09 Feb
Posted by i.nconspicuo.us as Random Stuff
One year ago to this day, I wrote a post about ILD Teleservices and their rip off scam. That article talked about my business phone account that suddenly had extra charges tacked on from ILD Teleservices, adding an extra $80 per month to my phone bill. I had logged a complaint with Verizon about ILD Telecom, wrote my post and pretty much forgot about the problem. Since my post, I’ve gotten an occasional reply to it with people telling stories of their own problems with ILD.
It’s a completely unfortunate situation, and it appears that as of today – February 9th, 2008 (Exactly one year from my original ILD Telecom post) that ILD is still operating and scamming people out of money. I just got a reply to the original post tonight detailing a new way that ILD Teleservices is scamming people.
In an effort to help shutdown ILD Teleservices, or at least help make people aware of the problem, I will be updating this post with a list of links to agencies and companies that you can report ILD to, along with other links and articles that I find about ILD. If you have any other websites that discuss ILD Teleservices and the scams that they are running, please reply to this post with links so that I can add them in. Thanks to you all, and best of luck recovering the charges from the most unethical company operating today – ILD Teleservices.
142 Responses
ILD Teleservices - Scam, Rip-Off - ildtelecom.com | i.nconspicuo.us
February 9th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
1[...] out the updated ILD post here – contains updated information and [...]
beth
February 19th, 2008 at 11:36 am
2My business has been being charged since September for ILD services. I never agreed to their service, and don’t even know what it is.
Why does Verizon allow this?Who allows that charge to be put on my bill?
It is FRAUD.
Dr. Bergman
February 19th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
3A verizon rep stopped by my office today to review my phone bill. I told her I was considering changing companies because of the high monthly cost. She spotted the $53 extra I was paying to ILD. I had no idea what it was for. I contacted them and they told me to call customer service at 1- 866-473-2053. I was told that one of my former staff members, who had no authority to do so, signed up with them. I was furious. They said they would refund my last month and I had to fax some information to 727-461-7900 and I would get a refund on what I already paid.
I have marked my calander for four weeks. If I don’t have a refund by then I will pursue further action.
i.nconspicuo.us
February 19th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
4I truly can’t believe that ILD is still operational. All I’ve read and heard about them is complaints. They provide no service and no added value to the services of Verizon (or AT&T or whoever you phone service provider is).
ILD is a completely corrupt company that is probably making millions of dollars annually on unknowing consumers. Think about it, of the few comments that have been posted on my ILD posts, most of the commentors are probably pretty money savvy and review their bills occasionally. Just imagine how many idiots are out there allowing the extra $50-100/month to just add up on their bills.
ILD needs to be shut down by the FCC or the FTC… whichever one is in charge of telecommunications.
SOMEONE PLEASE STOP THEM!!!
Nerry Fernandez
February 21st, 2008 at 9:04 pm
5People check your phone bills. We are on our own to stop ILD Teleservices from stealing our hard earned money. My latest phone bill from AT&T shows charges by ILD for Personal Contact Solutions, in the amount of $25.90 for the month of Jan. & Feb. 2008. I have never heard of Personal Contact Solutions nor ILD asking my approval for services. I will definitely fight this out. Reporting to government agencies for consumer protection is one, Writing a letter to Honorable Barbara Boxer & Dianne Feinstein to help pass a law requiring this solicitors to mail us a confirmation letter which we would sign affirming our agreement that we requested their services. Or other ways that would make it difficult for this cramers to bill for imagined charges.
Destro
March 7th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
6Well… i just got hit on my business account for 34.95 a month. “Comtel Web Host Mth” Needless to say, i’m a software engineer and i do NO web hosting with them. this just magically appeared on my bill.. Can i sue them? I’m not a lawyer but would love to file some public paperwork with my local county court.. its’ always free to sue someone.
I wonder if i can start a business (about $300 to start one) and just start billing people throughout the nation on their verizon bills.. i would be a multi-millionaire in a few months.
nanci miller
March 8th, 2008 at 11:49 am
7I got scammed by ILD and am furious. I found a charge for $21.35 for a service I never signed up for. ILD’s customer service was USELESS!!!
robert
March 10th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
8ILD what the hell is this cr*p .and who authorized the to put any trhing on my telephone bill? when you call to TRY and get the charges taken off it takes 45 min to an hour bof mine or my wifes time when we could be doing something constructive . 3 months in a row weve had to call & have these bogus charges removed .And who do they represent anyways. I dont need voice mail .I have a damn answering machine. this crap needs to stop <or we need to have something done to verizon for accepting the bill,s from ILD.
Pennie
March 16th, 2008 at 10:50 am
9I’ve been bedeviled by ILD since November 07. They first called saying they were from verizon. When my bill arrived I found out differently and called both verizon and ILD to tell them I had been lied to and told ILD was Verizon. The verizon rep said she would “take care of it”. Dec 07, “monthly fee charge” continues on my verizon bill, I call Verizon, they say I have to call ILD, which they put me in direct contact with, I tell ILD they have lied to me by representing themselves as Verizon reps, and to drop all charges and I to NOT bill me again, as I am not getting anything from them. ( I was still getting my long distance through my long distance company). ILD said they were acting as representives for a company called Communications network and my beef needed to be with them. What a fiasco, so I was put in direct contact with Comm services (funny that ILD could just switch me directly to comm services) and I told comm services to cancel anything they thought they had with me. Well it has now been 5 months, 5 monthly phone calls to tell them to stop billing me for something I have never recieved. And after 5 times of being told it has “been taken care of ” I recieved my phone bill and yes….there it is again. Charges from ILD for “comm services”. I am furious and dont know where to turn.
Lisa
March 21st, 2008 at 1:22 pm
10I got my phone bill today with some ILD charges..my husband clicked on some dodgy website and entered our phone number. Anyway..I got through to them and got the charges removed..now whether it actually happens or not remains to be seen…
Dawn Gartner
March 31st, 2008 at 7:59 am
11Please read all of this. Our company was charged $56.89 in June of 2007 for ILD Teleservices via “3 Point Marketing”. I called ILD they said to call 3 Point Mktg. to have these charges removed from our bill. They said that it would take 2 to 3 billing cycles for it to appear as a credit on the bill. 4 months later it’s still there. I tried to call 3 Point Marketing again. No answer. A few more times at random during different days. Still no answer. It is now November and I finally get a hold of a girl named Angel who again said that we would see the credit in 2 to 3 billing cycles. (I haven’t paid this $56.89 as of yet. It still appears on my bill as a charge. Our phone service has not been cut-off because of it-so don’t worry about not paying that portion of your bill. Your phone can not be turned off for not paying those charges.) It is now March 31,2008. I called ILD now because I can no longer get a hold of 3 Point Mktg. Jose said that he has issued the credit today and that I …..you guessed it….would see the credit appear on my bill in 2 to 3 billing cycles. (During the longgg hold times I came across this website and was reading all of these complaints) I then asked him what is ILD anyway?He said that ILD is a 3rd pary billing company hired by over 150 other companies for various services. I told him I didn’t understand what we were being charged for as the description says “3 Point Marketing Inet Adver 1XSetup Fee” $50. I told him that this is an old business number that we have that is just being forwarded to the new number. Nobody would have set anything up for any reason what-so-ever on this account. He simply told me, “Then all I can tell you maam is that it was a billing error.” WOW! A billing error! They billed us because they probably thought that the bill would blindly get paid because it’s a company bill and wouldn’t get looked at very closely. They didn’t count on me. I’m a bit more meticulous. So I intend to still keep track of this. Let’s see if the saga continues. I’ll be in touch. Have a nice day all.
Dr Bergman
March 31st, 2008 at 7:33 pm
12On February 19 I posted my problem above about ILD. I was told that they would credit my account. I got my phone bill a few days ago and I was happy to see that my account was credited for the entire amount.
Dawn Gartner
April 28th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
13We FINALLY got the $56.89 subtracted from our current bill. Billing statement dated 4-13-08! It took 10 months-almost a year!
ILD Teleservices
May 1st, 2008 at 3:24 pm
14Similar to the way Visa® and MasterCard® process credit card payments on behalf of merchant customers, ILD is a billing clearinghouse that processes phone billed transactions on behalf of merchant customers.
The reason you see a bill from ILD Teleservices is because you or someone in your household may have signed up for services through one of our merchant-customers. If for any reason you disagree with the charges or have not been able to resolve questions to your complete satisfaction, we at ILD want to know. Please contact us and we will help you find resolution. Please visit http://www.ildteleservices.com or call 1-800-637-4009.
We appreciate i.nconspicuo.us allowing ILD to post information to help consumers resolve any questions. ILD is here for your readers and others to provide answers and resolve all disputes. If you have a question about your bill and have not been able to resolve these questions to your complete satisfaction, please let us know at http://www.ildteleservices.com.
mark olson
May 28th, 2008 at 11:50 am
15I had to cancel my ATT bill because of this 30 dollar charge added to it..I never contracted with IL I never heard of them..Now they are on my credit report..Not fair..Not fair..What can I do?
mike olson
May 28th, 2008 at 11:52 am
16I have had ATT for years….Then resently I noticed a charge on my telephone bill.From ILD ..It had put a service on my bill I never ordered..I wish someone would see this..I had to cancel my ATT bill and get another carrier for phone..What can I do..I would like to clear my credit up but Att has given the bill to collections..I sure am not going to pay ILD..Is this an ATT bill?
ILD Teleservices
May 29th, 2008 at 10:11 am
17Mike, if you have been billed by a merchant customer of ILD, and have not been able to resolve your questions to your full satisfaction, please visit http://www.ildteleservices.com and send us a comment or call 1-800-637-4009 and an ILD representative will help you.
Dr. Green
May 29th, 2008 at 11:34 am
18I just learned I have been paying $13.60 monthly for the past 5 months to Verizon for ILD “services.” This point may be of interest to those of you who have Verizon: after my second call complaining about the charges, I was told I could put a “bill block” on my account which would prevent any further charges being placed on my account. I did this today, 5-29-08, so will have to wait to see how it goes. When I contacted ILD I was lucky enough to get one of their idiots on the line who told me exactly how I became one of their victims. Evidently I inadvertently clicked on a pop-up for “usprizedraw.com” which then solicited certain information including my phone number which happens to be my account number with Verizon. He even gave me my computer IP address which was part of their information gathering process. P.S.: ILD IS NOT POSTING HERE FOR OUR BENEFIT; THEY COULD CARE LESS AND YOU KNOW IT. THEY ARE POSTING BECAUSE THE HEAT IS BEING TURNED UP AND THEY ARE TRYING TO SHOW A SOFTER SIDE. KEEP THE PRESSURE ON UNTIL THEY ARE OUT OF BUSINESS.
virginia
May 31st, 2008 at 6:43 am
19I have just received my Verizon phone bill and found a charge f rom “ILD” a company I never heard of or spoke to . Amount $21.35. First of all what service do they give to me? I can not figure that one out; if you can please enlighten me. I called Verizon and they told me to call the company direct . By now do they not know these is a scam and will ruin Verizon’s reputation for even allowing them to bill me through them. I would like to report them to some scam resolving kind person; how do I do that? Virginia
thebullfrog
July 9th, 2008 at 6:01 am
20Here’s a twist.
AT&T tells me I have to call ILD directly about the phantom charge.
When I do and tell the rep I NEVER signed up for this service, she explains my mom-in-law (living in the same house) OK’d it via something on the web. I ask mom-in-law: no clue.
So I call ILD back the next day to remove the service. They say it’s from a company called “Personal Contact Solutions”. They can “block” this but I have to call PCS directly about a refund because ILD is “just a 3rd-party” company.
I said if I’m the 1st party and AT&T is the 2nd party and ILD is the 3rd party, that makes PCS the 4th party. She didn’t get it.
The ILD rep gives me a toll-free # for PCS. When they answer, I say I’d like a refund for the service I didn’t request. The rep says, “Oh, are you calling back to cancel?” >>> It was the woman I talked to when I called ILD THE DAY BEFORE.
So… ILD = Personal Contact Solutions ?!?
To be fair, she was very nice and helpful when I explained mom-in-law wasn’t authorized to add services. I got the same “refund in 2-3 billing cycles” story.
We’ll see.
They tell me how I must have signed u
Tessie
July 17th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
21I am the Director’s assistant at Palmetto Presbyterian Church and we have about three lines, internet service, and advertising in the yellow pages and internet through AT&T. My Director is a hispanic woman and came to me to ask me what this 80.00 dollar charge from ILD Teleservices was. She says “I pay it every month, but I dont know what it is. I immediately realized it was another one of their scams! I called and cancelled all of it.
I cant believe that companies like this exist and scam you the way they do!
Pete
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:38 am
22I found $14.95 charge from ILD on my Qwest bill for “Voicemail Service”. Qwest customer service was helpful; they advised they couldn’t remove the charges but conferenced me in with ILD customer service. I was told that someone must have mistyped the phone number when signing up for the service. Yeah right. Anyway they put a “bill block” on my account and have promised a refund within 7 days. The Qwest rep said she gets about five calls a day for this very issue; she referred me to the public utilities commission where I filed a complaint, but this doesn’t seem to be enough.
ILD Teleservices
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:07 am
23ILD appreciates the opportunity to listen to the concerns of consumers, and as such, we would like to address some of your concerns and hear more about them, directly.
It is important to understand that ILD is a third party clearinghouse. What does that mean? Well, much like a bank, ILD is an institution, that collects and distributes payments. ILD transmits billing records from its merchant-customer, collects payments from the respective Local Exchange Carriers and settles with its merchant customers.
ILD’s merchant customers are the service providers, and include Fortune 500 companies to smaller enterprises.
If for any reason you disagree with the charges or have not been able to resolve questions to your complete satisfaction, we at ILD want to know and investigate with our merchant customer. Please contact us and we will help you find resolution.
Please visit http://www.ildteleservices.com or call 1-800-637-4009.
Seema
July 30th, 2008 at 10:39 am
24I found the IDL charges on our business phone out in Arkansas on our AT&T bill. When we called AT&T, we got a very rude woman who hung up on us, telling us they were charging us on behalf of IDL. .like they were doing us some kind of favour or something.
ANyway there was laundry list of different charges, things we never heard of. Called every number and got them to cancel. They cancelled without any questions, and they names a past employee who hadn’t worked there in over 2 years. That is all bullshit, they probably got the employee’s name when they called and now are just using that name. I asked for a signed document stating that we wanted that service and they told me it was signed up on the internet. So are they saying that any Tom Dick or Sally who has my telephone number and address can sign up and put all these charges to my telephone bill. Scammers. Need to rot in hell.
PO'ed
August 1st, 2008 at 12:08 pm
25ILD is “billing” for the biggest SCAM artists in the history of the scam-state of Florida. (We all know about fraud in Florida, don’t we!)
We received a charge for $53.52 ($49.95 plus tax) on our AT&T phone bill. ILD reports it is “just billing” for something called “Advanced Business Services”. So I called Advanced Business Services and told them to issue a refund IMMEDIATELY.
