Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation was among the first to report that AT&T has added on yet another charge to its dollar-socked customers. Readers of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Dave Lieber Watchdog column first learned the news. Here it is:

For years, consumers have complained about extra third-party charges on their phone bills. Adding unauthorized charges is called cramming. The government says Americans pay hundreds of millions of dollars in extra charges for services never used. Cramming is annoying and illegal.

Recently, the Federal Communications Commission announced that it wants phone companies to clearly identify and separately list any third-party charges on bills. That’s fair enough. Consumers can also ask their phone company to block third-party charges permanently on their account.

But what if those annoying charges on your phone bill don’t come from a third party? What if they come from the phone company itself?

That’s what two AT&T customers claim after they discovered that last month AT&T quietly changed its basic long-distance plan for customers who rarely make such calls on their residential phones.

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Remember that after deregulation years ago, customers could select a local phone service company and a separate long-distance company. Now, though, most cellphone plans offer free long-distance. Many residential customers no longer use their land lines for long-distance.

When AT&T residential customers without a long-distance service occasionally used their AT&T land line to make a long-distance call, the charge was usually a whopping 39 cents a minute.

Now, use a land line or not for a long-distance call, residential customers face a minimum $2 charge.

AT&T’s new basic long-distance plan is a bit complicated, so permit me to quote AT&T spokeswoman Carrie Corey in full:

“Beginning on June 14th, we added a minimum usage fee of $2 a month for AT&T Long Distance customers who have not chosen a domestic calling plan and whose current long distance rate is 39 cents per minute.

“If a customer uses $2 or more in domestic direct dialed long distance calling minutes during the month, the fee is waived.

“Also, if a customer’s domestic long distance usage is less than $2 for the month, the minimum usage fee will be reduced for the difference. For example, if a customer’s usage is $1.56, the fee will be 44 cents.

“Also, customers will not see this charge reflected in their bill if they have six-plus minutes a month. Customers on calling plans other than basic long distance will not be impacted.

“AT&T implemented this change in order to provide our customers with basic long-distance service, including account maintenance — even if no calls are made. This charge allows us to continue providing affordable service to our low-usage long-distance callers.”

I checked with Verizon, and that company also assesses a monthly recurring charge along with minimum usage requirements on its long-distance plans.

“This practice makes sure that all long-distance customers contribute to the cost of maintaining the network,” a Verizon spokeswoman explained.

When customer Darlene Grantland of North Richland Hills alerted me about the new charge, she said her long-distance bill went from zero to $5.26 in one month.

“I don’t want long-distance,” she said. “I have a cellphone for that.”

She’s angry that “customers have to pay for a service they don’t require or want.”

“Quite a profit for AT&T,” she added.

John Cotter of Fort Worth complained that taxes and fees are thrown on top of the $2 monthly minimum.

“I feel something is grossly wrong, and this is consumer abuse,” he says.

Watchdog Tip: Even if you use AT&T for local service, you don’t have to use the company’s long-distance plans. Hundreds of companies offer competing plans.

Be forewarned. Research a company before signing up. The Watchdog sporadically receives consumer complaints about little-known long-distance companies that don’t keep promises. So check a company’s complaint record on the Internet and read the terms and conditions before signing up

Final note:  Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation depends on readers to help supply further information on subjects I cover. So thanks to Heath Parker for discovering another alternative to handling AT&T’s recent decision to start charging a minimum fee to customers who don’t have long-distance service but still occasionally make long-distance calls.

“Instead of trying to switch companies for something I don’t use, I just had them deactivate long-distance service on my phone altogether,” he explains. “That way, I don’t have to worry about the next company doing the same thing to me somewhere down the line.”

Can long-distance service be canceled? “That’s correct,” an AT&T spokeswoman says. “You can choose another long-distance provider, or you can eliminate long-distance from your phone.”

And you can still use it for free on your cellphone if your plan allows.

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 Dave Lieber shows Americans how to fight back against corporate deceptions in his wonderful book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong. Are you tired of losing time, money and aggravation to all the assaults on our wallets? Learn how to fight back with ease — and win. Get the book here.

Read The Watchdog Nation manifesto here!

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Treva Fellman was in a fix. She didn’t know what to do so she contacted Watchdog Nation. What’s important here is how you can fix this kind of problem yourself. Follow her story, which first appeared in the in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Dave Lieber Watchdog column.

