BellSouth to Refund $290,000 to Overcharged Raleigh, N.C., Customers
Posted on: Wednesday, 10 November 2004, 00:00 CST
Nov. 10--BellSouth is returning $290,000 to Raleigh telephone customers who were overcharged when calling Research Triangle Park.
The largest local phone service company in the state said that between Aug. 18 and Oct. 8, it charged subscribers for some calls that should have been free. About 27,709 people, or 12 percent of its Triangle customers, were affected.
"There was a human error," said Clifton Metcalf, a BellSouth spokesman in Charlotte. "We pride ourselves on an accurate and reliable billing system. An error like this is extremely rare."
The glitch happened as BellSouth updated its databases to include new telephone prefixes. During the process, someone inadvertently altered coding for the billing system. Calls placed to 39 prefixes in RTP, including numbers that start with 224, 476, and 990, were billed improperly.
BellSouth discovered the problem when a customer complained.
Such glitches take on extra import as telephone competition intensifies. Callers in the Triangle now can get local phone service from Time Warner Cable, AT&T and other rivals. If customers are miffed by a BellSouth gaffe, they can move to another provider.
BellSouth is sending letters to affected customers, explaining the blunder. It will credit overcharges to bills in the November cycle.
The amount of the refund will depend on the number of calls placed to the phone exchanges at issue. On average, customers will get just more than $10. That includes the refund and interest for the time BellSouth held the cash.
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Source: The News & Observer
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