Surprise. They did. Then they charged our phone account a second time. When we called the second time they said “Oh, when you requested the first refund a second charge had just gone out so we credited that one instead of the first one.”
Surprise. “You can only request one refund by phone. You’ll have to write.”
So I wrote. We’ll see. (I also wrote the FCC, the States of Florida and California Attorneys General, and the local CBS, ABC, NBC & Fox media consumer con alert staffs.)
If I don’t get my refund an associate in FL had been prepped to place some public notices there so that at least Michael F. Lewis’s five precious little snots will know what a rip-off artist dad is.
Elder
August 2nd, 2008 at 5:42 pm
26I have found 4 different customer service #s listed for this company, none of which get me anywhere. I was tempted to leave a complaint on their web page, but was concerned they would use that as an agreement to sign me up for something else!!!!!!!
You can’t convince me that our legitimate phone/Internet providers are clueless as to the fraudulent nature of these companies. We should apply the pressure in mass to our companies. Mine is Embark
chicagoburb
August 4th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
27my Dad got 2 separate charges on his AT&T bill that we never authorized, both $13.92, one from “PBA SERVICES, INC.” and the other “GOFAXER.COM (1-888-269-8079)”. A rep from the first said she would give us back the money in credit after my dad finally got pissed off and threatened to make some calls to the FCC/FTC. Supposedly, one of us signed up for a prize draw at http://www.usprizedraw.com, which is odd because I’m the only one who uses the computer and I never fall for those things. I’m still trying to contact the second company (or are they the same?) but I keep getting the run around. My advice to people dealing with these assholes is to get in their face and threaten legal action so they know your serious. I may have to convince my dad to cancel AT&T also for letting this happen.
corporatenarc.com
August 6th, 2008 at 8:26 am
28here we go again with another AT&T Scam
kray leija
August 8th, 2008 at 10:11 am
29just wanted to say I am an ex ild employee..and we would get tons of calls per day about these same situations here. i can tell you guys..always read your phone bill.. ild is a 3rd party billing co. so we billed for many many companies some of them being for pay phone owners, jails, local phone companies and many many small companies. the bad thing is and im not sure how this works , is that when our company starts handling the bills for another company we may not know what we are getting ourselves into. ild is supposed to check out these companies before getting involved with them. sometimes the only way we find out they are scams is by customers calling in and complaining on these same companies over and over. most get agitated and and hang up because the call volume is so high. some think that when they call that they are speaking to ILD. our number is on the bill 800-433-4518 with our name but we dont always get the line. sometimes you actually get connected to whatever company that we are providing the biling from. what makes it confusing is that of course you may not know that so you think it’s ILD charging you. ILD answers the line if that company that is billing you cant for whatever reason, lines down, call volume to high..OR..guess what they are out of business because customers caught on or we caught on!! ILD will help you if we can by removing the charges or getting in contact with that company for you..have your dates ready or call the phone company and ask them for all the ILD dates ..sometimes customers dont realize this may go years back. the bad part about working at ild is that by contract we really cant tell you anything without you asking..so ask the important questions…give dates amounts, etc. ILD now can provide you with the info about who signed up for what, an IP address date, etc. Most of the time when you see an ILD charge..it maybe be for a voicemail company. these companies…trick you …you see an ad on the internet, “free ipod, free phone, free whatever” you or someone fills out the info..but you dont read the fine print.. then you get signed up for all of this B.S. that you dont want and then its on your phone bill, so please if you fill out anything in a magazine, internet, over the phone..get all the small print that goes with it.. i’ve had to call my own job too for voicemail crap on my parents phone bill.well i didnt call i just erased it ..but i too thought it was just part of the phone bill..i found out through ILD what company was actually charging…my mom filled out some dumb survey..and guess what 2 yrs of voicemail charges paid ….anyhow im not defending ILD b/c i dont know how it really works in upper management i just know what we are told as customer service reps, what to say, what we read …so one other thing..no matter how mad you are about the bill..be nice to the reps at ILD b/c we will be more willing to help you..i dont work there anymore, i graduated from school this year thank god..but i do know that i hated being yelled out when i was there to help, i was the one hanging up on you for being rude and having you wait in line again. by the way if you call on a monday its super busy..i know there is a number on i believe ILD.com that will put you ahead of anyone calling the 800number on your phone bill..anyway be nice..because there were plenty of times when i would just issue a credit back even though i was supposed to give out the number to the business …or i would give you more info than i was allowed to give out….
Dee
August 10th, 2008 at 7:27 am
30My husband & I have been with Verizon since they took over Bell Atlantic.
(I miss them.) Needless to say our phone bill increases each month with some insane fee or another. Next month we both retire and I’m trying to talk my man into getting rid of all the extras on the landline and simply using the cell phones for all calls. This ILD charge caught my eye in June and I’ve been trying to resolve it through Verizon to no avail. So I’m going to buy an answering machine and pull the plug on all their other extras. My daughter did it and said it hasn’t hurt her or her family one bit and her wallet is a little fatter. lol
Ernest
August 11th, 2008 at 6:39 am
31I have the same problem but when I spoke with an agent to this ILD services,I was given a yahoo.com address as to athenac911@yahoo.com who suppostly added this account to my phone bill.Is anyone out there with this same e-mail address?
You might want to contact yahoo.com for this particular address,it might give you a good link.I reported it to the Federal Trade Commission,regards to this issue.I think that everyone of us should start a petition and mail copys to the phone companys CPO to be aware of this problem.
IT Manager
August 11th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
32Its a THEFT SCAM plain and simple. Just noticed a new charge of $49.95 on this months phone bill. Called “Advanced Business Services” and they let me know that they took my money this month and already had set in motion to take the same amount next month. Month one refunded over the phone, to get next months charge refunded I had to send a fax (727) 461-7900. They claim that our receptionist who does nothing but answer the phones ordered the service on a specific time and date. (A lie I am positive) Treat “Advanced Business Services” like a pickpocket that has admitted to stealing from you once and is coming back for another try.
Ernest
August 13th, 2008 at 2:15 am
33Yesterday,I found out that even anyone you might know can fill out forms for free trial subscriptions almost on anything.And Ive learnerd that Ild services only pursue on collecting due accounts for companys that are clients,therefore,ILD services are the ones who reports past due accounts with phone companys as you are being charge by persons you might know,even best friends.They fill out the forms using your personal information and fabricating an e-mail address to recieve such free trails.
I spoke to an agent from USCREDITFIND.Com and they blocked me from preventing this again,you need to really check your phone bill evertime you receive one inorder to spot any charges that dont belong there and call that 1800 and investigate like I did and get results.
Beware of your freinds,because I was a victum from one.All they need is your name and phone number.Call your phone company to block 3rd partys from adding billings to your account.Good Luck!
patricia
August 17th, 2008 at 11:18 am
34i also got a high bill. i’m with at&t and don’t appreciate being taken advantage of. my son didn’t know about this until yesterday. i don’t even have voice mail.
Kate C
August 18th, 2008 at 6:11 am
35My business is having problems with ILD as well. Someone unknowingly authorized long-distance through them. I had it canceled, I just got my new bill, and sure enough, a “calling services”, with no date or explanation is on the bill. The woman I spoke to at ILD claimed she “had no idea” what the charge was, and tried to hang up on me, I finally got a fax number (972) 367-0075 out her to FAX them the bill that they have no record of. We’ll see if this works. I have my doubts.
Lisa Mills
August 18th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
36My father has been a victim of this scam from ILD Teleservices and I am highly upset. While paying his bill, I unfortunately did not catch this charge that began in Feb. 08 until I paid the Aug. bill and noticed it was higher than it should be. I have a feeling that it began when a former employee of his was arrested for driving on a suspended license on his own time and called us from jail to explain that he wouldn’t be in for a while. Needless to say, that employee is no longer with us, but he never did any phone communications for us. This charge was from us accepting his call from jail. I know they charge $2.70 everytime you accept a jail call, but I heard nothing and NEVER AGREED TO PAYING A CLEARING HOUSE CO. FOR ACCEPTING A JAIL CALL. It’s one thing when you know you’re accepting a charge and choose to do so verses being charged a fee every month thereafter even though we no longer accepted any further calls from that previous employee from jail (who I believe is already out of jail yet we were still being billed the $7.61 per month from ILD Teleservices). I called the 1-800-433-4518 number and was put on hold both times for quite a while-it was a huge inconvience since I was working. The second rep ask me to hold while he took a personal phone call- I heard his entire personal conversation which infuriated me that he did this on my and his work time! He was short with me and cut me off when I asked questions as to why I was being billed and for what services did they provide. He said it was billed in error and they would credit my father’s account and cancel the service, but he never really answered what service they provided-except to say it was for a 1-800 service. What a scam!!!!!!!! How can this be legal??? If the charges do not subside and a credit issued, we will be persuing this legally! I am thankful for the previous comments with links and tips to handle these fraudulent charges. I will be filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission! It’s a shame that it’s so easy to steal from people through using At&T-I hope AT&T does something about this or we’ll change phone carriers!
Roni Sly
August 21st, 2008 at 12:37 am
37FOR ANY OF YOU THAT HAS SPOKE WITH AT&T’s FRAUD DEPT. THIS IS A MUST READ!!!! AT&T DOESN’T CARE!!!, (READ ON) Why should they.. they are getting their cut. Or are they the ones cutting the pie????
I have just spent the whole afternoon getting educated from AT&T . I WILL be cancelling all my AT &T services ASAP. LONG STORY SHORT, I spoke with AT&T’s Fraud dept. (a feat in itself ) AT&T telephone agents won’t provide the Fraud Depts. direct number to their customers, only TRANSFER your call. So after several disconnects (at least 10) on AT&Ts part I finally got a Fraud Dept. representative. FYI: AT&T’s Fraud Dept. Direct Number is 1-800-438-5678 (Thank you to the AT&T rep who slipped the number to me, & find another job, you’re too good for them!!) ).This is how irresponsible AT&T is ( a little back ground first!). My Current AT&T phone number was issued to me in Sept. 2007 (almost a year ago). I started incurring “Enhanced Billing charges” this July 2008. I called the number provided by the Enhanced Billing service (1-888-298-3724) explained that these were not my charges. They were very accomodating and I will be recieving a credit for July as well as Aug. billing thats been issued. (or so they say) They were also very INFORMATIVE AS WELL….. They said the charges applied to my phone bill were for a “FAX SERVICE NETWORK” which was accessed through “U.S. PRIZE DRAW.COM” website. The charges were authorized by a Mr. Charles Jones. GET THIS: Mr. Charles Jones, was the last person (ironically) that had the phone number that AT&T issued to me as a new customer a year ago. (not common knowledge, I only picked up on the name “Charles”, because from time to time I get a call for a “Charles” (2+2=4)) I find it interesting that after a year Charles has opted to use his OLD phone number for billing purposes. It could “APPEAR” as just a mistake, right???
IT GETS BETTER….when I finally spoke with AT&T Fraud Dept. to report the unauthorized billing of my AT&T Phone #, I told them the “enhanced Billing Service Company provided me with the persons name who signed up for the “Fax Service”. being the same name as the person who was previously issued my phone #. The AT&T Fraud Rep. questioned my having this AT&T record knowledge , and asked what name I was given, I told him Charles Jones and the Rep confirmed that WAS indeed the name of AT&T’s previous customer with my Ph.# (hmmmm?) So I suggested that we might find Charles and his “real” new phone # in AT&T’s data base, I was surprised that the Rep. pursued that idea, and yes, he found Charles Jones. Altho he could not provide me with Charles information, he did tell me the town and street he lives on. HERE’S THE CLINCHER: The street name was the SAME street I live on. I at first assumed the Rep was looking at “MY” service address & phone number information in error, and questioned this information. Not the case! Although AT&T shows he lives on my same street the Fraud Rep confirmed the Service address is not the same as mine. The Fraud representative couldn’t legally give me detailed information, BUT he did tell me that it was just a few doors down from me. (NOTE – THIS IS ERRIE;) I live in a touristy area, with different towns/zip codes dotting the circumference of 100 miles of lake shore. although separated in miles , some towns share the same “prefix”) I have recently moved to this street location ONLY 3 MONTHS AGO! I live in the same county/area, but lived in a different town, & different zip code when my AT&T phone # was orginally issued to me A YEAR AGO. I told the Fraud Rep. it was too much of a coincidence that the previous phone number holder was authorizing fax services charges billed to his old number of a year ago, and lives only doors down from where I just recently moved (???) Nawwww!
HERE’S THE MOST BAZAAR: AT&T’s Fraud Representative told me I should call the police. (“ROFL”!!!!) Can you imagine me taking my AT&T bill to our “Dukes of Hazzard” police dept, and asking them to resolve my AT&T billing issues. Maybe I should just go knocking on the doors of my new neighbors, in search of Charles???
SO I ASK of those who read this to ponder some questions.
1) What is AT&T’s charges/cut in providing a billing service to these “Enhanced Billing Services” ? How does that work?
2) How does AT&T issue the funds they collect in behalf of 3rd Billing Services.?
3) Why won’t AT&T provide their Fraud Service line number to their customers, Are we just “tranferred” to a certain Fraud Rep. according to the fraud issue??? Or what they consider a Non-issue…
In the course of 3 1/2 hours of attempting to notify and speak with the Fraud Dept. I did manage to pay my bill, & CANCEL my internet service (my phone will be next!)
I do not think all the shuffling and disconnects on AT&T’s part were accidental, I even asked to speak with a supervisor and was told there would be a very long wait as they were all very busy at the moment and would a long time before a supervisor could speak with me.
Now that AT&T is a billing service provider, with an endless data base , imagine all the room for error! Old accounts mixed with new accounts. OPPS! Is there really a “Charles Jones??” (hmmmm? Alias: AT&T ?)
Any of this sound familiar???
CALL THE POLICE??? W-T-F !!!!!!
Oscar Garza
September 19th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
38Well I opened my phone bill from Embarq today and found a $14.95 charge from ILD Teleservices Inc. Charge is on behalf of FoneRight, Inc. for voicemail service. This is going to be a chore based on what I have read. Wish me luck.
Agnes Blades
September 20th, 2008 at 8:20 am
39I just had a charge of $12.95 added to my Verizon account by ILD Teleservices.
All I did was call Verizon and they took the charge off my phone bill
and also blocked it so no new charges of that kind could be added again.
They told me to call the 800 number of ILD, but I was put on hold for an
unreasonable amount of time so I hung up. I don’t plan to call them back. How do companies get away with doing things like this? Such a rip off!!!
kray c.
