The FCC agreed with a woman who alleged that Michigan-based telecom service provider Clear Rate Communications committed slamming. The agency determined the company changed her father’s telecommunications service provider without first obtaining authorization and verification.
The woman who made the complaint told the Commission she established service for her father in her name with CenturyLink. She said a Clear Rate representative called her father and told him that “their service was a great deal.”
In response to the complaint, Clear Rate told the FCC it has a “three-part sales process” that includes the initial sales call, a third-party verification (TPV), and a follow-up “quality assurance call” to ensure that consumers are not slammed and are “fully informed of the transfer of service.” In its decision, the FCC says Clear Rate provided recordings of the TPV and the “quality assurance call,” but did not provide a recording of the sales call.
If a carrier uses a TPV to verify a carrier switch, the Commission’s slamming rules require that the carrier verify, among other things, that the consumer has the authority to change the carrier associated with the telephone number, that the person on the call wants to make the carrier change, and that the person on the call understands he or she is authorizing a carrier change. On the recording that Clear Rate characterizes as a “quality assurance call,” the representative asks, “You understand there is a 12-month commitment that guarantees the rate, correct?” Complainant’s father responds, “I guess. I don’t know what this is all about.”
After reviewing the evidence, the FCC determined that Clear Rate did not confirm the complainant’s father understood he was authorizing a carrier change and wanted to make a carrier change. Clear Rate also failed to provide any persuasive evidence to rebut the complainant’s misrepresentation claim, according to the agency. That finding means any authorization Clear Rate obtained is invalid under the rules.
The decision means Clear Rate must remove all charges incurred for service provided to the complainant for the first 30 days after the unauthorized change. Neither the complainant’s authorized carrier nor Clear Rate may pursue any collection against the complainant for those charges. Any charges imposed by Clear Rate on the complainant for service provided after the 30-day period shall be paid by the complainant to the authorized carrier at the previous rates the complainant paid.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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