Clark Howard's Tips

3rd party aggregator charges hurting cell customers

June 4, 2008

AT&T has just settled (and T-Mobile is facing) a lawsuit over 3rd party aggregator charges. These are the stray charges on your bill for Internet services, ringtones or what have you. Your carrier gets a split of money from the crooks that post these bogus charges on your statement, a practice now being called "off decking."

The sad thing is that most people don't even notice the charges. That's because their bills are automatically charged to a credit card or auto-debited from a checking account. It's as if you give the crooks permission by not checking your bill.

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The simple solution is to get a copy of your statement and vet it carefully every month. Clark goes through his bill page-by-page and calls his carrier if something doesn't make sense. The carriers feel they're caught in the middle; they don't initiate the charges, they only act as billing agents. But Clark has trouble with this rationale because they're getting money from off decking.

On a related note, do you have teens added to your cell plan? Tell them not to respond to any texting offers for free ringtones, games, etc. These offers are all hazard and no opportunity.

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