September 22nd, 2008 at 2:51 pm
40just wanted to say I am an ex ild employee..and we would get tons of calls per day about these same situations here. i can tell you guys..always read your phone bill.. ild is a 3rd party billing co. so we billed for many many companies some of them being for pay phone owners, jails, local phone companies and many many small companies. the bad thing is and im not sure how this works , is that when our company starts handling the bills for another company we may not know what we are getting ourselves into. ild is supposed to check out these companies before getting involved with them. sometimes the only way we find out they are scams is by customers calling in and complaining on these same companies over and over. most get agitated and and hang up because the call volume is so high. some think that when they call that they are speaking to ILD. our number is on the bill 800-433-4518 with our name but we dont always get the line. sometimes you actually get connected to whatever company that we are providing the biling from. what makes it confusing is that of course you may not know that so you think it’s ILD charging you. ILD answers the line if that company that is billing you cant for whatever reason, lines down, call volume to high..OR..guess what they are out of business because customers caught on or we caught on!! ILD will help you if we can by removing the charges or getting in contact with that company for you..have your dates ready or call the phone company and ask them for all the ILD dates ..sometimes customers dont realize this may go years back. the bad part about working at ild is that by contract we really cant tell you anything without you asking..so ask the important questions…give dates amounts, etc. ILD now can provide you with the info about who signed up for what, an IP address date, etc. Most of the time when you see an ILD charge..it maybe be for a voicemail company. these companies…trick you …you see an ad on the internet, “free ipod, free phone, free whatever” you or someone fills out the info..but you dont read the fine print.. then you get signed up for all of this B.S. that you dont want and then its on your phone bill, so please if you fill out anything in a magazine, internet, over the phone..get all the small print that goes with it.. i’ve had to call my own job too for voicemail crap on my parents phone bill.well i didnt call i just erased it ..but i too thought it was just part of the phone bill..i found out through ILD what company was actually charging…my mom filled out some dumb survey..and guess what 2 yrs of voicemail charges paid ….anyhow im not defending ILD b/c i dont know how it really works in upper management i just know what we are told as customer service reps, what to say, what we read …so one other thing..no matter how mad you are about the bill..be nice to the reps at ILD b/c we will be more willing to help you..i dont work there anymore, i graduated from school this year thank god..but i do know that i hated being yelled out when i was there to help, i was the one hanging up on you for being rude and having you wait in line again. by the way if you call on a monday its super busy..i know there is a number on i believe ILD.com that will put you ahead of anyone calling the 800number on your phone bill..anyway be nice..because there were plenty of times when i would just issue a credit back even though i was supposed to give out the number to the business …or i would give you more info than i was allowed to give out….i posted this a couple of months ago..but just in case you didnt check it out then here you have it…but good luck
KK
October 20th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
41oh mi god!!! i m so freaking crazy about this freakin company
they charged mah fone bill three times already
mah dad and i got in a fightt with just because of the bill keep comin in my fone bills!!
TELL ME WOOT I DO TO GET THE ILD TELESERVICES SHUT DOWN!
Andrea
October 22nd, 2008 at 6:16 am
42I work in an accounts payable office where we deal with ILD all of the time. Most of the customer service reps are really nice and really helpful. I’ve never had an issue of not getting my money back from them – if they can. Sometimes they have to refer you to the company that is actually doing the charging. That is when it can get tricky. ILD is just the billing wherehouse meaning they are not the company who is actually providing the fradulant service.
Jean
October 27th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
43ILD tried to rip us off but didn’t get very far.
FairPoint showed a charge for $34.95 + $2.45 from ILD Teleservices on behalf of “COMTEL WEB HOST MTH” which was obviously bogus. No we did not accidentally say yes or sign up for anything. We are not morons.
1) I called FairPoint and told them it was unauthorized and fraudulent so they removed it. They pointed out that “ILD” might try to submit a bill to us separately and suggested I call the toll-free number on the bill.
2) I called the toll-free number for ILD to dispute the charge. The rep said they are only a third party billing service and they are not authorized to remove charges. She also said that somebody must have agreed to internet service for $34.95 /month. I don’t think so! She refused to investigate and said I needed to contact Comtel.
3) FairPoint had given me the number for the FCC to file a complaint so I called them. They said #1 I should call the FTC not the FCC and #2 I had to make an effort to get in touch with Comtel. I said I had no way to get in touch with Comtel since they did not put their number on our bill and the CSR from ILD had washed her hands of it. Comtel is acommon business name and there was no way for me to figure out who this was. FCC said call ILD back and get the Comtel phone number, if they won’t give it to you we can nail them.
4) I called ILD again and this time they coughed up the number. I tried calling Comtel three times and either got disconnected after being on hold or got an answering machine.
5) FairPoint had also given me the phone number for the Consumer Affairs division for my state. I called them and they replied that ILD was lying – they are required to remove the charges if they are disputed and what they were trying to do was ILLEGAL. At her request I faxed the bill with the unauthorized charges to her and she said she would deal with it.
ILD and COMTEL are liars and scam artists and there is no need to think you have to pay them one cent. If they so much as send me a letter after this I am going to file a complaint with the FTC, the BBB, and the Attorney General in Florida where this crooked ILD is located. I’d file a complaint with the Attorney General against comtelusa.net but they are so scummy you canot even find out what state they are registered to do business in and their website hides behind a proxy registrant.
Denyse
October 28th, 2008 at 10:06 am
44My company also fell victim to ILD… they called in posing as someone from the Yellow Pages just updating our listing. I firmly told them NO we were not interested in any additional advertising for our business, but I must have said “yes” at some point which is what they are using against us to justify the $35/month charge.
Someone needs to kick these guys in the butt!!
Darlene
October 28th, 2008 at 11:20 am
45I have now discovered, the scam. A telemarketing agency called our office and spoke to someone, gave a ficticous name of who authorized service of IT or Tech support of Computer, fax or printing. Our company spend lots of money monthly to use an IT service. I asked what is the function of their service provided to our company and they couldn’t give me a straight answer or the true name of the company. So they gave me another 866 number to call. I had to call another company who said they service many companies. They couldn’t give me the name of their company.
A-1 CHECK CASHING
November 10th, 2008 at 9:48 am
46My business was billed 59.65 by ILD. My employee called AT&T and they said the billing was started the prior month but would give us credit. The employee also stated she did not order this and hangs up on all telemarketers. I will be curious to see if this is a call we will have to make on a monthly basis.
Rita
Bob
November 13th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
47who owns ILD ? Anyone knows?
Dave in Kansas
November 13th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
48I received my AT&T bill in the mail today with a charge on it for $8.43 for ILD Teleservices. This is obviously a scam from all the responses I have read here.
The funny thing is that my line doesn’t even have a phone hooked to it. It’s plugged into the back of my DirecTV receiver because a land line is required to have DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket subscription. I have never ever spoken to anyone using that line.
Scam scam scam. ILD needs to be put down from the sound of it.
Ilona
November 14th, 2008 at 10:55 am
49Dear Dave,
I am the Director of Marketing for ILD Telecommunications, and I would very much like to investigate this charge to track its source and determine the appropriate course of action to ensure that you are not being inappropriately charged. I will be happy to begin this process right away so that we can solve your problem immediately. In order to do so, I will need the phone number of the line that is used in your DirecTV system as well as the best way to reach you. Please send this information to my attention at askild@ildmail.com.
Others who would like me to conduct a similar investigation of the charges on their bills can send me the same information requested above. Please also include your contact information, and I will get back to you as soon as possible.
Thank you,
Ilona Olayan
Kate
November 14th, 2008 at 11:27 am
50Dave, I would be careful sending any information to that email address.
i.nconspicuo.us
November 14th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
51Why do you say that Kate? Have you dealt with them before? Via email?
Kate
November 14th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
52I have yes, over the phone and via email. I never got a reply to my email, but I initiated it. I posted in August here, about my experience. I just think it is bad idea to send any information to a person(s) that claims to work for a company that contacts you on a message board.
In any case, I did have luck with ILD removing charges, but it took more than one phone call to both them and Verizon, and some faxing. At out business, we get multiple calls per week trying to get us to change our plan, and ILD bills for these companies such as One Communications. I had similar experiences to other posters, such long hold times and general confusion.
Kate
November 14th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
53Oh, and i had the Yellow Pages thing that happened to Denyse (above) happen twice this week. “they” call to update your listing, which means they send you a bill. we got a bill for over $400, which we are not paying, since no one ever updated the listing and we already pay for advertising through Verizon.
Candice Kenton
November 14th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
54dear Kate. i used to work for ILD ..trust me sending them your info will not hurt you.. yes it taks a long time for anything to get done via emai, theres about 5 people in the building that handle that and they get tons of email..u can call 1-866-433-4518 to get a rep. . just dont call on a monday because the call volume is super high…saturday’s are best… or i believe u can go to the ild website and get the number from the web. your call will come in as urgent and will place 1st inline above the callers that call into the number i listed…ILD is only a 3rd party billing provider…they dont provide any of the services you are getting charged for…they just sent the charg for whoever it is..and normally it will say ILD billing on behalf of “company name” ILD provides billing for some major companies and many many small companies who may show up on your bill due to somone filling out information over the internet and not reading the small print…u know the small disclaimer at the end of a lease or contract. or survey…anyway…If u call ILD should be able to remove the charge for you and if not they will give you the number to the company that is sendting the bill which sometimes is on your phonebill ..but just mixed in somewhere with all the other numbers. .well good luck Kate and to all..I wish I could help you guys. just dont be to angry with the ILD reps when you call…trust me they get yelled at all day….thank god i finally graduated from school
Andrea
November 15th, 2008 at 9:26 am
55I’ve been keeping up with this subject because I truly deal with ILD all day, every day.
I’ve never ever had an issue getting a credit back from ILD. As they are a billing company, they don’t always do the customer service for whatever company they are billing for. Comtel, Advanced Business Solutions, Business Direct Online, YP.com, Local Yellow Pages, Business Tech Solutions, 3 Point Marketing, etc etc etc. There are so many! The best thing to say when you call is: “There are charges on my (whatever month) invoice from blah blah blah. These charges are unauthorized and I need to cancel the service and have the charges credited back to my account.” This is our standard line. Our argument is that they have to speak with corporate headquarters to get authorization and NO ONE at the site is authorized to make those decisions.
As for residential services, demand to listen to the recording – if you are getting no where. They must have one – or they can’t “prove” that it was you who signed up for the service. If the rep you are talking to still won’t help – go higher or ask who can make those decisions. They are just people and fighting, yelling and cussing at them will get you no where.
I think the best thing anyone can do is keep up with their phone bill. Open it and take a look EVERY SINGLE MONTH!
Kate
November 16th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
56Candace,
Thank you for your hints, but I still think sending information to an email address from a message board that you do not initiate is not a good idea. I realize what type of company ILD is, and I’m sure the reps get yelled at all day, but ILD is still part of the “slamming” machine, so I doubt people are going to feel sorry for the employees.
Jason
November 19th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
57Like Denyse and Kate, I, too, fell prey to the “yellopages” scam. They hectored my business with calls (sometimes 2 to 3 times a day despite telling them to stop calling) and were unrelenting in the way they pitched their service, sometimes saying it was free or just asking to update our information. We logged a formal complaint with Verizon and ILD, who’s stated they’d be getting back to us with the recording of our so-called approval. Just for information, the state of Wisconsin sued ILD and (I think) won a judgment against them. Here’s a link: http://www.doj.state.wi.us/news/2007/nr120507_CP.asp
gail mcnerney
November 22nd, 2008 at 3:23 pm
58I started getting charged $9.99 a month on my Fairpoint phone bill. I did not sign up for any such service. I asked Fairpoint to remove this amount from my bill as I never signed up for whatever service this may be. Therefore I dont know a lot about this company so this is about all I can post. I can tell you though that GEC Solutions a company that claims they sell computers for Dell is a total scam just like the Blue Hippo computer company. People dont waste your money. I learned from my bank that all they can do when they help us dispute is give us back up to two months of our money so if you paid for more than two months dont pay anymore because you wont get it back. This company asks for $99 down and 29.99 a week. It is a layaway plan then they will send you papers to finance the computer package deal. I learn that you never give any company you are buying something from your voided check to take money from because you end up having to shut the whole account down and open anohter one. Use you Visa or Master Debit Check card. You can cancel that any time.
Doug
November 23rd, 2008 at 3:28 am
59I opened my AT&T phone bill a few hours ago and found an ILD voicemail setup charge of $8.43 (bill date 10-6-08) and a monthly service fee of $8.23 (bill date 11-6-08) for a total of $16.66. None of these services were requested. If you contact them through their website you have to agree to their privacy policy. I read part of their privacy policy and it looks like you don’t have any privacy.
dp
December 1st, 2008 at 6:00 am
60Well, they are still scamming. I found ILD charges on my bill that I did not request. The verizon rep was very helpful in removing these charges.
BECKY
December 2nd, 2008 at 12:12 pm
61Here’s a question, If this company is legitemet why don’t they bill people directly instead of adding charges to my verizon phone bill?
Ilona
December 2nd, 2008 at 3:00 pm
62Dear Doug,
I am the Director of Marketing for ILD Telecommunications, and I’d like to follow-up on your experience. ILD does not provide voicemail services, however we do process payments for some voicemail service providers.
I would like to investigate your situation right away and track the charge back to its original source and determine an appropriate course of action to ensure you are not inappropriately charged. I will be happy to begin this process right away so that we can solve this problem immediately. Rather than submitting the form through our site, you can send me an email. I will need the phone number of the line that was billed as well as the best way to reach you. Please send this information to my attention at askild@ildmail.com. We can also block your telephone number in our system to ensure you no longer are billed by any service provider using ILD for billing services.
As mentioned above, anyone else who would like me to conduct a similar investigation of the charges on their bills can send me the same information to askild@ildmail.com. Please also include your contact information and the billed phone number, and I will get back to you as soon as possible. I appreciate the several folks who have reached out to me since my last post here, and have gotten their issue resolved and credited.
Thank you,
Ilona Olayan
Ilona
December 2nd, 2008 at 3:49 pm
63Hi Becky:
Similar to MasterCard, Visa or PayPal, ILD processes payments for businesses through the telephone bill. We don’t actually provide the service.
So, as an example, when a person buys something like dial up internet service from EarthLink, they can choose to pay by credit card for the service, check by phone, or they also have the opportunity to charge EarthLink’s service to their home phone bill. That payment happens through ILD, and that’s only one example. Many businesses accept multiple forms of payment like Visa, MasterCard, Discover, bank check, debit card, electronic funds transfer, and the phone bill, which is another form of payment.
In addition to EarthLink, ILD is a trusted payment provider for many recognized businesses nationwide. If you feel like you have been inappropriately billed for services provided by one of these businesses, we need to know and we will take corrective action.
I hope this answers your question. If not, feel free to contact me directly at askild@ildmail.com.