 Dear Watchdog Nation:

 In February, I filed my taxes, and for my refund check, I accidentally used my account number at Prosperity Bank that I had closed in 2009. I called the bank. They explained that the funds would have to be requested back from the IRS.

After several weeks I received a call from the IRS saying that the funds were deposited into an account at Prosperity and were spent and the IRS was no longer involved. I was shocked.

I called Prosperity, which explained that the funds went into an account NOT under my name and were spent, and they were not liable.

Now they are all saying I should try to get the person who spent the money, but neither the IRS nor the bank will give me the name of who that person is.

So bottom line is my tax refund of $13,400 was deposited into an account that I closed but was given to another person during a bank merger. The funds were spent unethically by that person, and I have no way to get the funds back or who to contact to help me.

– Treva Fellman, Spring, Texas

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Dear Treva:

When it comes to numbers, we all make mistakes. But I wonder who made the bigger mistake here.

Was it you? Or was it the bank that merged and had two accounts with the same number, although one was inactive? Or was it the bank that incorrectly sent you back to the IRS?

Or was it the person who woke up one day and found $13,000 in his or her bank account and spent half before disappearing?

Well, no matter. The Watchdog went to work to get your money back.

The good news is that you solved half the problem yourself when you filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. The BBB informed you that the bank had decided to send half the money back to the IRS to forward to you. Good job.

But what about the rest? In its explanatory note to the BBB, Prosperity’s Executive Vice President Michael Harris said the bank was not responsible for the other $6,300.

“Unfortunately, the customer that received Mrs. Fellman’s deposit has not been forthcoming in trying to resolve the problem. In fact, all activity has ceased and the account is at a zero balance.”

He cited federal rules that a bank must accept a check when presented and may rely solely on the account number for the deposit. “Accordingly, there was no bank error when posting this transaction,” he informed the BBB.

He added, “We suggest that she contact law enforcement about filing a report. We would be more than willing to assist with that process to the extent possible.”

The Watchdog contacted the Sugar Land-based bank on your behalf. Dan Rollins, the president and chief operating officer, said he couldn’t speak about your problem because of privacy laws.

“However, I can report that we have responded directly to the consumer (including suggestions on steps to take to help resolve the issue and copies of the applicable banking laws and regulations) about her concerns,” he wrote.

I informed him that I would get you to sign a privacy waiver so he could talk to The Watchdog. Rollins didn’t answer.

However, a day after my note to him, you received another call from the bank informing you that the bank had changed its position.

Prosperity promised to return the remaining $6,300 to the IRS. The bank decided that it would chase the other account holder for the money.

Why the change? A bank official told you that Rollins had a better understanding of the situation.

Now your remaining problem is getting the IRS to refund you the full $13,400. For some reason, the IRS is slow about this. Every week you call and you get a different person. Nobody knows anything.

Here’s what to do in a situation like this. First, find out a bank’s regulator so you can file a complaint. I use this website –www.ffiec.gov/consumercenter/default.aspx – which says Prosperity’s regulator is the FDIC.

I contacted the FDIC, which said it usually takes about 60 days to resolve complaints.

Second, although the IRS has no responsibility to help you in a situation like this, Form 3911 can be used for refund problems. At least that gets your issue into the proper IRS channels.

Bottom line: You made a mistake, but the bank did, too. Lucky for you.

# # #

Dave Lieber shows Americans how to fight back against corporate deceptions in his wonderful book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong. Are you tired of losing time, money and aggravation to all the assaults on our wallets? Learn how to fight back with ease — and win. Get the book here.

Read The Watchdog Nation manifesto here!

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From Watchdog Nation founder Dave Lieber:

I always told Ruth Wingfield of Arlington that she was the oldest citizen of my Watchdog Nation.

I met her when she was 98. She accidentally wrote a check to her insurance company for $480 when she meant to write $4.80. The company was in no hurry to give her money back. Read that Watchdog Nation report here.

I taught her what to tell banks and insurance companies when they hurt her. Forever after, she shouted into her phone: “Who regulates you? I’m going to file a complaint.”

At her 100th birthday party, I took this video of Ruth Wingfield. Please watch. She’s so wonderful. Here’s a report of her 100th birthday party, too.

She died on Sept. 3, 2011 at age 101.

She always called me Dogpatch Guy.

I always called her my favorite.

