Telephone scam

[David Fibush]

This has been sent by email to:

GTE Customer Support
Federal Trade Commission
Several local TV stations

We run a fairly high phone bill a month, often over $100. It had been
getting better but lately has been high again. Did I check to see why
it was running so high. No, and that was very dumb. My wife uses the
phone a lot and we travel and use our phone credit card so I just
thought it was general usage.

For eight months we have been charged $44.95 for "a personal 800
number and voicemail". We never asked for it and have never used it.
We haven't a clue what the 800 number even is.

The bill shows up with our GTE phone bill. The billing company is
USP&C and they are submitting the bill for ASP Telecom Inc. USP&C has
an 800 number which is on the bill, 800-449-1054. I called them and
told them we never asked for or used the service. They agreed to
credit us for the eight months. (That should tell you something.) They
also gave me the number for ASP Telecom, 800-647-6431. If you call
that number you are told "if you are under 18 please hang up" then you
are given options "1 to subscribe" or "2 if you are a member or wish
to reach a member". There is no way to talk to a real person. USP&C
also said "if you call the number you may get subscribed again", that
should tell you something too.

Perhaps I am the only one with a large phone bill that is dumb enough
not to check it carefully but I suspect there are others. I know there
are lots of scams around and the public needs to know about this and I
am sure you can help.

I will be glad to give you copies of the bills and discuss this matter
further if you wish.

Regards,

David K. Fibush

The address for USP&C is
P.O. Box 11660
Kansas City, MO
64138

The address for ASP Telecom is
3420 Pump Rd
Suite 260
Richmond, VA
23233