Thank you,
Ilona Olayan
Rob
December 5th, 2008 at 1:19 am
64I have ha dthese charges for the last few months, at first i called ild and told them i never signed up for anything with them and to stop billing me, they told me this wasnt possible, as i replied how is it not, i didnt sign my soul over to you guys, an dthe lady put me on hold and i sat there looking like a idiot for 30 minutes, still no answer. i then called my phone company and let them know about it and they credited my account back no problems and told me that if i see more charges that i can simpley call and they will push the charges back to them and they have for the last 5 months no questions asked, they even gave me 50% off my internet services for 6 months wich is AWESEOME (i use att) then i started getting charges for voicemail proffesionals, same company i found out, when i called back the lady said i couldnt cancel with out access to my old email account they sai di signed up with back in march. Too wich i replied by saying If i signmed up in march why am i being charged in september, and how can i sign up for something with an email account that was cancled back in 07 when I cancled my internet companys services?
et
December 12th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
65MAN FUCK THIS BULLSHIT! MY PHONE COMPANY TOLD ME THEY CAN’T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT, BECAUSE THEY ARE BEING BILLED AND THEY ARE ONLY COLLECTING FOR OTHER COMPANIES. I’M GOING TO CALL AGAIN AND IF THEY CANT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT BILLING US, THEN I’M JUST GOING TO START WRITING CHECKS FOR MY PLANS/SERVICES SO EVEN IF THEY CONTINUE TO BILL ME FOR 80 DOLLARS I’M JUST GOING TO WRITE A CHECK FOR 17 BUCKS!
J London
December 16th, 2008 at 7:54 am
66These scum bags easily bill customers thru THIRD PARTY BILLERS, who do little to inquire whether the charge is legit or not. Embarq is glad to collect money for them, and they are glad to collect money for someone else! It’s a great deal for all BUT the consumer.
When you call Embarq to complain, though, Embarq often says: we’ll take care of two months, the rest you can straighten with them. Then, when you call ILD, they say the same: we are a 3rd party biller, for further action call so and so directly. And the names range from Axess Internet Solutions, to Everclear, to Flashweb, to Ambonet.
As far as authorizations from your business, they use the name of anyone in your company who answers the phone (in our case, our secretary).
LOW LIVES!!!!!
We have 3 different phone numbers and in the three we had charges from ILD or ESBI.
What’s also sneakier, is that every so often the services change from “web hosting” to Misc. charges.
When you set up your phone ASK FOR A BLOCK ON EVERYTHING.
No third party billers period!
pissed off
December 16th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
67Two months ago I was charged from ILD through At&t. I canceled it the first month I found out when ILD was billing me. The next month they billed me again and I called a complaint. They told me they will canceled and promised me they with not show me another bill from ILD. Then they said they will send me a check for refund but I never got the check. Like et, I’ll ignore their charges and pay only for the service/ plan that I have been using.
Mark Bernadiner
December 26th, 2008 at 11:51 am
68How to protect yourself from Teleservices fraud:
THIRD-PARTY BILLING and CUSTOMER-INITIATED BILL BLOCK
http://www.thefocus.org/interest_groups/Bill_Block_FOCUS_Comm_FINALREV_12.04.07.doc
AT&T provides billing and collection service to third-party telecommunication providers and other entities, such as billing aggregators and other types of service providers. The service allows these third-party providers to place charges on end users’ telephone bills when properly authorized by the end users. AT&T believes this service provides a convenient and efficient payment option, both for its third-party billing and collection customers and for its end users. In some cases, regulations may require AT&T to provide third-party billing.
Recent regulatory changes may reduce AT&T’s regulatory obligation to provide third party billing. AT&T will continue to review its third-party billing service in response to regulatory changes, customer feedback and the needs of the market.
Examples of charges typically included in third-party billing:
• Directory Assistance
• Voice Mail
• Yellow Pages
• Calling Cards
• Internet Services
• Other enhanced or telecommunications-related services
Customer-Initiated Bill Block
End users who do not wish to allow third-party charges on their telephone bills are advised to notify their AT&T Account Manager or contact our service centers to request bill block.
Bill Block information needed from end user customers includes:
• End User Company Name
• Main Telephone Billing Number
• Contact Name and Phone Number
• Third Party Service Provider Name
Bill block capabilities vary by region, as follows:
• AT&T Midwest Region (IL, IN, MI, OH, WI)
o Mechanized process, based on service representative’s issuance of a no charge service order at the request of our end user customer.
o Customer can specify bill block for up to five (5) different third-party providers. Requests to block more than five third-party providers’ bills will result in total block of all third-party charges, including the following AT&T Affiliates: AT&T Messaging Voicemail and Unified Messaging services, AT&T Internet Services DSL/Dial and WEB Hosting, AT&T Advanced Solutions ATM/Frame Relay, AT&T Video Services DISH and AT&T YellowPages.com.
o Bill Block does not include intraLATA or interLATA toll.
• AT&T Southeast Region (AL, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN)
o Mechanized process, based on service representative’s issuance of a no charge service order at the request of our end user customer.
o Bill block prevents all third party charges, excluding AT&T Affiliates.
o Bill block does not include intraLATA or interLATA toll.
• AT&T East Region (CT)
AT&T West Region (CA, NV)
AT&T Southwest Region (AR, KS, MO, OK, TX)
o Manual process invoked based on customer request.
o AT&T notifies third-party billing customer (aggregator or service provider) to cease
submission of charges for the requesting end user’s account.
o AT&T monitors and imposes fines if third-party billing customer continues to submit
charges for the requesting end user’s account after bill block request was issued.
Your Service Can?t Be Terminated
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/cramming.html
Consumers writing to ConsumerAffairs.com have expressed the concern that their local telephone service would be cut off if they refused to pay an unauthorized third-party charge. It can?t be.
“The Federal Communications Commissions, through the Truth-In-Billing Act, requires telephone companies to clearly show on their bills which charges are ‘miscellaneous,’ and to cooperate with consumers who dispute them,” said Kurt DeSoto, a communications attorney with Wiley, Rein & Fielding, a powerhouse Washington, D.C., firm that includes at least one former FCC commissioner among its partners.
Failure to pay a disputed “miscellaneous” change on a phone bill cannot, under the Truth In Billing Act, be grounds for termination of service, as long as all other legitimate charges are paid. The first step a consumer should take is to call the local telephone business office and speak to a customer service representative.
Anthony
January 22nd, 2009 at 7:17 pm
69I have been allowing my father to pay my phone bills with AT&T. Tonight, I audited the phone bills. I was surprised to find out that a charge made by ILD Teleservices for around $9 per month has been added to my phone bills for the last 12 months. I never signed up for this service. I tried calling the 800 number listed on the bill, but unfortunately I keep getting an auto message that says “the mail box is full”. I am very furious right now. I can’t even reach out their customer service team to complain and dispute the charges.
Walter
January 23rd, 2009 at 6:10 pm
70Had a rip-off by ILD Services too. Called Qwest and got ILD,s number. Said they will send a check for the amount they charged. I am on auto-pay for my phone account ( which I do not have long distance service) and in order to protect my credit–have to pay the bill!!! 3 calls to Qwest finally got someone to issue me a credit ( maybe). I know it is only $ 7.64 that I do not owe!!!! Attorney is looking for someone in Washington State who has the same problem to file a class-action law suit!! If anyone is interested – E-mail me bawebfoot@aol.com
Andrea
January 24th, 2009 at 9:22 am
71“When you set up your phone ASK FOR A BLOCK ON EVERYTHING.
No third party billers period!”
Yes! And a lot of the blocks are free. Make sure you ask for bill blocker (especially with Verizon) or for the 3rd party VENDOR block. 3rd party billing will only block if you are trying to bill a phone call to a 3rd number.
AND READ YOUR BILL – EVERY SINGLE MONTH!! It takes a minute to look at it.
ILD can be reached at 800-433-4518. I deal with them every single day and have never not been able to get a refund, although sometimes they don’t do the customer service for the company they are billing on behalf of. Especially if you catch the charge right away.
Andrea
January 24th, 2009 at 9:24 am
72Also – getting your charges credited through your phone company will get your money back but it won’t stop the charges. You HAVE to call the vendor who is actually charging the service.
Walter
January 24th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
73Got a charge on my home phone through ILD Teleservices , INC. Supposedly for some long distance call ( I do not even have long distance service on my home phone). Called ILD and complained–told me they would refund the charge through a credit in maybe 2 or 3 billings. Told them I was on auto-pay for my phone! Finally after 3 calls to Qwest they agreed to credit my account the $ 7.64 charge and send it back to ILD! An attorney called me and wants someone in Washington State to be the complaintent in a class-action suit as ILD has done this for years!!Any takers? Help stop these fraudulent charges!!
Greg
February 3rd, 2009 at 7:58 am
74Just got nailed… my first billing cycle in my new home and apparently I made a collect call to someone in Colorado Springs… I don’t even know anyone there. The ILD rep reversed the charges, but same as the guy above, it’s not good for 2/3 billing cycles. So now I have to call ATT and make sure they know I’m not paying it.
Who the F are these guys? Why are they still around?
LuLu
February 5th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
75I just saw this neme of ILD Teleservices on my At&T bill. So I searched little to find out who they are. Thanks to all of your comments!
I was charged from this company for a collect call which I never recieved! I called the company 1 800-433-4518 to claim. I had to wait for a while. But it took one minutes or less to take care my problem. They sounded very familier. I’m going to check all my past bills when I get home. I hope somebody will take action for this fraud!
Neil Ambrose
February 5th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
76I got billed by $14.95/month for ISP-Secure, a dial-up Internet service. This service was started on Christmas eve, yep I have nothing better to do on the day before Christmas than to sign up for a service which I don’t need (I have high-speed Internet). I got billed after my 30 days of free service ran out. Fortunately I rarely use my land-line so my bill is very consistent – in my case an extra $15 does not go unnoticed. I called ILD’s billing department and didn’t have trouble getting the service blocked from my bill and the charges (two months worth) reversed in “two to three billing cycles.” I hope for the best.
ILD NEEDS TO BURN
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:36 pm
77People, why doesn’t this issue with ILD Teleservices, Inc. get some national attention with all of the cramming going on?
We need to push this in front of national Newspapers and national Broadcast news to explain the rampant fraud that ILD Teleservices, Inc. is prompting!
Wakter
February 24th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
78Finally got Qwest ti issue me a credit of $ 7.64 that ILD Teleservices had put on my auto-pay phone bill ( which I did not authorize!)> It did take 3 calls to Qwest and in the mean time ( as I had gottten ILD,s phone number from Discover Card ), interesting that ILD had sent me a check for $ 7.14 almost immediately when I complained to them ( forgot there were $.50 added for tax for a total of $ 7.64 ). I did not try to cash ILD,s check as Qwest finally agreed to credit my phone bill ( after I said I would just cancel my phone acount!!
Big D
March 16th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
79Call Verizon and tell them that you want a “Third Party Billing Block” put on your account. They will then also remove the charge on the spot. At least they did for me.
k8wma
March 17th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
80I just had Verizon put a 3rd party block for services, and they also removed the charge, as well. It was for OAN services (which is just like ILD): total scammers and unprofessional. If you call them, you get passed around and NO ONE knows a thing.
Dr. Francis. Cheslik
March 23rd, 2009 at 10:17 am
81The companies of ESBI and IDL fraudulent billing for non authorized web hosting. Don’t bother to contact them they just switch you from one phone number to another. According to the last person I was to be credited for 2 month service not the three billed . They retained the first billing fees for setting up the web hosting service. I was told that I had authorized the service and they had all the necessary data. All of which could have been gotten over the web. I am not going to hold my breath untiol I see the refund.
I however thing the major phone companies should be required to check with the owner of the phone service before adding the charges to the bill, which for one bill you pay for as well. I filed a complaint with the FTC, which I believe is also a dead end.
rosario
April 16th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
82ITD in one month it was charging me nighty bucks a month without me even authorizing this service, hey ITD reply or i’m gonna file a lawsuit against this useless company and get end this already you old people jacking ,fraudful, taking advantage of people. Tell me how to end this service and get my money back. I could’nt pay my bills and now my bills at 400 + dollars a month what the ??!!!??
Deep
April 25th, 2009 at 11:26 am
83ILD Teleservices, for the second time, added charges to my bill on behalf of something called FAMILYCONTACT911.COM. I have never heard about those familycontact and I am sure I have never requested anything from them.
Last year they did the same thing, that time for something called RSN Enterprises, in addition to two other similar services called ‘Enhanced Services Billing’ and ‘The Billing Resource’ that added additional charges to my bill. That wasted several hours of my time calling AT&T and these companies to remove these charges, and finally I still ended up paying some money (as one of them didn’t return the whole credit, can’t remember exactly which one) to get rid of this headache and save my time.
This time when I called AT&T and asked them to stop these companies from adding charges to my bill, they again claimed that they have no control over that and that I need to call ILD wasting again more of my time.
When I called ILD they said they are going to credit these charges in a few billing cycles, but I wonder why are they so slow in removing the charges and so fast in adding it? What was also really creepy is that they asked for my name and address to return these charges and I regret giving them this information, as it can enhance their scam abilities in the future. I believe they should only use the phone number to return the credit, so I wonder why they asked for the address?
sonjaelaine
April 28th, 2009 at 2:45 am
84ILD teleservices is still at it!! Two charges in the amount of $19.95 each were charged to my last months bill. I called Verizon, they said that I would have to contact ILD. After calling about four numbers and waiting on the line about 30 minutes each time I finally reached the correct number. I never ordered voicemail from them or anyone and requested that the charges be removed. They promised a credit on my Verizon bill, which I have yet to see. I will resume the calls today to determine the status. This is awful!! Always check your bills carefully, they are taking advantage of people – many of whom can not afford these non approved charges.
Ilona from ILD
April 28th, 2009 at 6:57 am
85Dear Deep,
ILD is a leading payment processor of online transactions between merchants and consumers. Using ILD’s Bill to Phone service, merchants can offer customers the option of billing products and services directly to their home phone bill, allowing them to make purchases without having to disclose credit card information or open an account with that merchant.
When a charge from ILD Teleservices appears on your phone bill, it means that either you or someone in your household may have signed up for services through one of our merchant-customers, which then authorized ILD to place the charge on your phone bill. If for any reason you disagree with the charges or have not been able to resolve questions to your complete satisfaction, we want to know. Please send an email to askild@ildmail.com or call ILD directly at (800) 953-7765 and we will help you find resolution.
Additionally, we can block your phone number in ILD’s system. By placing a block on a phone number, it will prevent anyone at your residence from accepting a collect call or paying for third party services by using the phone number. This includes blocking merchants that provide collect call services, digital content, long distance, internet access, and certain other communications related services from processing charges to a given telephone number. Should you wish to remove a block at any point, we can easily do that, too. Furthermore, if you would like to block all third party billing (which includes billing from other billing clearinghouses), your local phone company can help. The phone company can place or remove a “collect call block” or “third party bill block” or both. In the meantime, please contact us and we will research any problems you are having.
Email askild@ildmail.com or call (800) 953-7765.
