My telephone number is unlisted. But each month I get a bill for numerous long-distance calls made from one number in California.
In May, for example, my bill showed more than 20 operator-assisted calls made from that one California phone number to other numbers at various places in California. These calls were not made by me or anyone else in my family.
GTE Hawaiian Tel has been trustworthy and has taken my word that these are not our calls. Each month when I call I'm told we will be credited for the amount of the erroneous charges. GTE also is blocking my number at no charge to me.
Since they have both the caller's number and the number of the people being called, I would think GTE Hawaiian Tel could stop these annoying mistakes.
I have my utility bills paid by automatic bill-payer service at my bank. While GTE has been good about giving credit, it is annoying and takes my time each month to report the erroneous charges. It's also difficult to keep my records straight with these continuing charges and credits later. I could change my number but that seems like a needless expense since I'm the innocent party. Also, since this is happening on my unlisted number now, it likely could happen on any new number.
ANSWER: You're innocent and being bugged by third-party fraud calls. This is a good time to remind readers to check their telephone bills carefully each month, especially if they are paid through an automatic bill-payer service. Getting a mistake corrected becomes more and more difficult as time passes.
These third-party fraud calls shouldn't happen because the telephone operators are supposed to verify acceptance of the call by the third party to whom the bill is charged.
Calvin Tadaki, spokesman for GTE Hawaiian Tel, said some companies on the mainland don't feel the number of fraudulent calls is large enough to merit the time and expense of the operators checking with all the third parties.
As you already know, GTE Hawaiian Tel is the billing agent for your long-distance carrier. GTE will send still another report to the mainland about the calls falsely attributed to your number.
For you directly, there's apparently little GTE can do other than credit your account after you've made your monthly report of long-distance calls you did not make. GTE will continue the phone block at no charge to you as long as the problem continues. The block apparently isn't working in your case, or you wouldn't continue to be billed. Tadaki said there are certain remote areas on the mainland where the office electronic equipment is unable to recognize a phone block and then a fraudulent call can get through.
- Mahalos