After over 100 years of practice, telephone companies still cannot seem to get it right. In a study of clients over a five-year period, TelCon Associates found that 77.4% were incorrectly charged on one or more of their telecom bills. The bulk of these errors were uncovered primarily for local and intralata services.

While the percentage of errors is high, billing errors usually account for only a small portion of total savings during telecommunications audits.

Nevertheless, it is a good idea to be familiar with the most common errors that will appear on your local telephone bills. Keep in mind that errors may take the form of "overbilling" and/or "underbilling".

Routine examination of your local phone bills will, sooner or later, turn up the one or more of the following most common types of errors:

#1 - Intermittent Errors

Intermittent errors are just as the name implies - they appear on a non-regular basis. This type of error is usually associated with the "Other Charges and Credits" pages of the phone bill. Examples of intermittent errors may include:

Other charges and credits for installation or changes are often found to be incorrect, especially for services provided under many negotiated deals or contracts.

Incorrect applications for refunds or credit adjustments is another typical intermittent error. Surprisingly, you may find this error soon after your carrier representative has agreed to the refund or credit!

Charges for uncompleted calls are sometimes found on billings from two types of vendors-resellers using feature group A connections to carrier central offices, and vendors that are reselling service from a virtual private network.

Facility malfunctions can result in you being charged for lines that are not working resulting in higher charges for usage forced onto other lines or services.

#2 - Recurring Errors

Recurring errors are the result of incorrect information and data in the vendors' customer service records. These types of errors can be very costly simply because they appear each and every month until they are corrected.

Examples may include: inventory discrepancies, contract discrepancies, differences in tariff or rating regarding grade of service, mileage charges, enhancements, etc.

Recurring errors are not as easily uncovered as are intermittent errors. This type of error can only be corrected through a thorough audit of customer service records. A routine examination of phone bills will not reveal all recurring errors.

#3 - Tax Errors

Tax errors are most commonly associated with exemptions or incorrect taxing districts. When facilities are taxed incorrectly, the associated usage charges may also be taxed incorrectly. Examples of tax errors may include:

-Taxes being collected after exemption has been filed (a copy of the applicable exemption certificate or earlier exempt billing will verify the overbilling)
-Exempt account without authorization
-Taxes applied for wrong jurisdiction
-Taxes applied despite statutes or rulings exempting them

#4 - Metering and Database Errors

These types of errors are commonly associated with local and long-distance calling charges. They can occur through metering malfunctions or clerical transcription errors. Examples include:

-Double metering (easy to identify since each call is shown twice and in complete detail)
-Charges for incomplete calls .
-Usage from a different subscriber (another easily identifiable error-charge for another individual's line number will appear on carrier bill)

#5 - Telecom Agent Errors

Agent errors continue to be a problem as more and more agents are accepting either partial or end-to-end responsibility for service segments provided by vendors.

Agent misfeasance occurs when a supplier orders or assumes responsibility for service segments provided by several different carriers or vendors, then fails to exercise responsibility for those services. Examples may include:

-Local lines ordered and installed by equipment vendor or IXC. (In the event those lines are no longer needed, the agent is nowhere to be found to cancel the unused lines and services!)
-Excessive or sub-optimum facilities installed
-Promises of credits or changes that fail to materialize

Telecom billing errors will never disappear. However, even a little knowledge in what kinds of errors to look for can go a long way in reducing telecom expenses.

About the Author

Karen Thatcher is President of TelCon Associates, a 32 year old telecom consulting and management firm. TelCon Associates helps companies gain control and reduce telecom/IT spending through a guaranteed cost-reduction consulting process. For more information and free resources to help you reduce telecom spending visit: http://www.telconassociates.com

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