Thanks,
Ilona
michael maclean
April 29th, 2009 at 5:18 am
86I received a 9.99 premium text messaging fee on my verizon phone bill for april/09 which was unauthorized.How this charge was created was through an IQ test on facebookbut one i have since seen on yahoo,s home page. Once you have finished the IQ test you are asked to provide a cell phone# so they can give you your score by phone . By giving your phone # they bill verizon , who bills you for this text message.We called verizon customer service twice and were told they had nothing to do with it and however they gave us they gave us phone # for mobileinteractive to resolve the charge which we never agreed to.Tried unsucesfully to reach somebody at phone# given to us also checked to see if a website was available which was a dead end.I finally went to my local verizon store to resolve issue which after talking to a supervisor she agreed to give us a credit for the charge and block any further charges.I.m apalled that a company like Verizon who must be making money on this third party scamming , would even get involved in shady scam artists like the aforementioned.I wonder how many people get ripped off by not noticing or understanding what they are being charged for on there phone bills. This practice as for as i,m concerned is unethical,illegal , and immoral and laws need to be put in place to eliminate this .
Adolfo
May 5th, 2009 at 6:15 am
87I am offering a different perspective here. When you have a suspicious charge on your credit card, who do you call? Exactly, you call your credit card company, which credits back the charges and pursues the issue with the fraudulent merchant.
What you all need to do is call the company that is billing you, Verizon, AT&T, Quest, or whoever. They are supposed to take care of the issue. They are the ones allowing ILD to put those fraudulent charges in your bill and getting a cut on them. They are the ones that must be shutdown from allowing this cramming practices. Sue them – they are the ones getting your money. They will tell you to contact ILD TeleServices directly to difuse the issue. They know you will get nowhere with them.
Stick with whom you are giving your money to. They are the ones responsible.
ILD Customer Service
May 5th, 2009 at 10:14 am
88If you have a charge you believe is incorrect, or if you have any other questions or concerns with ILD, please let us know. We want to address any and all issues you may have. To contact us, please email us at askild@ildmail.com. If you would prefer to call us, please call our hotline at 800-953-7765.
ILD Teleservices is a leading payment processor for transactions between merchants and consumers. Through contractual relationships with telephone companies like AT&T and Verizon, we give merchants the opportunity to let consumers charge products and services such as long distance, internet access, and collect calling directly to your phone bill.
We’ve also recently updated our site, where you can find more information on ILD Teleservices and how to check your status, get help, or contact us. Please visit our site at http://www.ILDTeleservices.com.
Thank you, and please let us know how we can help.
Ilona
k8wma
May 5th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
89Adolfo,
What you write may SOUND logical, but as anyone will tell you, even if Verizon etc, block 3rd party billers, said billers will start to directly charge you. What ILD etc do is slamming, if they do it for a company that puts unauthorized charges on your bill. They are part of the “machine”.
Verizon etc will remove the charges, but they are NOT responsible. The other companies and ILD are.
Jay Draiman, Utility Auditor
May 17th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
90Unauthorized Charges on Your Local Phone – Utility Bill?
How to Find Them, Eliminate Them & Get Your Money Back!
If your business still gets its phone service through the old “AT&T and Verizon, etc” local phone company (as opposed to one of the newer competitive phone providers) then you need to double check your phone bill each and every month for charges you did not authorize. You may not know it but the local phone company allows other companies to bill you through your local phone bill. And while the local phone company allows other businesses to bill you through your local phone bill, the local phone company does not verify that the charges being billed to you by the other company are valid. When these unauthorized charges fraudulently appear on your phone bill it’s called “cramming”. Unfortunately you as the business owner or manager are the only one that can spot the unauthorized charges and if you don’t comb over your bill every month to spot these unauthorized charges – you’ll pay for them.
Why does the local phone company allow other companies to pass charges onto your phone bill? “Third-party billing” is supposedly a great convenience in that you only have to pay one bill instead of separate bills for obvious authorized phone related charges like yellow-page advertising in the “real yellow pages”, 411 information calls and long-distance calls from your chosen long distance carrier. Over the years though, some less-than-scrupulous companies have realized that most businesses rarely scrutinize their local-phone bills. To take advantage of this, these companies have come up with elaborate schemes to place
unauthorized charges on your phone bill that you’ll end up paying for without even thinking. Unauthorized
charges you can end up paying for include charges for unwanted (and unused) email accounts, web sites,
directory information calls, directory advertising in obscure publications, voice mail accounts and other
services.
In theory, before these charges can be placed on your phone bill, the company that is originating the third-party billed charges is supposed to have a verification of the order like a voice recording. In reality though,
all the company needs to do to initiate the charge is submit your name and phone number to the billing
entity. The verifications are only required to be produced if a complaint is filed.
To prevent these charges from appearing on you business phone bill it’s helpful to understand the four
parties that make unauthorized third party phone charges a costly reality. Party number one is any
employee who can answer your business phones. The unauthorized charge is rarely random and it usually
happens after one of your company employees gets a telemarketing call. Employees should be instructed to
document and report any overly aggressive telemarketing calls they receive. Party number two is the
telemarketing company that originates the unauthorized charges by trying to get your employee to accept
some service for which you’ll be billed through your local phone bill. Party number three is the third-party
billing company that has billing agreements with your local phone company. The name of the third-party
billing is the one that is prominently displayed on your phone bill. After the third-party billing company’s
name is the name of the company that is originating the unwanted charges. Party number four is your “former Ma Bell” local phone company that collects the unwanted charges (keeps a share for “Ma”) and then passes the rest to the third-party billing company (who keeps a big share) and then passes the balance on to the company that initiated the unwanted charge.
Following are some of the top third-party billing names and unauthorized charge originators you’ll find on
your phone bill. If you see these names on your phone bill you’ll want to call the toll free number listed next to the charge to confirm it’s a charge that’s been properly authorized to be placed on your bill. Following are actual examples that we’ve recently found while auditing business phone bills.
We recommend customers should review any utility bills issued by deregulated utility companies. (In most instances today, consumers are paying higher charges to the deregulated gas and electric supply companies).
All Utility – Energy, gas, electric and water bills should be reviewed for proper reading and tariff.
If you suspect that you have been overcharged ask for detailed explanation and or file a complaint with your State Utility Commission.
Compiled by: Jay Draiman, Utility & Telecom Auditor
Tom Gilman
May 28th, 2009 at 7:02 am
91IDL Teleservices are crooks. i just found a $34.95 charge on my telephone bill. When i called they agreed to reverse the current charge on my bill, how i am going to get the other money back i am not sure. I don’t know why Verizon allows this type of action without getting permission from me. When i call them about anything i have to answer several security questions in order to get done what i want, but they allow a company like this to bill me without my authorization. i believe that Verizon must be getting a cut.
D123
May 29th, 2009 at 7:09 am
92ILD Teleservies stikes again… Looking at my Verizon bill there was a $15.95 carge for “Family 911 Setup Fee” that was not authorized by either of us in the house. I called Verizon and the said they had recoursed the charge to ILD, but I would have to call ILD to keep it from recurring. WTF, I have to fight ILD for an unauthorized charge on a bill that came from Verizon?? As many have stated, this is absolute crap!! Anyway I called ILD and talked with someone who seemed to be helpful (remains to be seen) and said he credited Verizon for the charges and had cancelled the service. Of course this will take a few billing cycles to get completely out of the system…. Seriously, how can this type of theivery be happening? Extremely frustrating!!
ILD Service
June 4th, 2009 at 6:02 am
93We’re not a fraudulent practice – heres what we do:
ILD Teleservices is a convenient and secure payment method designed for purchasing on the web or over the phone. Like a credit account, ILD provides the flexibility to buy without using your credit card. Hundreds of businesses offer Bill to Phone payment from ILD, giving you a way to pay by charging your phone bill. Plus, ILD also provides you with “purchase assurance” protection; like the protection provided by your bank and credit card companies. This means you are not responsible for unauthorized charges. So, if you feel like you have been wrongly billed, please call ILD at (800) 953-7765 and we’ll help you or you can get support by visiting our self help center at http://www.ildteleservices.com/support.html.
Best,
Sandra
Viv
June 17th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
94Yeah my company just got hit last month, and caught it right away, Verizon put a bill block and refunded. Gonna happen again this month, gonna receive another credit from Verizon. Called ILD and talked to a “Benny” and he says he showed my service cancelled so I asked how it was authorized, same scenario as most of you…told me to call ComTel and gave me their number…not gonna bother as long as I get my credit. Good luck to the ones that haven’t received their credits yet. And ask your phone company for a “bill block” !!
Carl Thornton
June 29th, 2009 at 6:58 am
95This is at least the third time ILD has put charges on my phone bill.
I searched the web and found the owners and upper management.
Michael F. Lewis
Dennis J. Stoutenburgh
H. Edward Brooks Jr.
Frederick W. Lloyd
C. Read Morton
These idiots have now wasted even more of my time.
I will be calling the Attorneys General and the better Business Bureaus of the states that I can find them operating in.
Sandra, If you are not a fraud, please tell me why I was refused the phone number of your head quarters?
Carl Thornton
Ben-Son Glass
June 29th, 2009 at 7:36 am
96yeah, ILD really helped me. I got a business, it not like we can just change our phone numbers to avoid charges. I called ILD last month they said they canceled the unauthorized charge! well guess what,, it’s on my bill this month too. I called back they said I dont know why its on your billl we’re showing it canceled. Did you sign up again… (((((((((Reallly)))))))))) I call complaining of a fraud charge on my phone bill and I signed up again.. Hello! so they said they canceled it and gave the phone number to the company charging me. 1-866-473-2053 HUH.. on hold now for 3hours and 36 minutes. If any of you reading this please get me involved in the class action!!!! Ben-Son Glass Lawrenceville, GA.
Good luck
Derrick
Carl Thornton
July 9th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
97Is there a class action? i am not one for suing , but this is ridiculous. If there is one, please email me at carlwt1@gmail.com
thanks,
Carl
ILD Service
July 13th, 2009 at 7:32 am
98ILD is doing all that we can to help all consumers find proper resolution.
We process over 120 million transactions each year for buyers and merchants – that’s over a half of a billion dollars in purchases, and only a small fraction result in disputes and chargebacks, just like with credit cards. When there are disputes, ILD investigates these with its merchants and makes sure that credits are applied back to the phone bill, just like credit card company standards.
ILD continually monitors complaint levels against the merchant who the bills through us, and if we find a merchant in violation of our policies, we have and will terminate their billing agreement. So, if you feel you have been crammed or charged without your consent, please let us know. Send an email to askild@ildmail.com or call us at (800) 953-7765.
Best Regards,
Sandra
lee
July 15th, 2009 at 5:35 am
99get this – my mother who lives in another state, calls me during a doctors visit to ask about some 16 dollar charge to her verizon phone bill from ILD voicemail professionals, who I never heard of – the account from them is from me!!!?? That’s sneaky – even on top of the fact that during the same time my wife is having identity fraud through her bank – coincidence?
miriam
July 29th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
100I GOT MY VERIZON BILL WITH 2 CHARGES FROM IDL !!! YES THEY ARE RIPPING US OFF. I HAVE NO CLUE WHO THIS PEOPLE ARE.. NEVER HEARD FROM THEM AT ALL. CALLED VERIZON AND TOLD THEM NOT A A MILLION YEARS I WILL PAY FOR SOMETHING I NEVER REQUESTED OR USED.
IDL PHONE DOES NOT WORK …. FIGURA THAT OUT.!!!! SO MANY PEOPLE , RETIRE OR WITH POOR VISION , MAY BE PAYNG THIS SCAMM BAGS GRRRRRRRR
ILD Service
August 5th, 2009 at 9:00 am
101Hello Carl, Miriam & Lee,
We do want to help resolve any issues you are having with your phone bill.
If you need answers to charges on your phone bill and would like ILD to research those charges with a merchant, please contact us at askild@ildmail.com, or call us at (800) 953-7765 or visit our help center online at http://www.ILDteleservices.com.
ILD recently posted an article on what you can do to protect yourself against cramming. You can read more on our blog at http://www.ildteleservicesblog.com.
Regards,
Sandra
GET.EVEN
August 6th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
102I have called your company several times!
Each time I have spoken to a rude, nasty, cut you off while your speaking or hang up on you person.
I have called the 800-433-4518 phone # on my AT & T bill.
I have asked these people whether they work for ILD and they say yes
I have called back & asked the question are you an ILD employee or do you work in a call center for some one else
At first they say they are ILD and after demanding a yes or no & who issues their paycheck I get told they are contracted by ILD to handle their calls !
Did I have to pull that information out of their ass? Just like Sara Palin…..You Betcha
I asked ILD their address for process serving
I was given this address by a “Richard”:
1000 N. West Street # 12 Wilmington, Delaware 19801
When I called back today and asked the same question to a supervisor named “Amy” she gave the next address
1000 N. West Street #1200 Wilmington, Delaware 19801
I told her I was told it was #12 and now you’re telling me its #1200 which is it?
She said her computer screen is showing 1200
I stated Richard read it to me 2x and I confirmed it was #12 so am I crazy or are you lying to me?
I have called California calling 10 several times and asked for the bogus phone # that was dialed to the directory assistance I called and they cannot provide that #. I advised I have not been to Las Vegas in years nor do I know anyone there or do business with company in Las Vegas. However I did receive 2/phone calls that month where no one was on the line and hung up. According to AT&T this is called SLAMMING! Each time I was told a manager would call me in 24-48 hours and each time no one has called back!
Today I was told again a manager would call me back because I had additional issue and I purportedly was told the charge has been fixed. However I need to know if my phone was blocked by them? ILD told me they placed a block on my phone and AT&T said that they too would place a block on my phone. They then asked what was connected to my phone line and I replied just internet not thinking about the Satellite Dish network. Immediately after the block by AT&T and ILD my wireless transmitter quit sending a signal to my TV that Dish needs access to in the middle of the night to update my TV and confirm that there expensive receiver box is indeed at the address it is assigned to or THEY CHARGE $5.00 every month the signal is unable to go through. I called Dish and they told me the block has to be UNBLOCKED by AT&T & ILD. I called both companies and advised of the situation. I was told by ILD they would remove the block (BY Amy the supervisor) I called back 2 hours later to check on that removal & was told by a Felix at ILD that I am calling the wrong company after explaining the situation for the tenth time. I told him every time I call ILD I get twists & turns and go in circles. I am too smart for their garbage. Felix told me that I called the wrong phone # yet he works at ILD so how does that make sense. I got the phone # from your own ILD website 800-637-4009 Felix insisted I must have called 800-433-4518 and one more time stated I am calling the wrong company that is California Calling 10! I am thinking what the heck is this mess over a phone #
Felix told me that is not their phone #. He is a supervisor? You don’t have a list of phone #S for you company at each customer service desk? When I worked for a major corporation in a call center we had all & I mean all the corporate phone # and for every state! I FOUGHT with him about this and he did not back off until I read him from your website that was still on my computer luckily! I asked him “are you going to tell me your company website is wrong & How did I reach you if I called the wrong # ? WHAT KIND OF IDIOTS DO YOU HAVE WORKING FOR YOU? Finally I wound up reading him your website and will post it below
Billing Questions?
Your satisfaction is important to us. If you have any questions or comments about your bill, click here to speak to us.
