Administrative law judge (ALJ) for Cal. PUC proposed that Qwest p...
Administrative law judge (ALJ) for Cal. PUC proposed that Qwest pay $38 million fine for slamming. Qwest has until Jan. 4 to challenge proposed penalty. ALJ also recommended that Qwest be required to refund carrier change fee and difference…
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between its rates and what authorized carrier would have charged. ALJ said Qwest failed to properly supervise sales agents in 1999 and 2000, resulting in “thousands” of Cal. customers’ having their long distance switched to Qwest without authorization. Because Cal. is outside Qwest’s home region, it’s allowed to provide long distance there. ALJ cited reports that Pacific Bell received 30,800 slamming complaints involving Qwest, Verizon received 3,200 complaints and PUC’s Consumer Affairs Div. got 646 complaints that carriers were unable to resolve. ALJ also recommended adoption of 21 antislamming safeguards proposed by PUC Consumer Div. Qwest earlier said it already had implemented 14 changes on list and would implement rest with some modifications. Safeguards require Qwest to keep records of change orders and verifications for 1 year and monitor change orders for suspected forgeries. In another matter, PUC approved price cap adjustments for Pacific Bell and Verizon, ordering $24.8 million reduction in price-capped services to reflect several one-time revenue adjustments, including intervenor compensation, merger-related savings and local competition implementation cost recovery. PUC ordered $13 million reduction for Verizon’s capped services to reflect local competition implementation cost recovery and merger compliance adjustments. Reductions take effect Jan. 1.