An interesting question was brought up over at the Consumer Law & Policy blog yesterday. There is a legal gray area when it comes to debt collectors and voice mail or answering machines. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act was enacted in 1977, when answering machines were not in common use. According to Jeff Sovern, debt collectors reach a legal dilemma when faced with such a device.
telephony
Helio Call Centers Still Staffed By Nincompoops
By 6.7.07
Not only does virtual cellphone carrier Helio work by piggybacking off Sprint’s network, it seems to have leased their call centers’ famous dedication to customer service as well.
Make Affordable Cellphone Calls While Travelling Internationally
By 6.5.07
Cellphone bills can put a serious crimp in your wallet if you’re an international man of mysteriousness. Here’s some ideas on making wireless calls without dropping too many deutschmarks:
Verizon Retail Salespeople Randomly Access Your Account, Add Features
By 5.30.07
Christy is upset. She got a call from a strange Verizon sales rep who claimed he had sold her a phone. (He didn’t.) The stranger told her that she could have VCast free for one month. She declined.
Watch Out For This Cellphone Scam
By 5.23.07
Be wary of people calling your cellphone claiming to be from your service provider and offering to upgrade your phone packages. They may actually be independent dealers trying to make a quick buck.
8 Interviews With A Sprint Mole
By 5.22.07
Back in February, we posted a series of conversations we had with a very knowledgeable Sprint insider (he still has his job, by the way). Here’s a limited collector’s edition box set of our eight chats.
Alltel Going Private, Bought Out For $27.5 Billion
By 5.21.07
Big news for 12 million Alltel Wireless subscribers, Alltel has been bought out for $27.5 billion and will be taken private by its new owners. From SmartMoney:
The deal must be approved by Alltel’s shareholders and by regulators. It is expected to close by March 2008.
Vonage Is Like, "We Are Totally Working Around Those Verizon Patents, OK?"
By 5.16.07
We’re not sure if it’s hip to be on Team Vonage, but to hell with it. We are. At least, we’d like them to stay in business so they can worry about things like improving their crap customer service and not “Oh God, are we going to be able to feed Tiny Tim this Christmas?” We’re pro-capitalism like that. Anyhow, we’re pleased to announce that Vonage claims to be able to work around Verizon’s parents.
Walmart To Sell Skype Gear
By 5.14.07
“We think there will be a lot of Wal-Mart shoppers who will not be familiar with Skype,” said Don Albert, general manager for Skype North America, a unit of eBay Inc.
Free Skype Today
By 5.13.07
Not calling home on Mother’s Day because it’s too expensive? Skype’s got you covered.
If you’re in the US or Canada, Skype’s giving you unlimited calling from 5am EST on May 13 to 4:49am EST on May 14 to ring up your mom, your sister, or just random numbers in India.
This is the perfect opportunity to practice recording calls with Skype, especially if you’re calling random numbers in India. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER
Cingular Admits Store Salesmen Add On Features You Didn't Ask For, Just To Make More Commission
By 5.11.07
Matt’s voicemail stopped working so he called up Cingular to get it fixed, and while he was there he had them check out the rest of his account to make sure everything was ok, but they found something disturbing.
Confirmation: GrandCentral + TMobile = Cheap Incoming Phone Calls
By 5.9.07
You can get cheap calls on your T-mobile plan by hooking it up with Grand Central, reader Noah’s T-mobile bill confirms.
Materially Adverse Clauses For All Major Cellphones – So You Can Escape Contract Without Termination Fee
By 5.9.07
Here’s a roundup of all the contract clauses regarding “materially adverse changes” for all the major cellphone carriers. When they starting charging new fees or raise the price of a service, you can use this section to argue that you need to be let out of contract without early termination fee….
Verizon's New Surcharge For Calling Mexico Means It's Contract Cancel Party Time?
By 5.9.07
Materially adverse changes to contract mean the contract is void. Is Verizon’s new surcharge for calling Mexico a materially adverse change? The following was included in customer’s April Verizon Wireless bill:
Top Verizon Stories
By 5.7.07
“Just before Poodleman filed a motion to seize Verizon’s property, he received a check from the company….Perhaps it was better for everyone involved that Verizon paid Poodleman, as it might have been a bit difficult for the sheriff to arrest an entire company.”
Verizon Keeps Making Up Contract law To Prevent Customers From Cancelling Without Penalty
By 5.7.07
Michael tried to cancel Verizon without early termination fee because they raised the basic text messaging rate from .10-.15 dollars. Two customer service reps approved the disconnect without fee, but then it got rejected by the disconnect department. Their reason was that 1) 60 days had passed since the notice of the change was sent out and 2) Since Michael hadn’t used “enough” of the text messages, the change wasn’t materially adverse.
AT&T Disconnecting CallVantage Subscribers That Can't Access E911
By 5.6.07
AT&T is firing VoIP customers who live in areas not served by E911. The letters to CallVantage subscribers were sent over the past two weeks and read, “All customers who currently have A911 service must be moved to E911 service (where available) or their AT&T CallVantage service will be disconnected.” If E911 is unavailable, service is suspended effective May 21.
