Unauthorized Charges on Your Local Phone

Consumer Tips

For all you dial-up Internet users, make sure that dialing your “logon” number is a local call (within about 15 miles from your home). If it's not, you'll get slapped with a "Local Toll" rate, 16 cents or more for every minute you surf the web. Check with your phone company or CUB to see if your dial-up number is a local or local toll call.

2. Leave lights on or turn them off?

There’s a myth that says you expend more energy by turning lights on and off so it’s better to leave them on even if you leave the room. Not true--even for energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). Save the energy!

3. Utility security deposits

If you are a residential customer who has had continuous service with a gas or electric company for more than two years, the company cannot demand a security deposit from you—regardless of how many late payments you’ve made. The exceptions to this rule are if you have tampered with utility equipment (or benefited from tampering) or if you have been disconnected.

4. Read the fine print before purchasing a pre-paid phone card

Before buying a prepaid phone card, read the fine print to determine if the card has any restrictions, such as an expiration date or no in-state calls. The card should have clear instructions, and it should display a toll-free number you can call if there are problems. Give the number a call. A busy signal could be a bad sign. Try this: buy the smallest amount of calling time possible to test the card and see if the deal is all it's cracked up to be. And don't settle for a rate that's more than a nickel per minute. In fact you should be able to find rates for four cents per minute or less.

5. Beware of fixed-rate calling plans

You probably can do without an expensive “fixed-rate” plan that covers a lot of calls and extra features, such as voice mail, for a set monthly fee. Usually, such plans are best for people who make several hours of calls each month and need many features. One exception is AT&T's “Consumer's Choice” local calling plans, which CUB designed as part of a legal settlement with the phone company. These plans can save most Chicago-area consumers money. To learn more about Consumer’s Choice Basic, Consumer’s Choice Extra, and Consumer’s Choice Plus — call our special Phone-savings Hotline: 1-866-688-4282. Please note that these plans cover LOCAL calls only, roughly 0-15 miles from your home. You can shop for low rates for “local toll” and long-distance calls.

6. Drop Line-Backer

Line-Backer is an AT&T insurance plan that, for a monthly fee, covers repairs to the phone wires inside the walls of your home. However, most telephone problems are not caused by the inside wiring. In fact, such repairs are needed, on average, about once every 30 years. Drop Line-Backer! Your annual savings would cover any “inside-wire” repairs, in the rare event you need them. (Special note to apartment dwellers: It’s likely that your landlord or landlady would cover such repairs. Ask!)

7. Don’t pay more than a nickel a minute for long distance/local toll calls

There are hundreds of long-distance plans out there, but you shouldn’t settle for paying more than a nickel per minute. In fact, you can find a lot of plans for four cents per minute or less. Go to CUB’s Long-distance Calculator on the Telecommunications Page of our website, www.CitizensUtilityBoard.org. Or just give us a call, 1-800-669-5556, to find out about some good long-distance deals.

8. Beware of pricey local toll calls.

Local Toll (a.k.a. local long distance) calls are those that travel roughly 15-40 miles from your home. Long-distance calls are beyond that. Don’t settle for anything more than a nickel per minute for these calls. Use CUB’s ”Real Deal Guide to Long Distance” to shop for a low-cost plan that covers both local toll and long-distance calls. If you make very few of these calls, consider dropping your local toll/long-distance plan altogether and using a prepaid calling card or 10-10 (dialaround) number. If you do this, notify your local phone company to complete the change. Your local company probably will charge you a one-time fee to drop the service. Ask your new long-distance company if it will cover that charge. Remember to read the fine print of any offer to spot hidden fees and other potential rip-offs.

9. How to dispute a utility bill

If you are disputing a charge on your gas or electric bill, first contact the utility and tell it you are formally disputing the charge and won’t pay it until the complaint is resolved. Remember, you can’t be disconnected for nonpayment as long as you pay the greater of these two options: the undisputed portion of your bill OR an amount equal to last year’s bill for the same month.

10. Don’t pay for directory assistance

There are new FREE directory assistance services. The trade-off is you may have to listen to an advertisement before you get the number. Still, you avoid fees of $1.25 to $2 per call for traditional "information." Next time you need a residential or business phone number, try dialing this free service: 1-800-FREE411. For a business-only search, you also can use this number: 1-800-555-TELL. Another free alternative is online directory assistance, including these sites:
www.anywho.com
www.bigbook.com
www.people.yahoo.com
www.worldpages.com
www.corp.att.com/directory

11. Saving money on local toll calls

Local toll, or local long-distance, calls are to places more than 15 miles from home, but still within your local calling region. Do you know how much you pay for them? AT&T and Verizon charge 16-17 cents per minute for such calls. That means it can be more expensive to call a place 20 miles from your home than Dublin, Ireland. You can find long-distance companies or prepaid cards that charge four cents per minute or less for such calls. If you make a lot of these calls, call CUB, 1-800-669-5556, to find a better deal for these calls.

