SBC Pacific Bell Sued Over Prodigy Fee

December 12, 2001
A California consumer group has sued SBC Pacific Bell, accusing it of illegally charging customers for Prodigy Internet services they did not order.

The Utility Consumers' Action Network (UCAN) of San Diego seeks a halt to the improper billing and wants the court to order refunds to affected consumers.

The group said it filed suit after it became clear that SBC Pacific Bell and Prodigy were being slow in responding to consumer complaints.

"Pacific Bell hasn't been forthcoming about what is going on. We want the company to stop charging people for Prodigy if they haven't used Prodigy," UCAN executive director Michael Shames said.

Both Prodigy and SBC Pacific Bell are owned by SBC, A San Antonio-based holiday company that owns telephone companies nationwide.

Prodigy is becoming the PacBell's "preferred" Internet service provider. It sent promotional fliers to thousands of customers in recent months and UCAN says PacBell proceeded to begin billing thousands of customers for the service whether they ordered it or not. Affected consumers were charged 50 cents on each of two monthly invoices and then were charged an ongoing $14.95 per month.

The suit comes at a bad time for PacBell. The company has been trying to win regulators' approval to offer interstate long-distance service. Also, a judge recently ruled that the company has violated its promise to maintain or improve customer service after its takeover by SBC.

SBC faces fines if it continues to fail to improve customer service.

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