to promptly and adequately address
Commission and/or consumer inquiries and refunds, are subject to withdrawal of
the Commission's approval for telephone utilities to include the third-party
provider's charges on telephone utility customer bills.
1. The Commission will notify the third-party
provider and/or their billing aggregator in writing of the Commission's intent
to reconsider their approval status along with the reasons for the action, and
will provide the third-party provider and/or their billing aggregator an
opportunity to respond in writing, or by hearing, before taking formal action
to withdraw the Commission's approval to include their charges on the customer
bills of Alabama telephone utilities.
2. Withdrawal of authority for third-party
providers to include their charges on telephone utility monthly bills will be
by Commission Order with a minimum thirty (30) days notice before the
withdrawal becomes effective, allowing telephone utilities sufficient prior
notice of the Commission action.
(l) Third-party providers and/or billing
aggregators whose approval is withdrawn by the Commission are not authorized to
utilize telephone company bills to collect charges from consumers. Third-party
providers and/or billing aggregators whose approval has been withdrawn may
request subsequent Commission approval. Such approval may be granted based on
satisfactory resolution of the issues that led to the approval being
withdrawn.
(m) Telephone companies
are responsible for verifying that third-party providers and billing
aggregators have Commission approval before including charges from these
entities on any customer bill. Additionally, telephone companies that include
charges from third-party providers on their customer's monthly bills will
publish in a prominent section of the telephone directory; or alternatively, at
least annually via bill message or bill insert with the consumer's bill,
information concerning the procedures for disputing third-party provider
charges and for obtaining free, third-party bill blocking service.