Slamming is the process of changing a telephone customer's long distance carrier without authorization. Many long distance companies and resellers (a company that does not own long distance transport facilities) slam telephone customers. Any telephone subscriber who has not restricted long distance on his or her service can become the victim of slamming. There is no guaranteed solution to prevent slamming, but there are many precautions subscribers can take. The most effective precaution is the placement of a Primary Interexchange Carrier Change Refusal (PIC Freeze) on your telephone number with TTC or CMC. When a PIC Freeze is implemented, we will not change your long distance carrier in our computer system or in our call routing (switching) equipment without your consent and identity verification. To implement a PIC Freeze on your telephone number, please call your customer service representative at 1-800-332-1201. It's FREE and it can protect you.

Occasionally, a change can be made in a subscriber's long distance carrier without our knowledge. This is done when resellers use the same routing facilities as the company that the subscriber had been using. The reseller in this situation simply buys the billing for a customer from the long distance company and we are not aware because no changes were necessary in our routing equipment.The most effective method of preventing this practice it to use extreme caution when you are contacted about your long distance service. We recommenf that subscribers never agree to anything over the phone. Always require a written explanation of any offer and read it very carefully before signing it. Also, subscribers should be careful not to give any affirmative answers to these callers that could be edited to sound like an agreement to an offer. When asked: "Is this Mrs. Smith?", you can reply "This is Mrs. Smith.", instead of just saying "yes".

When we receive a request from a carrier to change a subscriber's long distance service, we send a letter to the subscriber informing him or her of the change. This letter gives the subscriber the opportunity to call the office and correct the situation if they have been slammed. If the letter does not grab your attention, you will notice when you receive your telephone bill. If you start receiving bills from a different long distance carrier, or if long distance calls that were placed from your home or business are now appearing under a different company on your TTC or CMC statement, then your long distance carrier has probably been changed. If you did not authorize the change, then you have been slammed.

If you find that you have been slammed, first, contact us to change your service back to the desired carrier. Then you can contact the carrier who slammed you and try to get compensation if you were billed more than your desired carrier would have billed. If the problem is not solved to your satisfaction, you can register a complaint with the Montana Public Service Commission (PSC).

Montana Public Service Commision
PO Box 202601
Helena MT 59620-2601
Phone: 1-800-646-6150
Fax: 1-406-444-7618
Website: www.psc.state.mt.us