Ruth Wingfield, at her 100th birthday party, and the dude she called "Dogpatch Guy"

Are you tired of fighting the bank, the credit card company, the electric company and the phone company? They can be worse than scammers the way they treat customers. A popular book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, shows you how to fight back — and win! The book is available at WatchdogNation.com as a hardcover, CD audio book, e-book and hey, what else do you need? The author is The Watchdog columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Visit our store. Now revised and expanded, the book won two national book awards for social change. Twitter @DaveLieber

Visit Watchdog Nation Headquarters

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Every Tuesday night, they go to the church off East Rosedale Street to learn how to make money. Every Tuesday night, they hear about the Bless 7 plan to recruit new members and get paid for doing so. And every Tuesday night, they hear explanations about why they aren’t getting paid.

But one recent Tuesday night was different.

On this night, a rebellion seemed to be in the making.

The instigator was Adrian Durand, a small-business owner who, with friends and family, said he has invested about $1,400 in Bless 7, part of TeachingU2Fish.com.

He had met the program’s charismatic leader, Donald D. Wilson Jr., 53, of Florida, and liked what he heard about the program now sweeping through African-American communities in Fort Worth and Dallas.

Donald Wilson, founder and CEO of Bless 7, part of TeachingU2Fish

“I was coming to the meetings faithfully,” Durand says. “I signed up 14 people.”

He needed seven to get his first payment, his Bless 7.

When payday came, suddenly his list of 14 had dropped below seven, he said. He couldn’t get paid. Where did his people go?

As readers of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Dave Lieber Watchdog column first learned, Wilson has blamed computer problems. (Read the original story about Bless 7/TeachingU2Fish here.)

That Tuesday night, Durand was standing outside the church, practically pawing the ground like an angry tiger.

He said he planned to speak up inside.

“At the stage I’m at, I’m supposed to be making $350 a day,” he said. “I haven’t made $3.50 a day.”

Organizers say 6,000 people have joined. At a minimum of $32 to enter, that’s $192,000 collected in a few months of work. But many, like Durand, paid more than $32 to enter at a higher level.

Durand said he should have known better but ignored clues.

One, Durand said, is that Wilson claims to be rich but his shoes are a little ragged. Shoes give clues, Durand said.

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Another clue, he said, is that Bless 7 recruitment meetings are held weekly in a Dallas hotel. During one, Durand said, organizers passed a collection plate to pay for the room.

Bless 7 has a money-back guarantee. That night, Durand said he intended to make good on it.

Twenty people were already in the church when Durand joined them. He grabbed a seat in the front row. Pastor Elgin Pringle Jr., who runs the church and is Bless 7′s Fort Worth manager, led the meeting. He told the audience that Wilson is on the road, spreading the promises of Bless 7 to others.

Pringle explained that the program has stopped temporarily because of glitches. That’s why no one is getting paid. But Friday looks good, he said. Maybe Friday.

“Let’s take what God has blessed through TeachingU2Fish and make it happen,” he said happily.

Durand raised his hand. In a barely audible voice, he complained that people he signs up disappear from his list.

Pringle started to answer, but Durand cut him off. His voice was rising. “I give up. I’m done. Every time we get to the point of paying on Friday, there’s another excuse. I’m done with excuses. I’m here to get my money back …

“I feel like a fool that I brought family and friends into this. I felt in my heart that this was how I was going to bless my family, my church, my friends and a homeless ministry where I work.”

Pringle told Durand that he will work to get his money back. “Call me tomorrow,” he said.

Durand responded that he can’t get him on the phone. “Your voice mailbox is always full.”

Saying he can’t take anymore, Durand got up and left. Too bad. He missed seeing the growth that burst forth after he planted seeds of doubt.

A man in the audience said he paid for his recruits but hadn’t been paid either. “I just have to ask for my money back, too. I’m trying to hold on, but it’s kind of hard.”

A woman asked Pringle whether he has had problems getting paid. Pringle answered that he’s in the same fix.

Another man said he believes there are too many members for computer programmers to handle. A woman asked whether she should stop recruiting.

“That’s a good question,” Pringle said. “I’ll let Wilson answer that.”

Another woman complained that she is being asked to pay more for something she already paid for. “That’s not right,” Pringle said.

Still, he is not deterred.

“I think September is going to be the month we get started and move forward,” he said.