If you have been billed for services by ILD, and for any reason have not been able to resolve questions to your complete satisfaction, please call 800-637-4009 for immediate assistance.
I then demanded a “YES” or “NO” question from Felix IS this not an ILD PHONE # and he went in another circle and again not a straight answer. I then stated “YOU DID NOT ANSWER THE QUESTION!” “ANSWER YES or NO” he finally said he made a mistake and I told him how many minutes did I have to fight you over me calling the wrong company and being wrong. Don’t you think you should fired this dumb stupid ass you gave a Title to as SUPERVISOR? Another thing.. I spoke to a Shante at ILD before she transferred me to Felix and she also kept cutting me off and was rude and also stated I probably was calling the wrong company! Is this a game by ILD? I found your post on a web site stating
Back to my blocking problem I told Felix. He said ILD does not block phone #’s. I told him then what have I been told by ILD? AM I making this up? I have a Diary of names, dates, conversations and the phone # dialed for each call. I spoke to an Amy today and told her my problem the blocking is interfering with my Dish Signal and she said she would remove the block but that I am responsible for the charges. I told her if that’s the case I will summon everyone to court even if it costs me money you will have to show up with an attorney and that costs more. My life is being made miserable and much time spent over this bull crap. Felix conference called AT&T and I had to explain the same B.S. all over again. AT&T said they cannot block 3rd party billers. Again this was contrary to what I was told. I was even given a confirmation # R77730600 and asked what is this confirmation # for then? I couldn’t get an answer & AT&T had to check with a supervisor…Imagine that. I stated AT&T was asked to remove the block and they were not happy about it & said I could be charged for the future slamming calls. I was then told AT&T could only block 900 and collect calls. She could not explain the confirmation # and stated she thought that was the do not call block. NOW why would I do that since I am already registered on the do not call national list. I asked AT&T if ILD could block calls with my phone # without AT&T permission and the original representative said I’m not sure but if they can go for it because it is another precaution. Now I am told by Felix there is no such thing. The bottom line is that I told Felix that he needs to inform Management that the ILD reps should be advising that the block is a BILLING BLOCK BY ILD not a technical block on your phone line. AT&T I thought they were brighter then ILD but I guess I am wrong as they are making me believe my phone is blocked and I wont get slammed only to find out that the emperors clothes do exist. Let me explain something….If you drive a car & wait outside and your friend gets out & robs a bank…You & him will go to jail. That should be the case for ILD You are allowing scammers to bill through ILD. You ILD are enabling the robber! You ILD have been fined $700,000 + by the FTC. THAT does not happen unless you are screwing up. Millions of complaints are on the web! I have never seen a company with such a bad name. I am going to send this letter to 60 minutes for a story. I am going to send this letter to channel 2 news .. especially since the major anchor is my neighbor. As for the blocking problem and being charged an extra $5.00 per month for no connection—its still unresolved. SOMETHING IS ROTTEN IN DENMARK WHEN THIS PROBLEM DIDN’T EXIST UNTIL ILD & AT&T INITIATED A SO CALLED BLOCK ON MY PHONE LINE WITHIN 1 HOUR.!
Did you go back to your old way of doing business and lying about who the customer is dealing with? See your reply posted to web incase your memory has to be refreshed
1. Thank you for your feedback. We’ve recently made a lot of changes to improve our processes, both from a business standpoint and from a call center standpoint.
The way it used to work was when you called ILD, the call was automatically transferred to our customer’s call center, so you were not actually talking to ILD reps. We’ve changed that now, so ILD can monitor calls from consumers like yourself to make sure we know what is going on with the businesses for whom we provide payment services
Why did ILD say I called ILD and then give me a phone # to California Calling 10 @ 1-800-778-2500 if your policy was corrected?
I do not respect your company or the fabricated bull pucky that you create with words on paper to defend you position and how you are improving.
Please see the below info from a class action attorney! Posted on the web
1. More importantly, I am angry b/c this is not the first time that I have encountered this pernicious practice. I was shocked to learn that ILD is operating nationwide under 11 different corporate identities. They have been sued by the AG’s of several states, only to be slapped with inconsequential fines and penalties and “do better” speeches. I suspect that thousands have been unwittengly duped by these white collar bandits.
2. Among other things, I am an experienced class action attorney. That said, I am on the brink of filing a suit on behalf of my girlfriend and all others similarly situated. If you or anyone else is interested in this process, feel free to share my message and address.
Thanks for letting me rant,
Bill Stout
wmhstoutpc@msn.com
405.605.8639
I am demanding your correct address to have a U.S.Marshall serve you & yes I will check it is the same one you have on file with the State. If this happens again I will be prepared.
Also, I have already filed a complaint with the FTC and next is the Attorney General.
Yes I am really pissed that I had to talk to so many STUPID,RUDE,NASTY,UNINTELLIGENT,LYING, CIRCLE JERKING IDIOTS THAT ARE TAUGHT TO TAKE A CUSTOMER AND JACK THEM OFF. WHAT KIND OF COMPANY ARE YOU RUNNING?
IF YOU EVER FRAUDULENTLY BILL ME AGAIN I WILL TAKE YOU INTO COURT ALONG WITH AT&T AND CALIFORNIA CALLING 10.
Reno
August 10th, 2009 at 9:00 am
103Been phone crammed? I have. 2008 over June and July $100.00 plus was charged bogusly to my phone number account. I sent a letter to the Maryland Public Service Commission in order to stop these charges on my phone account.
These bogus 3rd party companies or individual scammers calling themselves a company, are getting all of their expenses and bills paid, or supplementing their income, probably tax free (most likely paying no taxes to the Federal and State Govt like the rest of us who have honest jobs have to do).
How you might ask — all done by a so called 3rd party companies scamming a person somehow, obtaining your personal information and your phone number. These 3rd party companies create “fantom” services to charge to your phone bill on a monthly basis. After creating these non existing (fantom) services, they send these phony service charge bills to a billing clearinghouse. The Billing clearinghouse sends these charges to the phone companies on behalf of the 3rd party company, and the phone company places these charge(s) on your phone bill account for you to pay. (Charging your phone number account like a credit card without requiring ANY proof of authorization from you for these charges). The phone company requires you to pay these charges, regardless of whether you authorized them or not. They add late fees, and can place no-payment records onto your credit report if you don’t pay.
Once you pay your phone bill including these Other Provider charges, the phone company keeps their kickback percentage, and send the rest of the money back to the billing clearinghouse. The billing clearinghouse keeps their percentage and then pays the 3rd party company the rest of the money.
What a scam! What a way to obtain free money at millions of people’s expense. Wonder who gets this free money—perhaps people who are illegally here in the US or people who have such bad credit and credentials that they can’t get credit cards, or jobs? People who are overseas who sit back and let the money roll in? Who knows! Why won’t the Public Service Commission that handles phone company complaints in your area, or the FCC and FTC STOP THIS! IT IS A CRIME! Congress must have passed this process into law, but no one wants to regulate it. Who is stuffing who’s pockets in our Government and looking the other way at the expense of an unsuspecting victim.
When you call the billing clearinghouse, NEVER GIVE OUT YOUR ADDRESS OR ANY OTHER INFORMATION. THEY ARE PROBABLY RECORDING YOU. If you have canceled your phone service, the process is that the 3rd party company will send your refund to the billing clearinghouse and the billing clearinghouse will send that refund check back to the PHONE PROVIDER COMPANY and the PHONE PROVIDER WILL SEND YOU BACK A REFUND CHECK. A REFUND CHECK WILL NOT COME DIRECTLY TO YOUR HOME FROM THE 3RD PARTY COMPANY. IT WILL COME FROM YOUR PHONE COMPANY.
Otherwise, your phone bill will be credited in 2 to 4 months down the road. Sometimes you will not receive your full reimbursement as some will only credit you 2 out of the 4 months. Many times you have to fight with these 3rd party companies to get them to STOP CHARGING YOUR PHONE NUMBER.
Phone cramming happens in several ways:
1) Taking a phone survey in which the caller asks you to verify some information. They ask you to state your name, and then talking over a recording in the background, they explain what the recording is saying and then tell you to say yes, You are recorded in your own voice saying your name, and other information they may have requested and you are recorded saying yes—Yes to what? You just signed up for services that they will charge your telephone number on a monthly basis. From this point, they will make up other bogus charges to charge you for. Never take a phone survey, never state your name, address, any part of your SS#, work number, or date of birth.
2) Telephone calls from a phone booth. Charging debit or credit cards. Now they have your CC or debit numbers and, in some cases, CONTIOUSLY remove money from your Debit card which is most of the time not recoverable, or put outrageous charges onto your CCs beyond the single call you made. 30 second call might be $50.00 on the CC. 30 second call using the debit card, $150.00 removed from your account which is unrecoverable. Also, collect calls from overseas charges. Also remember, now they have your CC or Debit number and the power to use it more. Don’t use a pay phone unless it is impossible not to!
Internet: Scammed by clicking on promotions, surveys, or services (and who knows how else) such as—Win or get $100.00 of coupons to our store. Pop-up clicks for getting your credit report; the list is endless for the internet.
(This also pertains to using the internet through your Cell phone and Black Berry – be careful people! The next thing you click on may be a scam waiting to happen to you. Once these charges begin, it is VERY Hard to stop them.
?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
My Story
After a person, unknown to me, clicked on the internet to get coupons to some store (The explanation that I received from ILD about the charges applied to my phone bill) she put in a bogus phone number which happened to equal MINE. I immediately started getting charged by all the below listed clearinghouses, not just ILD. I began getting sales phone calls for this unknown person. I called them back and told them I did not know this person and to stop calling me. The calls did not stop.
I had a total of six 3rd-party charges (from various clearinghouses that were applied to my Verizon phone bill between June and July of 2008 of almost $100.00 between both months. (Tax was included on these charges also). I had charges from ILD Teleservices, Enhanced Services Billing Inc. (ESBI), Payment One, Operators Assistant Network (OAN) and 2 others that I can’t remember, (all clearinghouses that represent 3rd party companies for billing purposes to the phone companies where (non existing service) charges are added to your phone bill. Only after submitting a complaint to the Maryland Public Service Commission requesting an investigation, did I begin to receive reimbursement checks sent to me through the mail via Verizon.
On the verizon bill, these charges are listed as Other Providers on the page 1 bill. Details of the 3rd party charges are listed after the phone bill long distance charges with the 1-800 number. I canceled my land-line home phone. However, I found out that just canceling the phone service does NOT stop these 3rd party charges from being placed on your phone bill account. You are responsible for calling the 1-800 numbers listed beside these 3rd party companies and canceling these fraudulent charges.
Even after you have canceled your phone service, if Verizon receives more 3rd party charges, they will send the bill along to you. These 3rd party charges have nothing to do with your actual phone service, so even if you have canceled your phone, they mail these 3rd party billing charges out to you from your phone account number to pay. If you don’t pay, they charge late fees, and if you continue to refuse to pay, they place a notice on your credit report of non payment.
If you don’t cancel your phone service, getting refunded for these bogus charges takes 2 to 4 months and sometimes only partial reimbursements are given. Many times, you have to fight again and again with these 3rd party charge companies to get them to stop placing these charges on your bill. The phone companies are VERY uncooperative, they will not help you at all! Home Phone and cell phone’s are involved – AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, Bell South, T-Mobile, etc. They all allow 3rd party charges to be placed on a consumer’s phone bill and require no proof that these charges are legitimate or authorized in any way. The FCC, FTC and Public Service commissions that deal with your area’s phone services for complaints are very well aware of these bogus charges, but don’t do a thing about them. Attached are just a very few of the thousands of complaints from ILD Teleservices and some information on the billing clearinghouse Payment One.
Reno
August 10th, 2009 at 9:23 am
104Let me clarify one thing, The 1-800 numbers listed on your phone bill are the phone numbers to the Billing Clearinghouses. Upon calling the billing clearinghouses to stop more charges, they will give you the 1-800 number to the 3RD PARTY COMPANY. You must call the 3rd party company to actually get the bogus services canceled. Many times, you will have to fight again and again with them to get your service canceled.
Reno
August 10th, 2009 at 10:44 am
105REVISED VERSION OF THE ABOVE 2 POSTS
Been phone crammed? I have. 2008 over June and July $100.00 plus was charged bogusly to my phone number account. I sent a Request for Investigation letter to the Public Service Commission in order to stop these charges on my phone account.
These bogus 3rd party companies or individual scammers calling themselves a 3rd party company, are getting all of their expenses and bills paid, or supplementing their income, probably tax free (most likely paying no taxes to the Federal and State Govt like the rest of us who have honest jobs have to do).
How you might ask — all done by a so called 3rd party company scamming a person somehow, obtaining your personal information and your phone number. These 3rd party companies create “phantom” services to charge to your phone bill on a monthly basis. After creating these non existing (phantom) services, they send these phony
service-charge bills to a billing clearinghouse. The Billing clearinghouse sends these charges to the phone companies on behalf of the 3rd party company, and the phone company places these charge(s) on your phone bill account for you to pay. (Charging your phone number account like a credit card without requiring ANY proof of authorization, or verifying financial records from you for these charges). The phone company requires you to pay these charges, regardless of whether you authorized them or not. They add late fees, and can place no-payment records onto your credit report if you don’t pay.
[Billing Clearinghouses make contracts with 3rd party companies to handle all their Billing needs, and Billing Clearinghouses also make contracts with the phone companies in order to apply the 3rd party charges onto consumer phone account bills.]
Once you pay your phone bill including these Other Provider charges, the phone company keeps their kickback percentage, and send the rest of the money back to the billing clearinghouse. The billing clearinghouse keeps their percentage and then pays the 3rd party company the rest of the money.
What a scam! What a way to obtain free money at millions of people’s expense. Wonder who gets this free money—perhaps people who are illegally here in the US or people who have such bad credit and credentials that they can’t get credit cards, or jobs? People who are overseas who sit back and let the money roll in? Who knows! Why won’t the Public Service Commission that handles phone company complaints in your area, or the FCC and FTC STOP THIS! IT IS A CRIME! Congress passed the FCC Telecommunications Act of 1996 into law, which is what started all the phone cramming, but no one wants to regulate it.
The 1-800 numbers listed on your phone bill are the phone numbers to the Billing Clearinghouses. Upon calling the billing clearinghouses to stop more charges, they will give you the 1-800 number to the 3RD PARTY COMPANY. You must call the 3rd party company to actually get the bogus services canceled. Many times, you will have to fight again and again with them to get your service canceled.
When you call the billing clearinghouse, NEVER GIVE OUT YOUR ADDRESS OR ANY OTHER INFORMATION. THEY ARE PROBABLY RECORDING YOU. If you have canceled your phone service, the process is that the 3rd party company will send your refund to the billing clearinghouse and the billing clearinghouse will send that refund check back to the PHONE PROVIDER COMPANY and the PHONE PROVIDER WILL SEND YOU BACK A REFUND CHECK.
