FCC Revises Slamming And Cramming Rules

On June 7, 2018, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) voted to amend its rules to strengthen its ability to take enforcement action against carriers that change consumers' voice service providers without permission ("slamming") or bill them for bogus charges ("cramming"). The Commission noted that while complaints have abated somewhat in recent years, slamming and cramming continues to "cause consumers myriad problems—it deprives them of their choice of providers, can increase their monthly bills and can be difficult to fix." To address these issues, the Commission codified bans on material misrepresentations on sales calls and unauthorized charges on telephone bills, and amended the existing third-party verification (TPV) process, which involves a recorded conversation between a consumer and an independent third-party.  The rule changes will go into effect on August 16, 2018. ¹