Is Your Cell Phone Provider Cheating You? AGAIN!

Have you looked at your cellphone bill recently and thought, "How did my $40/month plan become $70?". You are not alone! And not in a good way. Most cellphone users have accepted overpriced plans and inflated bills. In fact, there are states within the US that see an extra 40% charge ON TOP of their monthly plan price. What was originally advertised and subscribed as a $55 plan becomes a $77 monthly bill. Wireless carriers are now taking advantage of customer's trust and have begun raising monthly prices, adding bogus fees, charging for free features, and some going as far as not providing bills.

Besides the plan price, there are a lot, A lot, A LOT of taxes and fees. No doubt, taxes and fees are everywhere, and applied to everything, from bank statements, home mortgages, taxi rides, food delivery, and it keeps going on. US cell phone taxes and fees are some of the highest in the world. With the usual state sales tax, federal wireless usage tax and fees, local municipal utility charges, and 911 surcharges being the norm an average of 12-25% is added to the monthly plan charge. But wireless carries are taking advantage of the normalized charges by adding their own fees, and surcharges, resulting in 25-40% increase to the overall bill.

The tactic wireless providers are using is called cramming, where mobile phone carriers illegally cram unauthorized charges on your wireless bill, hiding them among the list of federally required taxes and fees. "The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) has estimated that cramming has harmed tens of millions of American households. Deception is the hallmark of cramming. Crammers often rely on confusing telephone bills to trick consumers into paying for services they did not authorize or receive, or that cost more than the consumer was led to believe.". A prime example of cramming was on public display when a major US wireless carrier was sued over charging an "administration fee" to all customers without any justification. Sadly, the US carrier was only required to pay claimants a fraction of the total charged and was allowed to continue charging the "administration fee" going forward.

What do Cramming Charges Look Like?

Cramming has taken many forms, names, and excuses. Charges are only legitimate if authorized, but are illegal if not. Look out for:

- Charges for services that are explained on your telephone bill in general terms such as "service fee," "service charge," "other fees," "voicemail," "mail server," "calling plan" and "membership."

- Charges that are added to your telephone bill every month without a clear explanation of the services provided – such as a "monthly fee" or "minimum monthly usage fee."

- Charges for specific services or products you may not have authorized, like ringtones, cell phone wallpaper, or "premium" text messages about sports scores, celebrity gossip, flirting tips or daily horoscopes.

- Charges for "additional services", "access charge", "usage fees" or "value added services" for otherwise free services such as voicemail, text messages, unlimited data, multi-media messaging services, and visual voicemail.