Ala. Admin. Code r. 770-X-5-.16

Current through Register Vol. 42, No. 7, April 30, 2024

Section 770-X-5-.16 - Billing And Collection

(1) Telephone companies shall comply fully with the FCC's Truth in Billing requirements and all Commission rules and orders that implement the Truth in Billing requirements.

(2) Telephone companies shall not knowingly provide billing and collection for telecommunication providers that do not possess a Commission approved certificate of convenience and necessity with the associated authority to provide the service(s) to be included on the consumer bill, or, for billing aggregators or third-party providers not registered with and approved by the Commission for inclusion of their charges on consumer telephone bills. However, designated third-party providers authorized to bill for their products and/or services on the monthly bill of a telephone utility business customer, as referenced in a written contract between the customer and the telephone utility, shall be excluded from any of the registration and other requirements for third-party providers referenced herein.

(3) Third-Party Billing

(a) Definitions

1. The term "third-party provider" is defined as any entity, excluding LEC affiliates, not possessing a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity from the Commission to provide telephone services in the state of Alabama. Third-party providers' charges are included on a consumer's monthly telephone bill based on an agreement between the consumer's LEC and the third-party provider or between the consumer's LEC and a billing aggregator.

2. The term "billing aggregator" is defined as any entity that serves as the billing agent for a product or service offered by a third-party provider.

3. The following are not considered charges from third-party service providers: charges for local exchange carrier (LEC) services, charges for services associated with the LEC's bundled service offerings, charges from the LEC's affiliates, casual billing charges, charges from the subscriber's designated toll service provider to include those associated with bundled service offerings, Internet service provider and/or wireless carrier charges (if offered by the LEC or their affiliates, or the customer's designated toll carrier or their affiliates), and authorized regulatory fees, taxes, late fees, and interest charges.

4. The term "casual billing" consists of collect calls including third-party collect calls, charges from dial around toll providers, directory assistance charges, and charges for directory advertising.

(b) Third-party providers and/or their associated billing aggregators must register with and be approved by the Commission before their charges may be included on any consumer bill from telephone utilities subject to the Commission's regulatory authority. Commission approval is contingent upon acceptance of the terms, conditions, and requirements for third-party billing as referenced in the subparagraphs that follow. The Commission will identify procedures for third-party providers to register with the Commission and maintain a list of third-party providers and billing aggregators approved by the Commission via the Commission's website.

1. Third-party providers that exclusively utilize the services of a Commission approved billing aggregator as their billing agent for recovery of charges to consumers through the telephone company bill need not register separately with the Commission provided the third-party provider's billing aggregator requests separate authority for the third-party provider.

2. In addition to providing the Commission with current and accurate information about their company, the identity of clients whose charges will be included on telephone company bills, and the names (and contact information) for billing aggregator representatives that the Commission may contact directly for purposes of resolving consumer disputes, billing aggregators must register with the Commission those clients whose charges will be included on any telephone company bill. Registration will include identifying information about the client, and a description of the services that may be billed. Additionally, billing aggregators will fully disclose, to the Commission satisfaction, the method(s) utilized by the client for obtaining consumer subscription to the client's service(s) in such detail that the Commission may determine that Alabama consumers are not being subjected to cramming or other fraudulent and misleading marketing practices.

(c) Charges on telephone bills shall have sufficient detail and explanation to allow a subscriber to understand the charge's purpose and origin. Lists of fees such as "service fee," "membership," "miscellaneous," and "calling plan" are deemed insufficient detail and are not permitted. The charge should, at a minimum, describe the service, the date the service was provided to the subscriber, and the name of the service provider.

(d) A toll-free number for the third-party provider or their designated billing aggregator shall be listed on the subscriber's bill from the telephone utility so that subscribers can inquire about the nature of the charge and request redress. If the telephone utility has a contract or policy agreement with the third-party provider or their designated billing aggregator that authorizes the telephone utility to respond to consumer inquiries and to grant credits to the consumer for the third-party charges on the third-party provider's behalf, the telephone utility may alternatively list their own toll-free number for subscriber inquiries regarding the applicable third-party charges.

(e) Telephone utilities that bill for third-party providers and/or billing aggregators must indicate on the customer bill that telephone service will not be disconnected for failure to pay disputed third-party charges. Alternatively, the bill may include a statement that failure to pay a separately-identified minimum amount, which does not include any disputed third-party provider and/or billing aggregator charges, may result in disconnection of local or toll service provided a reference is included on the bill that third-party charges are not included in the minimum payment requirement. Telephone utility customer service representatives, responding to consumer inquiries regarding third-party charges, will fully disclose to consumers that their service will not be disconnected for non-payment of disputed third-party charges.

(f) LECs are required to offer their customers, upon request and free of charge, a service that blocks the inclusion of charges on the customer's telephone bill from third-party providers. Telephone companies that do not bill for third-party providers and/or billing aggregators are exempt from this requirement.

(g) LECs will not include charges from a third-party or their associated billing aggregator on the monthly bill of consumers who have subscribed to bill blocking nor will they remove a third party provider charge block without the prior verbal or written consent of the telephone subscriber.

(h) Telephone companies will remove from the consumer's telephone bill any third-party charge disputed by the consumer and reverse those charges back to their source. Telephone companies will not take any negative action against any consumer that disputes third-party charges.