12. Blackouts can knock out cordless phones

During a power outage cordless phones won’t work. So, unless you have a cell phone, you’ll need to have a hard-wired phone with a cord in your home to make calls during a blackout. If you’ve got an old phone, consider keeping it for such an emergency.

13. Make your cell phone a money-saving friend.

Use your cell phone to reduce your overall telecommunications costs. If you consistently have wireless minutes left at the end of a month, use them to make the Local Toll or long-distance calls you normally would make from your home landline—at extra cost to you. In fact, you may be able to drop your regular long-distance completely. Similarly, if your wireless plan comes with free voice mail, don’t pay the monthly fee for the same service on your landline. Give friends and family your cell phone number and tell them to leave messages in that voice mail box.

14. Winter does not stop gas turn offs

A gas utility can and will turn off your heat for nonpayment of bills in the winter—any time the temperature is expected to stay above 32 degrees for 24 hours. Sometimes, utilities choose to put a moratorium on winter disconnections—but they don’t have to.

15. Beware of natural-gas rip-offs

In northern Illinois, unregulated gas companies are allowed to compete with the traditional utility for your business. Sales representatives — who sometimes simply identify themselves as from “the gas company” — pitch their offers door to door, by mail, and over the phone. CUB has received complaints of misleading marketing and rip-offs regarding the alternative suppliers. In fact, more often than not these “deals” end up costing more money than the rates of the traditional utility. (See CUB’s Gas Market Monitor, at www.CitizensUtilityBoard.org, or call CUB.) Unless you’ve taken a day to read the fine print and are positive you like the offer, we recommend that you don’t sign up for something over the phone or at the door and don’t give out your account number. To be safe, ask if your utility can put a free block on your account to prevent unauthorized changes to your service.

16. Budget billing plans can ease handling of winter bills

If you would like to even out your heating bills and prevent drastic month-to-month increases in the winter, your utility offers a “budget” plan. With one exception, this program costs nothing extra for gas customers.* The utility estimates how much gas you are going to use in the coming year and assigns you a monthly budget-billing amount, based on how much gas you used last year, gas-price predictions, and weather forecasts. The utility will adjust the amount if your usage increases or the price of gas shoots up. At the end of the year, you will receive a credit if the company overestimated your usage or you will be billed the difference if the company underestimated your usage. Nicor customers beware. Two unregulated affiliates of Nicor Gas market plans, called “Fixed Bill” and “Lock 12,” sound very similar to the budget-billing plan, but they’re not the same. In fact, they pose a high risk that you will pay much more than on Nicor Gas’ budget plan.

*Note: Unlike any other utility in the state, Nicor Gas charges interest on any debits that you build up under its budget plan. (It also pays interest on any credits.)

17. Save heat, save money

Buy a programmable thermostat and set it at 68 degrees for the day and 62 degrees at bedtime. In most homes, you can save about 2 percent of your heating bill for each degree that you lower the thermostat. (NEVER turn your heat so low that it’s a health risk or turn your heat off completely. That will lead to frozen pipes and high repair bills if they burst.) Set your water heater to 120 degrees and cover it with an insulating blanket. Buy highly efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs. Caulk leaky windows and insulate openings around air conditioner window units. Close doors to rooms you’re not using, and consider heavy drapery and plastic window coverings. Finally, have a heating contractor perform an “audit” to determine how to heat your home more efficiently. Check out more tips in CUB’s fact sheet, “Saving Money by Saving Energy,” on our website’s Electric and Natural Gas pages.

18. Be wary of gas-pipe maintenance plans

Your utility may try to sell you a pipe-maintenance plan, even if you don’t need it. An affiliate of Nicor Gas, for example, offers a $4 per month plan called “Comfort Guard” that covers repairs to exposed gas pipes, including the connector that links appliances to the main gas line. An affiliate of Peoples Gas offers a similar program, “Protection Plus,” at $3 a month. For some people — especially those whose homes have potentially dangerous uncoated brass connectors installed before 1980 — such a repair program may be helpful. However, for many others it may just be a waste of money. If the old brass connectors have already been replaced in your home, the new plastic connectors should last a lifetime. If your house still needs them replaced, a home warranty may cover the work. Finally, Comfort Guard and Protection Plus don’t cover renters. Before signing up, read the fine print and determine exactly what the plan does and does not cover.

19. Buy CFLs

Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs (CFLs) use 75 percent less energy. CUB estimates that one bulb can save a consumer at least $11 a year. So installing 10 in your home could easily lead to more than $100 in savings. Check out more tips in CUB’s fact sheet, “Saving Money by Saving Energy,” on our website’s Electric and Natural Gas pages.

Unauthorized Charges on Your Local Phone - Utility

Monday, July 25, 2011

Consumer Tips

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