News from the Oklahoma Corporation
Commission
Phone: (405)
521-4180
IS THERE A THOUSAND DOLLAR
TELEPHONE IN YOUR HOME?
Information
in a class-action suit filed in Illinois has prompted Corporation Commissioner
Ed Apple to repeat an advisory he first gave some four years ago regarding
telephone ownership.
“According
to the lawsuit against AT&T and Lucent Technologies, there are still well
over a million Americans leasing their telephones,” said Apple. “Many of them,
if not most, are not even aware they are paying such a charge, and/or are not
aware of their options in this area. I first raised this issue in 1998, and
without commenting on the merits of the lawsuit, it nonetheless appears the
matter has not been resolved.”
Apple
says while it might seem strange such leases still exist in an era when you can
go into any one of thousands of stores and purchase a phone for a few dollars,
one must understand past history.
“Prior
to the 1984 breakup of what was known as ‘Ma Bell,’ virtually everyone leased
their telephones from the phone company.
It was simply part of life. Even after purchasing your own phone became
the norm, many, particularly among the elderly, simply didn’t understand their
interests might be better served by buying their own phone, rather than
continuing to lease. When added up over the years, the lease means some have
paid over a thousand dollars for the phone in their home.”
Corporation
Commission Consumer Services Division Director Bill Burnett says it’s possible
others are paying and don’t even know it.
“With
consumer choice comes consumer responsibility, and one of the biggest
responsibilities is to make sure you study and thoroughly understand every item
on your phone bill,” said Burnett. “Consumer Services gets calls every day from
folks who have unknowingly been paying a particular charge for some time, and
only recently discovered that fact.”
Anyone
with unresolved questions about their telephone bill can call the OCC’s
Consumer Services Division at 1-800-522-8154 or inside the OKC metro area
521-2331. Further information on
telephone/consumer issues is available on the OCC’s web site www.occ.state.ok.us
All
OCC news releases are available for review and / or downloading from the OCC
web site at www.occ.state.ok.us