(i) Third-party providers and billing aggregators will cooperate fully with any Commission investigation involving charges included on a consumer's telephone bill and will fully disclose to the Commission marketing practices/methods used for obtaining consumer subscription to their products or services. Charges may be disallowed or reduced for the following reasons:

1. When a charge for a product of service from a third-party provider initially appears on the consumer's telephone bill and the consumer disputes having subscribed to the third-party product or service; or, when the third-party provider is found to have overcharged the customer for the product or services.

2. When the Commission, upon investigation, determines that fraudulent, deceptive, or misleading practices were utilized by the third-party provider to obtain the consumer's subscription for the product or service, or when the Commission determines that the product or service has been misrepresented or otherwise marketed to the consumer using exaggerated claims.

(j) The Commission does not consider consumer payment for charges included on their telephone bill as acknowledgment that a consumer consents to or accepts the products or services offered by third-party providers.

1. When a consumer disputes charges from a third-party provider, the Commission may, upon investigation referenced in 770-X-5-.16, determine that the charge(s) should be reduced or disallowed due to third-party provider billing error or for reasons of fraudulent, deceptive, or misleading practices used to obtain the customer's subscription for products or services. For such overcharges, the Commission expects third-party providers to comply with the provisions of Commission Telephone Rule 770-X-5-.05(c)(6), which requires telephone utilities to refund all over-billed charges collected from the consumer for up to thirty-six (36) months prior to the date of the customer's objection and to cancel the customer's subscription for the third-party provider's products or services.

2. In those situations where Commission investigation, per 770-X-5-.16, determines that no fraudulent, deceptive, or misleading practices were utilized by the third-party provider to obtain the customer's subscription for products or services and/or the customer was not otherwise overcharged due to billing error, the Commission expects third-party providers or their billing aggregators, upon customer request, to remove disputed and unpaid charges for the current billing period and, at the third-party provider's discretion, to refund or credit to the customer's telephone utility bill, all or a portion of disputed charges for any previous billing periods. Additionally, the Commission expects third-party providers to cancel the customer's subscription for the third-party provider's products or services at the customer's request. This requirement is in no way intended to discourage third-party providers or their billing aggregators from collecting for products and services used by the telephone utility customer or from negotiating with the customer to continue the provision of their products or services to the customer based on terms mutually agreeable to both the third-party provider and the telephone utility customer.

3. The Commission expects refunds due the telephone utility customer to be received by the customer within sixty (60) days of dispute resolution or, alternatively, credited to the customer's monthly telephone bill within sixty (60) days of dispute resolution, if such credits are authorized by the customer's telephone utility based on agreement with the third-party provider or their billing aggregator. The Commission expects that third-party providers and/or billing aggregators will not initiate any negative credit reporting action against the consumer for any refunds, credits, or cancellation of charges referenced herein but in no way discourages third-party providers from pursuing redress from the telephone utility customer for other unpaid charges.

(k) Third-party providers and/or billing aggregators that fail to maintain updated registration information with the Commission, fail to comply with Commission rules and Orders related to third-party billing practices, or, after investigation by the Commission, are determined to be involved in cramming, fraudulent, deceptive, or misleading marketing practices and/or failing to promptly and adequately address Commission and/or consumer inquiries and refunds, are subject to withdrawal of the Commission's approval for telephone utilities to include the third-party provider's charges on telephone utility customer bills.

1. The Commission will notify the third-party provider and/or their billing aggregator in writing of the Commission's intent to reconsider their approval status along with the reasons for the action, and will provide the third-party provider and/or their billing aggregator an opportunity to respond in writing, or by hearing, before taking formal action to withdraw the Commission's approval to include their charges on the customer bills of Alabama telephone utilities.

2. Withdrawal of authority for third-party providers to include their charges on telephone utility monthly bills will be by Commission Order with a minimum thirty (30) days notice before the withdrawal becomes effective, allowing telephone utilities sufficient prior notice of the Commission action.

(l) Third-party providers and/or billing aggregators whose approval is withdrawn by the Commission are not authorized to utilize telephone company bills to collect charges from consumers. Third-party providers and/or billing aggregators whose approval has been withdrawn may request subsequent Commission approval. Such approval may be granted based on satisfactory resolution of the issues that led to the approval being withdrawn.

(m) Telephone companies are responsible for verifying that third-party providers and billing aggregators have Commission approval before including charges from these entities on any customer bill. Additionally, telephone companies that include charges from third-party providers on their customer's monthly bills will publish in a prominent section of the telephone directory; or alternatively, at least annually via bill message or bill insert with the consumer's bill, information concerning the procedures for disputing third-party provider charges and for obtaining free, third-party bill blocking service.

Ala. Admin. Code r. 770-X-5-.16

Effective June 1968. Amended April 1988. Amended November 1998. Amended June 2008. Amended November 2008. Amended December 2008. Filed with LRS February 5, 2013. Filed for Codification in the Alabama Administrative Code by the Alabama Public Service Commission on February 5, 2013, pursuant to the Code of Ala. 1975, § 41-22-7.

Author: Alabama Public Service Commission

Statutory Authority:Code of Ala. 1975, §§ 37-1-57, 37-2-3.