Q: I received one of those phoney AT&T phone bills for $25.35. They blame Verizon. I called Verizon and they said I would have to pay $5 to remove my name from the list. I called the PUC. They said I do not have to pay anything to anyone. The case is under investigation. Why should I pay Verizon for this trouble with AT&T? I don't plan on paying either phone company since the PUC said I don't have to pay these charges.

MICHAEL MESSINA
East End

A: I wish I could be sure the information from the Public Utility Commission was correct, Michael, but the official word on this one is difficult to pin down. There was a lot of room for confusion in your conversation with the PUC, through no fault of your own.

In a perfect world, you wouldn't have to do a thing. AT&T would pay each of its customers $100 and send roses for all of your time that is being wasted on these bills. But this, Michael, is not a perfect world. Your time is wasted trying to get through to a company that has created a nightmare for consumers.

For first-time readers, let's back up. If you received a bill from AT&T that you think you don't owe and your local carrier is Verizon, you should call Verizon to find out if you are listed as an AT&T customer. If you are not listed as an AT&T customer, your path is easy. Forget about the bill. It was one of the 1 million bills AT&T admits sending out in error. AT&T says you don't have to do anything to correct the error; it will correct the bill (Billing error hangs up thousands, March 16, 2004).

If you are listed as an AT&T customer, even if you didn't know you were an AT&T customer, you have some work ahead of you. If you had been on an AT&T state-to-state plan with no monthly charges and you didn't make a long-distance call, that's changed. In January, AT&T started charging you $3.95 a month, plus all those extra charges. If you use prepaid calling cards of those 10-10 dial around services, this could be you.

You have some options: You can pay the bill and cancel AT&T with Verizon. That will save you the hour or so it takes to get in touch with AT&T to try to straighten this out with them. While you are at it, put a block on your phone so your local long distance and long-distance service can never be changed without your permission. That block is free. Verizon will charge you $5 to cancel your service with AT&T or to switch your service to another carrier.

Michael, I think this applies to you. I think you will have to pay that $5. Eric Levis of the PUC told me that you do not have to pay that $5 if you were slammed, or switched to AT&T without your permission. That's not you. If you just never canceled the service and didn't use the service, technically you may still be responsible for the bill. And if you want to cancel AT&T, you'll have to pay Verizon $5. It's not the $5 I would worry about here; it's AT&T continuing to bill you and adding late charges.

If you do call AT&T, you may be able to convince them to drop the charges. I called on behalf of one consumer and talked to a telemarketer who refused to drop the charges unless I signed up for a new long-distance plan with no monthly charges -- OK -- and then gave a slick hard sell for local long distance which would cost a lot more -- not OK.

One way to get around this is to let AT&T cancel those charges, agree to switch to their new long-distance plan with no monthly charges, refuse the local long distance and then cancel after a month or two.

Remember, you do not have to have a long-distance carrier at all. Although the Federal Communications Commission recommends that you keep one in case of emergencies, think about it. What kind of emergency would you need long distance for that you couldn't handle with a 10-10 number or a prepaid calling card? If you can think of one, let me know.