That bullshit's been going on since the late 90's. I know because I worked in a call center for Ameritech (now SBC, AT&T or whatever accronym they go by now a days).
Those companies get their charge on your bill when you fill out those contests. Think of the mall, super market, and other places where you enter into a 'drawing'. Well in the fine print it says you authorize it.
Anyways, long story short, they are always some bullshit company, normally out of the Carrabean like Vanatu or someplace like that. Where U.S. laws do not apply.
So.. long story short there is two things you can do. 1, call your phone comany and put a block on ANY miscellanious billing. Yes, they do have this block. It, like many other things in telco, they do not OFFER. You have to ask for it.
That block means NO company can add misc charges to your bill. They have to bill you directly.
Second, you refuse to pay all charges. They issues an.. I think it was called AM900, 500, 90, something like that. Anyways, it removes ALL CHARGES from your bill (sometimes this has to be referred to an internal group the rep should send it to) and send it back to the third party company.
This illiminates the charges from your telco, and takes them out of the equation. Now it's only you and whomever claims you owe them money fighting over it. No longer your telco, you, and the third party.
From there you can fight it how ever you want. Some roll over. Some don't and fuck up your credit. It all depends. Only thing I can guarentee is a lot of phone time.
