Consumer complaints against the practice of slamming were the driving force behind the Senate's 99-0 vote that would prohibit the practice. Slamming refers to changing consumers' long distance carrier without their express consent. Slamming leaves consumers vulnerable and angry.
Consumers have a right to be in control of their choice of a long distance carrier.
This legislation should end the misleading marketing practices that take away a consumer's right to make that choice. The bonding requirement would end the practice of giving switchless resellers the right to get the local telephone company that does the long distance billing to consumers to bill on behalf of those resellers without having obtained a bond to protect their customers. This should help keep unscrupulous long distance resellers out of the business. In a committee hearing on slamming on which I serve, we saw that slammers can disguise their name on a phone bill. Company names like 'Phone Calls' and 'Long Distance Services' are used to create misleading bills.