A REFUND CHECK SHOULD NEVER COME DIRECTLY TO YOUR HOME FROM THE 3RD PARTY COMPANY. IT WILL COME FROM YOUR PHONE COMPANY. If you do receive a 3rd party check, DO NOT CASH IT—DO NOT SIGN IT. You run the risk that they might obtain the check back and thereby obtain your signature. Just keep it, or send it back to your PHONE PROVIDER company to return to the 3rd party company via the Billing Clearinghouse.
Otherwise, your phone bill will be credited in 2 to 4 months down the road. Sometimes you will not receive your full reimbursement as some will only credit you 2 out of the 4 months. Many times you have to fight with these 3rd party companies to get them to STOP CHARGING YOUR PHONE NUMBER.
Phone cramming happens in several ways:
1) Taking a phone survey in which the caller asks you to verify some information. They ask you to state your name and other info, and then, talking over a recording in the background, they explain what the recording is saying and then ask you to say yes. All the while, you are being recorded in your own voice saying your name, and other information they may have requested you to verify and you are recorded saying yes. Yes to what? You just signed up for “Phantom” services that they will make up to charge you with which will be added to your telephone account on a monthly basis. From this point, they may make up other bogus charges to charge you for. Never take a phone survey, never state your name, address, any part of your SS#, work number, or date of birth.
2) Telephone calls from a phone booth. Charging debit or credit cards. Now they have your CC or debit numbers and, in some cases, CONTIOUSLY remove money from your Debit card which is most of the time not recoverable, or put outrageous charges onto your CCs beyond the single call you made. 30 second call might be $50.00 on the CC. 30 second call using the debit card, $150.00 removed from your account which is unrecoverable. Also, collect calls from overseas charges. Also remember, now they have your CC or Debit number and the power to use it more. If you have recently made a phone call at a phone booth, I would suggest canceling your CC and Debit card by saying they were lost and getting new ones with new numbers. Don’t use a pay phone unless it is impossible not to!
Internet: Scammed by clicking on promotions, surveys, or services (and who knows how else) such as—Win or get $100.00 of coupons to our store. Pop-up clicks for getting your credit report; the list is endless for the internet.
(This also pertains to using the internet through your Cell phone and Black Berry – be careful people! The next thing you click on may be a scam waiting to happen to you. Once these charges begin, it is VERY Hard to stop them.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
My Story
After a person, unknown to me, clicked on the internet to get coupons to some store (The explanation that I received from ILD about the charges applied to my phone bill) she put in a bogus phone number which happened to equal MINE. I immediately started getting charged by all the below listed Billing Clearinghouse(s)s, not just ILD. I began getting sales phone calls for this unknown person. I called them back and told them I did not know this person and to stop calling me. The calls did not stop.
I had a total of six 3rd-party charges (from various Billing Clearinghouse(s)s that were applied to my Verizon phone bill between June and July of 2008 of almost $100.00 between both months. (Tax was included on these charges also). I had charges from ILD Teleservices, Enhanced Services Billing Inc. (ESBI) (NOTE At first I thought it was LESBI, but the L only outlines the ESBI, Payment One, Operators Assistant Network (OAN) and 2 others that I can’t remember, (all Billing Clearinghouse(s)s that represent 3rd party companies for billing purposes to the phone companies where (non existing service) charges are added to your phone bill. Only after submitting a complaint to the Public Service Commission requesting an investigation, did I begin to receive reimbursement checks sent to me through the mail via Verizon. These reimbursement checks took up to 4 months to come to me.
[Example from Billing Clearinghouse PaymentOne(PhoneBill) Web Site Explanation--PhoneBill is a "No Credit Card Required" payment service that enables over 150 Million consumers to easily charge digital services to their monthly phone bill without disclosing private financial information. PhoneBill]
On the verizon bill, these charges are listed as Other Providers on the page 1 bill. Details of the 3rd party charges are listed after the phone bill long distance charges with the 1-800 number (Number is to the Billing Clearinghouse). The 1-800 numbers listed on your phone bill are the phone numbers to the Billing Clearinghouses. Upon calling the billing clearinghouse(s) ask for a BLOCK to be placed so that there will not be any more charrges passed along to the phone company from the 3rd party company. They will give you the 1-800 number to the actual 3RD PARTY COMPANY. You must call the 3rd party company to actually get the phantom services canceled. Many times, you will have to fight again and again with them to get your service canceled.
I canceled my land-line home phone. However, I found out that just canceling the phone service does NOT stop these 3rd party charges from being placed on your phone bill account. You are responsible for calling the 1-800 numbers listed beside these 3rd party companies and canceling these fraudulent charges.
Even after you have canceled your phone service, if Verizon receives more 3rd party charges, they will send the bill along to you. These 3rd party charges have nothing to do with your actual phone service, so even if you have canceled your phone, they mail these 3rd party billing charges out to you from your phone account number to pay. If you don’t pay, they charge late fees, and if you continue to refuse to pay, they place a notice on your credit report of non-payment.
If you don’t cancel your phone service, getting refunded for these bogus charges takes 2 to 4 months and sometimes only partial reimbursements are given. Many times, you have to fight again and again with these 3rd party charge companies to get them to stop placing these charges on your bill. The phone companies are VERY uncooperative, they will not help you at all! Home Phone and cell phone’s are involved – AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, Bell South, T-Mobile, etc. They all allow 3rd party charges to be placed on a consumer’s phone bill and require no proof that these charges are legitimate or authorized in any way. The FCC, FTC and Public Service commissions that deal with your area’s phone services for complaints are very well aware of these bogus charges, but don’t do a thing about them.
GET.EVEN
August 10th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
106I’LL BE TALKING TO THESE FEDS & EVERYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD “THIS POSTING IS FOR YOU!”
If you have complaints about telephone service from one state to another (interstate), international calls and wireless service, contact the Federal Communications Commission.
Federal Communications Commission
Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau Consumer Complaints
445 12th Street SW
Washington, D.C. 20554
Phone: (888) 225-5322
Reno
August 12th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
107Phone bill ‘cramming’ spikes again
Phantom charges sneaked onto statements across the U.S.
By Bob Sullivan
msnbc.com
Jan. 30 – They call and offer a “free” service, such as a no-cost Web site or Internet yellow pages listing. They trick you into saying “yes” — to just about anything. Sometimes, they don’t even bother calling. And suddenly, there’s an extra $30 charge on your phone bill. It’s an old scam, known as “cramming,” but there appears to be a fresh epidemic of it.
The company at the center of the accusations, ILD Teleservices, says it’s an innocent third-party billing firm. But either way, scores of consumers are hopping mad about $30, $50, even $80 charges that are peppering phone.
CRAMMING IS ONE byproduct of the deregulation of the telephone industry. To open the system to increased competition, local phone companies have to lease their phone lines to outside firms who want to sell competitive services. It’s perfectly legal for a third-party company to sell a home voice mail service to you, billed through your home phone bill.
But shady telecommunications companies are taking advantage of the fact that local phone companies have no stake in verifying that consumers agreed to pay for such services, so they “cram” charges on phone bills, hoping consumers won’t notice.
That’s what happened to Barbara Williams, of Milton, Pa. She found an $32.65 that was tacked onto her bill during several months last year.
“I have a gift shop. I got a phone call from a man asking if I would like to have my shop listed in their yellow pages,” she said. “I said, ‘Not if it costs me anything,’ and he said, “Oh no, no, it’s free.’ Then they said they wanted to tape me. I forgot about it. Then all of a sudden, on the 7th page of my Verizon bill, I notice the charge.”
Next to the charge are two company names: “Liberty Online” and “ILD Teleservices.” The 800 telephone number listed with the charges connects consumers with ILD, which told Williams it was only a third-party billing company, doing work for Liberty Online.
Williams eventually got the charges reversed, but only after several irate phone calls and e-mails.
450 COMPLAINTS TO FCC
Williams is just one of over 100 complainers who found their way to a consumer advocate Web site called RipOffReport.com in recent weeks. And while she has gotten her money back by peppering ILD and Liberty with phone calls, others complain they are still getting billed for services they don’t want.
The complaints stem from a variety of phantom tack-on telecommunications services, such as voice mail or Web hosting, from companies with names like Liberty Online, Venus Voicemail, National Online Services, Horizon and ILAB INET. But they all have one thing in common: ILD Teleservices does their billing.
Complaints about ILD aren’t just appearing on consumer Web sites. The Federal Communications Commission said it received 457 cramming complaints against ILD Telecommunications between January and December of last year, including 170 in the last three months of the year. ILD Telecommunications is ILD Teleservices’ parent firm.
Fred Lloyd, vice president of strategic planning and corporate development for ILD, said his company is merely a go-between that arranges billing for third-party companies that want to provide residential or business telecommunications services. ILD helps companies like Liberty Online construct billing arrangements with home phone carries like Quest and Verizon. Lloyd admits there have been complaints from consumers who say they’ve being charged for services they never ordered, but said the blame should fall on the third-party firm, not his company.
He added that ILD generates hundreds of thousands of bills each month, and complaints are a tiny fraction of their transactions.
“From time to time, we have some billing questions,” he said. “We always work with (customers) on a case by case basis.”
Lloyd said he warns third-party companies when there are numerous complaints, and will cancel their billing services if the complaints don’t stop. He wouldn’t say how many companies have been censured, other than to say “There have been a handful I’ve had to kick off.”
Customers who think they’re being crammed can call ILD’s 800 number, he said, and the firm will “work on resolving the issue for them.”
It wasn’t quite that easy for Janie Carstens, who helps run Joe and Mimma’s Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria in Yorktown, Va. Her company was charged $29 for Web services, and another $50 set-up fee, by ILAB INET and ILD.
“I called up (ILD) to cancel it. They said I had to call INET, at a different number,” Carstens said. She was then told to call a third number, where she argued with an operator about whether or not she had consented to the service. Finally, two hours later, the firm agreed to cancel the charge. “I had to spend two hours of my own time straightening it out. That was the part that got me. I could have been doing so many other things, and I’m chasing down $80. I ended up working until 9 or 10 that night to catch up for the lost time.”
SMALL BUSINESSES TARGETED
Mike Kaill of Washington state had a similar experience when ILD-related charges were tacked onto his small business phone line. He spent three months trying get get monthly $30 charges removed. He finally did, but not before he was threatened by an operator at “Mercury Internet,” who said Kaill’s credit history would be blemished if he didn’t pay.
In fact, Kaill said, several area businesses were hit by the same scheme, suggesting to him that scam artists are attacking whole communities at a time, targeting small businesses.
“One guy had been paying the $30 since last August,” he said.
But Kathy McQuide, vice president of billing services for ILD, said she regularly reviews tape-recorded sales pitches, and “in 99 percent of the cases, they are valid with proper procedures followed.” She said that often consumers and small business are to blame for misunderstandings that lead to erroneous sign-ups.
“What I have found in a lot of cases is that a wife will authorize a service without the husband’s knowledge and vice versa,” she said. “In the case of businesses, the employee authorizing the service is not always the same person that receives and reviews the bills.” She reiterated that consumers can call ILD with complaints, and “if there is any room for doubt, ILD or the client will issue full credit.”
WHAT CONSUMERS SHOULD DO
Consumers are responsible for discovering cramming charges on their own; so that means the only safeguard against unwanted fees is detailed examination of the monthly phone bill. But consumers can decrease their chances of getting crammed by carefully reading sweepstakes entries or other junk mail solicitations before filling them out — often they are ruses that serve as permission to switch telephone providers or add services. It also helps to avoid speaking at length with telemarketers.
But the single best defense is to call your local phone company and ask it to shut off “third-party billing.” That prevents companies from adding charges onto local phone bills.
Consumers who have been crammed should carefully save all paperwork and immediately call their local phone provider to dispute the charge. Next, call the provider listed on the bill, and don’t back down if the company claims you authorized the charge.
Don’t pay the charge, either — phone service cannot be disconnected for non-payment of the third-party portion of a phone bill. However, the third-party provider can put their bill into collections, with the possibility that non-payment could end up on a credit report, so it’s important to follow-up with the billing company to be sure the charge is permanently removed.
© 2009 msnbc.com Reprints
Reno
August 17th, 2009 at 7:30 am
108Another thing I picked up on is it appears that once a 3rd party company scams you, some of them, take your personal information and SELL it to other companies (especially sales companies) who buy your information for $80.00 or more. Once they have bought your information, they try to get you on the phone so that they can record you and try to sell you a service or product.
Reno
August 17th, 2009 at 7:32 am
109IT IS EASY TO SEE HOW EASILY THE CONSUMER GETS RIPPED OFF WHEN YOU READ THROUGH THE ILD TELESERVICES WEB SITE. BELOW IS JUST SOME OF THE INFORMATION.
ILD provides payment processing and clearing, business process outsourcing, operator services and conferencing solutions to communication providers, digital merchants, internet service providers, information and entertainment providers and other enterprises. ILD’s core products include Bill to Phone, LEC billing and payment solutions, outsourced operator and 411 directory assistance solutions, audio and web conferencing services, and corporate calling cards.
ILD–OUR COMPANY
For over a decade, ILD has demonstrated its strength as a national leader in outsourced services. Traditional telecom providers, web hosting providers, digital merchants, ISP’s, and other enterprises have turned to ILD for their back-office needs. ILD has leveraged the strategic advantage of operating its own facilities and platforms to become an industry leader with annual revenues in excess of $100M and a dedicated team of over 300 employees in offices nationwide. ILD operates three divisions
Delivers a broad range of billing and collection services to digital merchants and service providers.
Affords providers the ability to invoice products and services through non-traditional methods, while maximizing collection rates
Payment methods include phone billing, direct billing, and alternate payments with a variety of risk management services.
CONFERENCING
Enables users to securely and effortlessly collaborate from anywhere in the world
Features proprietary web-based collaboration applications and tools to augment audio conferencing services
Services include Unattended Audio, Attended Audio, Operator Managed Event Calls, and Web conferencing.
OUTSOURCED SERVICES
Seamless manage your business with ILD’s suite of onshore outsourced service solutions utilizing our state-of-the-art call center facilities in the United States. ILD’s outsourced offerings integrate people, technology, and resources into a cohesive bundle or individual services. This variable cost model delivers reliable network with flexible back office infrastructure so that businesses can expand into growth areas.
We’ve built ILD with the right tools, the latest technologies, and direct input from our customers including service providers, the hospitality industry, payphone providers, correctional facilities, inter-exchange carriers (IXC’s), Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOC’s) and countless other organizations. These changes have resulted in a better way to manage businesses all around.
Provides a variety of communications-related services, over newly installed IP-enabled Excel switches
Utilizes state-of-the-art call center facility in San Antonio to support incoming/ outgoing operator services and customer relationship calls
Servic es include operator services, toll-free origination and termination, and global calling cards.
Benefit from ILD’s leading-edge systems, diverse services, and unparalleled account support.
Experience quality outsourced services tailored to meet the needs of the communications community.
ILD operates an intelligent infrastructure of payment processing services that enable merchants to authorize, settle and manage various transactions, anytime and anywhere.
