NY- It pays to scrutinize your telephone bill – just ask Robert Bell.
The 60-year-old financial analyst recently spotted an unexpected $7.22 charge on his Verizon bill. It was for an eight-minute collect call made in September from an Annapolis, Md., payphone to his home office in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
Bell says he and his family never accepted – or were even asked to accept – the phantom call.
A Post investigation revealed that tens of thousands of people have found similar bogus charges on their phone bills.
The mystery charge to Bell’s Verizon bill was added by OAN Services Inc. on behalf of Nationwide Connections Inc., a collection agency for payphones across America.
Verizon bills customers on behalf of OAN and is compensated on a per-charge basis.
Upon checking prior bills, Bell found a $6.64 charge by OAN to the same line for a March call he also never accepted – one that originated from a Nationwide payphone in Durham, N.C., that is no longer in service.
While Bell was reimbursed after complaining to OAN, the Better Business Bureau estimates there could be tens of thousands of consumers throughout America who are victims of OAN and Nationwide’s “scams” and don’t even know it.
The Post uncovered thousands of complaints against OAN, Nation- wide and some of its affiliated companies on consumer Web sites like scambusters.org and ripoffreport.com.
As with Bell’s allegations, most of the complaints accuse OAN and Nationwide of “cramming,” an illegal practice wherein charges are added to a phone bill without the customer’s consent.
“This is the classic case of companies cramming people for collect calls and other bogus phone charges. It’s criminal,” said Brodie White, president of the Better Business Bureau’s southeast Florida office, which is reviewing OAN’s and Nationwide’s practices.
Messages left for officials at OAN and Nationwide were not returned.
Verizon spokeswoman Lark-Marie Anton said her company would investigate OAN and drop the company as a client if it is found to be cheating Verizon customers. She said she was unaware of any previous complaints against OAN.
In the past three years, the Better Business Bureau has received 517 consumer inquires about OAN and Nationwide, records show. It has processed 12 complaints against Nationwide since January and eight against OAN.
When told by a reporter that the bureau passed on the complaints to Verizon, Bell was infuriated.
“If they were knowingly gaming their customer base with fraudulent charges, the senior management of Verizon should be wearing handcuffs and orange jump suits,” Bell said.