A day later, Durand, as instructed, called Pringle to get his money back. Fat chance. As of the writing of this story, almost two weeks after the promise of a refund, Durand still hadn’t received anything.

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Are you tired of fighting the bank, the credit card company, the electric company and the phone company? They can be worse than scammers the way they treat customers. A popular book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, shows you how to fight back — and win! The book is available at WatchdogNation.com as a hardcover, CD audio book, e-book and hey, what else do you need? The author is The Watchdog columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Visit our store. Now revised and expanded, the book won two national book awards for social change. Twitter @DaveLieber

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Nearly every day in the Texas summer of 2011, warnings come about overuse of electricity. As readers of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Dave Lieber Watchdog column first learned, those customers on variable rate plans could get power bills that leave them boiling.

 Ryan Walton may be the canary in the coal mine when it comes to residential electric bills skyrocketing because of the heat wave.

The Arlington man is on a variable-rate plan with Dynowatt, an Ohio company. In June, he paid 9.8 cents per kilowatt-hour. In July, his variable rate jumped to 10.6 cents. But this month, the rate vaulted to 18.3 cents.

His most recent electric bill was for $1,111.

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This has happened before with Texans who chose variable-rate plans. Honestly, I don’t understand why anyone would want to take that risk.

He explains, “Two years ago, we signed a 24-month contract for about 8.9 cents. It was good. When it ran out, we went variable, and the rate actually went down. It went into the 7′s, so I thought ‘Why should I lock in?’ It’s kind of like mortgage rates. If you’re in an adjustable, if it goes up a little, you’ve got time to adjust.

“You figure it will go up 10 or 15 percent a month, and there’s time to look for other companies.” His rate shot up 72 percent on his Aug. 11 bill. “There was literally no warning. That was the big surprise.”

I called electricity market watchers to see whether other customers were having the same problem. Not yet. But sometimes smaller power companies have to jack up variable rates when they get over-leveraged in the electricity market, they said.

A Dynowatt spokesman says that is not what happened here. The heat wave led to “extraordinary volatility” for variable-rate customers.

“I am fully confident that consumers who have selected variable-priced products [with other electricity companies] will see the volatility reflected in their monthly bills,” he said.

Others are not so sure. Texas Public Utility Commission spokesman Terry Hadley recalls how some worried that spikes in power usage during February’s icy days would lead to similar jumps in residential customer rates.

“We haven’t seen that,” he said. “The rates remained low.”

Not for Walton. I checked the PUC’s rules to see whether Dynowatt played fair. State rules say that before a variable rate can go up, a monthly bill must “include a statement informing the customer how to obtain information about the price that will apply on the next bill.”

On Walton’s bill, in small print, this rule is followed: “Your variable rate may have changed pursuant to your Terms of Service. To obtain information about the price of your variable product that will appear on the next bill, please contact us.” The bill gives a phone number and elsewhere, a website.

Dynowatt may not have complied with a second rule that requires companies to include “clearly and conspicuously” these words: “Important notice regarding changes to your contract.”

I didn’t see those specific words on Walton’s bills. He can file a complaint with the PUC, which would investigate whether the company violated this rule. Walton could get a lower bill.

Dynowatt no longer offers a variable-rate plan to North Texans. The company offers several fixed-rate plans and, in its promotions, urges its remaining variable-rate customers to lock in a fixed rate.

Electricity shoppers are often attracted to variable-rate plans because the initial prices are so low. This week, on the state website powertochoose.org, I found variable rates starting at 4.5 cents. The lowest fixed rate was nearly double, at 8.1 cents.

 Walton’s case “is a really good reason why people shouldn’t take variable-rate plans,” said Carol Biedrzycki of the Texas Ratepayers Organization to Save Energy. “They’re not predictable. … To me it’s like investing in individual stocks instead of an insured bank account. You have to have the time to watch the stocks. If you don’t have time, chances are good you’re going to lose.”

Walton is chirping like that canary in the coal mine as “a warning to other people out there,” he said. “You need to read the fine print on the bill, which I didn’t do. And if you haven’t locked something in by now, you should.”

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Dave Lieber shows Americans how to fight back against corporate deceptions in his wonderful book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong. Are you tired of losing time, money and aggravation to all the assaults on our wallets? Learn how to fight back with ease — and win. Get the book here.

Read The Watchdog Nation manifesto here!

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