ILD portfolio of payment processing services include alternative payments like LEC billing (also known as Local Exchange Carrier “LEC” Billing and Phone Billing), Direct Billing, Credit Card Processing, Automated Clearinghouse (ACH) processing, Phone Billing and a variety of risk management and fraud prevention services.
ILD’s reputation as a ‘customer-driven’ company has been the basis for numerous reports and applications developed for our clients. Leading the industry in customer satisfaction, end-user retention, and timely settlements, ILD is the fast growing LEC billing clearinghouse in the industry.
Many From EarthLink to NetZero, hundreds of service providers are adopting ILD’s simple, safe and secure payment alternative to credit cards, to increase conversions, lift subscribers and simplify the check-out experience for their customers. ILD’s “Bill to Phone” service works within a merchant’s existing payment infrastructure and is easy to integrate.
potential customers are reluctant to share credit card information over the web or over the phone, ultimately causing a loss of sales for merchants. Now, ILD Teleservices can allow your customers to charge your products or services to their phone bill, instead of using a credit card or opening an account with your business by using other personal information.
Additionally, ILD can handle your non-credit card billing and back-office support with its domestic US service center.
PAYMENT SERVICES
To become a partner, each merchant must successfully pass ILD’s rigorous screening process, which includes extensive background checks as well as a detailed review of its marketing plan.
After completing this process, the merchant must go through an additional screening process conducted by the local telephone company before the phone companies will allow charging for any merchant’s products or services on their customers’ phone bills.
After becoming a partner, ILD monitors ongoing operations of its merchants and closely examines their customer satisfaction levels. If a service provider generates excessive complaint levels, ILD takes immediate action, which may include termination of the service provider’s agreement with ILD. Click here for more information about how to become a merchant partner.
ILD Teleservices Validation Program Demonstrates a New Way to Verify and Authenticate “Bill to Phone Transactions”
Ponte Vedra, FL, Aug 06, 2009 (PRWeb.com via COMTEX) — As ILD continues to strengthen its leadership position in the payment and clearing industry, ILD Teleservices is rolling out iValidateSM,a new Bill to Phone validation and verification tool. This service enables merchants to validate unique security credentials prior to processing a consumer transaction.
“As ILD’s client base has grown to include more digital merchants in the Information and Entertainment Transaction Billing (IETB) market, we continue to make it a core focus to deliver Bill to Phone services for e-commerce and other non-traditional telecommunications products and services with strengthened security for the consumer, for the merchants and for ILD,” said Dennis Stoutenburgh, ILD President & COO.
The new web-based validation system allows merchants to verify a billing telephone number (BTN) with the Local Exchange Carriers (LECs) in real-time at the point of sale to ensure the billing record is “LEC billable” and authorized before accepting a Bill to Phone transaction and providing service.
“Reducing unauthorized transactions is critical to consumer confidence, and ultimately our success. With these new security tools, we help our merchants determine upfront, whether the transaction can be billed via Bill to Phone,” said Stoutenburgh. In cases where a telephone number is returned as “unbillable”, ILD Teleservices (http://www.ildteleservices.com) provides alternative methods of payment, including direct billing or advance payment options.
At the time of sale, ILD requires merchants to obtain from buyers a Letter of Authorization (LOA), which confirms certain personally identifiable information. With LOA data captured, iValidateSM, ILD’s real-time validation and verification service, can uniquely identify, contact, or locate a single individual to ensure that the buyer is an authorized party directly associated with the billing telephone number, prior to a merchant processing charges. iValidateSM protects consumers by validating each sale and preventing the delivery of services to unauthorized accounts.
iValidateSM is part of an initiative by ILD Teleservices to improve the security of digitally phone billed transactions, preventing false signups and other irregularities that can lead to improper phone bill charges and billing disputes.
About ILD Teleservices ILD Teleservices (http://www.ildteleservices.com/support.html) is a leader in the alternative payment processing industry, providing a convenient, simple and secure Bill to Phone payment alternative that allows consumers to purchase products and services online or over the phone by directly charging their phone bill, without disclosing personal financial data to each business. The rapidly growing ILD Teleservices network enables merchants to attract a new market of customers with an effortless payment experience that allows consumers to shop online without using a credit card. ILD Teleservices turnkey payment platform is tailored specifically for digital merchants and communications providers offering online content, long distance and collect calling, web hosting, Internet access, and other communications related services.
ILD Teleservices has partnered with more than 150 merchants to offer Bill to Phone payment services, a safe and convenient payment experience and its network includes more than 1,400 Local Exchange Carriers, including AT&T, Verizon, Qwest, Embarq and more. Millions of consumers and businesses rely on the safety and convenience of ILD Teleservices payment solutions when shopping online and over the phone.
GET.EVEN
August 19th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
110I TRIED TO OPEN BELOW LINK ONLY TO FIND OUT THERE IS NO CONNECTION !!!!!!!!!!!! FOR ALL YOU LOSERS WORKING FOR ILD WHO PREACH HOW GREAT YOUR COMPANY IS THEN WHY THE BELOW POSTING ?
• ILD Fined $675,000 For Deceptive Phone Charges • ILD Fined $675,000 For Deceptive Phone Charges
• ILD Fined $675,000 For Deceptive Phone Charges Charged … In addition, the FTC contends that ILD violated the Rule’s billing and … over a toll-free line, the line subscriber has no …
o http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news03/ild.html o •
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But the godfather of all unauthorized charge schemes has to be a middleman company called ILD Teleservices. Taking advantage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 provision that allows third party providers to place charges on consumers’ phone bills, ILD’s clients stick thousands – maybe millions – of consumers for all types of bogus services that were never requested and never provided. In the last 12 months ConsumerAffairs.com has received more than 877 consumer complaints about ILD. Most are like this one, from Tami, of Opp, Alabama:
“They have been charging me $14.95 a month since January 29, 2007 on my phone bill. My phone company can’t tell me what the charge is for. The company won’t answer the phone in order for me to file a complaint or contest the charges. So far they have gotten $164.45 plus taxes from me.”
For its part, ILD proclaims its innocence. The company acts as a billing agent for many other, smaller companies – some legitimate, some obviously not. Telephone providers, such as Verizon and AT&T, are powerless to prevent these charges from being added to their telephone bills, thanks to Congress’ bumbled efforts at telecom reform. Consumers should keep in mind, however, that they can refuse to pay unauthorized third party charges on their phone bill without it affecting their local telephone service
Darlene Stout
August 31st, 2009 at 10:21 am
111I.m just complaining like everyone else, how much ILD has been ripping everyone off. Why does Verizon let this happen? I’ve been robbed since 04/2008 till present 08/2009 of 13.86 a month for a service I NEVER even heard of. So sad for the way thee economy is right now. This ILD company needs to retire NOW. Whoever ESBI is also another scam has been robbing me too and I will get after them too. Thanks D stout my confirmation # is 4455423 from Verizon for this dispute.
Reno
September 4th, 2009 at 7:39 am
112Darlene, read posts #105, 107, 108, 109 above. That will give you some understanding.
Sandra @ ILD Teleservices
September 8th, 2009 at 11:10 am
113Hi Darlene,
ILD works with the phone companies, third party validation providers, and other institutions to keep phone bill transactions safe and our purchase assurance on phone billed charges is part of this program.
If want ourhelp, please contact us at askild@ildmail.com, call us at (800) 953-7765 or visit our help center online at ILDteleservices.com.
ILD posted an article on what you can do to protect yourself against cramming; you can read more on our blog at http://www.ildteleservicesblog.com.
Best Regards,
Sandra
Jennifer
September 15th, 2009 at 10:24 am
114Like most of you,(aside from the ILD posts acting like they care, THEY DO NOT!) I have been scammed by ILD/COMTEL WEB HOST MTH. They charged phantom charges for a phantom web profile on my Verizon account for 9 months before I realized it. It’s a shame that Verizon is authorized to allow these scams to continue. I’ve got a “cram block” on my account, and comtel is supposed to be crediting me $104.85, only a small portion of what they have STOLEN from me. (I’ll believe that when I see it). Best of luck to all of you, I’m fed up and I’m going to stop calling for now because I can’t seem to stop the curse words from flying out of my mouth every time I speak with one of these scamming liars.
john
October 2nd, 2009 at 2:07 pm
115We are dealing with this same thing. Although, for the past few months (ever since we noticed the charge) we stopped paying that portion of the bill, but the charge continues. Verizon is supposed to block it for now on, but we’ll see.
We were given an IP address when we called to complain:
65.39.216.77
Supposedly this belongs to Peer 1 Network. Does anyone know how ILD Teleservices is connected to Peer 1 Network?
Jeff
November 3rd, 2009 at 4:14 am
116I think it’s the cops because I got a ticket and instead of going to court, did a trial by declaration. The cop never responded to my declaration but now I am getting these bills.
Dianne Haffner
November 11th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
117Been billed for bogus long distance charges which Telus is trying to sort out for me here in B. C., Canada
Jeff Seaver
November 18th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
118Our company was also fraudulently charged by ILD Teleservices via our AT&T phone bill.
Jimmy
December 14th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
119Hey, just like many of you I noticed that ILD charge a couple of months after they started charging me without my consent(from Feb.23 to hopefully Today). A couple of minutes ago I had a long talk and was finally able to cancel “my services”. After I asked for a refund I was told I could receive a $0.40 refund. Yes, you read that right, I’ve been getting billed $6 a month without my consent for about 9-10 months and they have the audacity to offer me a FORTY CENTS refund which completely pissed me off, this is a slap on the face. Then I told him “No, I want a refund for everything, not just the 5-6 calls I made, but everything your shady company has been billing me for”. After a while of going back and forth I asked him If I could here the call in which I signed up for ILD services and was told it would be 7-10 days. Hopefully after they aren’t able to come up with this phony message I’ll be able to get a full refund.
CALL 1-866-925-1048 AND TELL THEM YOU WANT TO HEAR THE CALL IN WHICH YOU SIGNED UP FOR ILD SERVICES, AFTER THEY FAIL TO PRESENT YOU WITH THIS CALL, CALL BACK AND TELL THEM YOU WANT A FULL REFUND.
I’ll be updating this in <2 weeks, hopefully by then I have been issued a full refund.
robert
December 15th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
120I saw this ILD charges today worth almost $25. It is clearly a scam. It seems that ATT and Verizon are letting this happen even though there are thousand of people complaining about this company. Instead of ATT and Verizon taking the initiative to take action in order to protect their customers, their just passing the buck and letting it happen. I do not understand ATT and Verizon letting other company just put charges on behalf of their company. ATT and Verizon seems to be not listening.
The Truth
January 4th, 2010 at 3:39 am
121Isn’t it amazing to see the number of fake ILD posts?
How odd that so many “ex employees” wish to submit long posts about how poor little ILD is doing everything it can to help consumers.
ILD is a VERY SMART company. They are making tons of money. The system is set up and run very professionally. They are in no risk of slowing down.
The bottom line is that there is not one employee or director at ILD who is not aware that the entire company makes its profit in an immoral and unethical manner. Sure, maybe an ILD rep talks to themselves in the mirror and tries to justify themselves – but the majority have surely consigned themselves to the fact that they are one of the “bad guys”.
If ILD had any sense of justice they would simply stop doing billing for any company that gets more than a few complaints. But they don’t.
Why?
Because ILD would cease to exist were it not for the profit they make from old fashioned phone cramming. They know it, we know it, and the phone companies know it. The fundamentally evil practice of ripping people off on their phone bills is the life-blood of ILD.
I am sure that an ILD rep will vomit out yet another platitude ie; “ILD doesn’t rip-off people – its the other companies that rip-off people”. That sounds a lot like the old “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”.
Well guess what ILD? YOU are gun merchants.
You are a vital link in a process that makes thousands of people miserable. You help to drain the meager resources of countless well meaning folks from all walks of life. You are particularly adept at victimizing the elderly. You CAN NOT separate yourself from the horrible cycle you are part of.
In a nutshell:
If you work for ILD in any capacity, you are quite simply a bad person. You might not be fully evil, but you ARE truly part of the dark side of daily life. Everything you do that helps ILD hurts an innocent person somewhere else. You are earning a salary by taking part in a scam that verges on the demonic.
I suggest that you turn your life around, and get out while you can. I am not saying that you are doomed to hell for supporting ILD. I am only suggesting that “karma” can sometimes strike with great force.
It would be a ghastly scene if the Directors of ILD one day faced the wrath of all the people they have harmed.
On one hand, I wish that would happen.
On the other hand, I say “God protect them from the punishment they deserve”.
I wonder what it feels like to know that every day you turn countless smiles into frowns, that every night thousands of people pray for you to fail, and that every minute someone curses your name.
Mike from NY
January 4th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
122My mothers business phone which she had for over 30 years was charged twice this month. one for 50.00 and the other for 49.99.
My mom doesnt know how to use the internet and doesnt not write or speak english well and did not order anything from anyone, this was all due to a telemarketer calling as a verizon representative. After she said no they called back and harassed her some more.
I called verizon and they told me that they are powerless in stopping this sort of thing, as explained by reno in the above posts. But I can put a block agaisnt third party charges which I asked them to do. They also said I dont have to pay the third party charge and to just pay the phone bill and he will note the account. I had to call the third party billing to have them refund the cancell and refund the charges.
First charge was ILD billing for Connect to purpose(CTP). ILD said they would issue a credit within 3 business cycles and then I wanted someone to yell at so they gave me CTP number. Connect to purpose’s number was a phone service apparently and stated they were not part of CTP and they would not even tell me what state they were in, but they asked me for my name and number so someone can return my call. I refused and ask for thier information. Which they will not give me. Not the state thier in , thier company name, nothing..its all bogus. I told her legit companies do not with hold this type of information.
ILD Number is 1800 433 4518
Connect to purpose 1866 230 8916
The next one is:
OAN billing for Digital Service Group(DSG) for webhosting setup. Again we didnot order anything. OAN said they cuold not help me they were the third party and said I would have to call DSG and gave me thier phone number. I called them and they agreed to cancel and credit the charges within 3 billing cycles. I called them thieves and that they were committing fraud…except thier not using a credit card. They were using my phone bill. The representative said that they could only take care of the charge and they could not let me speak to a manager. There wasnt one available. She knew all this without putting me on hold to check if anyone was available. Again not information was given…what state thier in nothing.
OAN 1800-944-0171
Digital Services Group 1800 787 7758
I reconmend telling your family and friends about requesting your phone company to block third party charges.
This is definetly fraud and what does the goverment do, they fine these companies instead of stopping them. Its like where is my share! As I see it some of these post are from 2007 and this just happen to my mom in december of 2009. Why is this company still allowed to do this, no regulations!!! No preventative measures in place. If you commit fraud on a charge card you can go to jail, its a fellony but if you do it through someones phone bill, well its not a crime.
Good luck all…I guess you have to take hours of your time contacting these people and then file a complain.
Mike from NY
January 4th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
123RENO,
ILD Teleservice website info was informative. Easy billing means easy to commit fraud. NO requirements or regulations in place huh. It should be a felony.