The 900 Number - Telecommunications
The Legal and Ethical Overview of the 900 Number Business
FCC rule in regards to children clearing states that a child must have the parental permission to make these calls if the children is under the age of 18. (FTC 1996)
In the Case of the Kettle Home regarding the $500.00 delinquency on their phone bill, the Kettles reported the dispute within the time frame, however the children didn't have their grandparents permission to make these calls. The ethically thing would be to reverse the charges for the Kettles and put a 900 block on their service free of charge. This is a standard that has been adapted in Canada and this is what phone companies in the United States should do. (CRTC, 2005)
In order for our local phone companies to be ethically and morally correct, I would recommend the board of directors of a local phone company that we make courtesy calls once a consumers phone bill reached over $100.00 in fees due to 900 number calling. I would also recommended that they adapt something similar to that in Canada that we offer to those that is clearly did not make the calls or children not having permission we reverse the charge one time, and put a free block on their phone. FCC requires that we only offer this block as a reasonable rate, however I feel we would be doing a great service to customers if we offered this block free of charge.
References:
Federal Trade Commission, December 1996, "900 Numbers, FTC rule helps consumers", [Electronic Version] retrieved on January 13, 2006 from http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/tmarkg/nine.htm
CRTC, March 30, 2005, "CRTC Improves Consumer Safeguards for 1-900 Services". [Electronic Version] retrieved on January 13, 2005 from http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/NEWS/RELEASES/2005/r050330.htm
Published by Sheri Taylor
As a Single Parent, I've become a master of multi-tasking. I've worked in Managment for over 10 years and graduted with a BS of 3.92 GPA. I'm proof it can be done. View profile
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- FCC rule in regards to children clearing states that a child must have the parental permission to make these calls if the children is under the age of 18. (FTC 1996)
- FCC rule states that if a consumer doesn't pay their phone bill, a phone company cannot block the local or long distance service.
- The other area we may wish to explore is that we may turn over the charge to a collection agency even though a phone company may have reversed the charge.