Broadband Cable Association of Pennsylvania

Mike Waddell is a Service Electric phone customer, so he didn't expect a phone bill from AT&T. He was even more surprised to learn he owed $20.79 for an operator-assisted call from his Emmaus home to the Lehigh County courthouse in Allentown. Waddell did call the courthouse that October day, to check on jury duty for his daughter. But he said he dialed directly, and never talked to an operator. AT&T insisted he used an operator. It removed the charges and changed its story after the Watchdog looked into it.

Waddell said AT&T told him he was charged because the Service Electric phone lines must have been full when he dialed, and unbeknownst to him, the call was switched to AT&T so it could go through. Can you imagine the consequences if that were true? Phone companies in cahoots could switch calls back and forth all day, turning direct-dial calls into operator-assisted ones and pocketing the profits. Thankfully, the system doesn't work that way. But AT&T stuck with its story for a while. Spokesman Adam Cormier told me by e-mail many phone companies ''have relationships with other providers to create redundancy or to handle overflow traffic. As such, there are a number of situations that may result in AT&T operated services assisting with or completing a call.''

I checked with Service Electric and the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, which regulates phone companies. Neither knew what Cormier was talking about. ''It doesn't work that way,'' said Jack Capparell, Service Electric's general manager. He said a Service Electric caller would get a busy signal if the network was full. The PUC also never heard of a direct-dialed call switching to an operator-assisted call because circuits were busy, spokeswoman Jennifer Kocher said. ''If the circuits are busy, the caller should get a recorded message stating 'all circuits are busy' and the call would terminate,'' she said. I relayed that information to Cormier and asked for an explanation. ''The bottom line is that it is impossible to speculate as to what specifically happened in this case,'' he said by e-mail. ''I can only confirm that the call was placed on our network as an operator assisted call -- though clearly this was not the customer's intention. The important thing is that we were able to resolve this to the customer's satisfaction.'' But only because the Watchdog intervened. If Waddell hadn't asked for my help, he'd be out $20.79. Likewise, AT&T removed a $6.34 charge on Olivia Nolt's phone bill after I looked into it. Nolt, of Lower Macungie Township, uses Verizon but was billed by AT&T in January for accepting a collect call from Slatington. But she didn't accept it. When the automated voice asked if she would, she said she refused. She also refused to pay that portion of her bill, and was hit with a late fee. ''We have lived a very frugal and conservative life. When we state we pay our bills early, we're never late, we say that with great pride,'' Nolt said. ''Then when somebody takes advantage of us, I take issue with that.'' AT&T waived the charge as a ''gesture of good will,'' Cormier said.

Based on the experiences of Nolt and Waddell, keep a close eye on your phone bill, even if you're not an AT&T customer. Don't just look at the total. Look at every page. And be careful if you do make an operator-assisted call. It won't be cheap. An annoyed AT&T customer sent me a copy of a bill showing a $14.38 charge for a one-minute call to directory assistance, 610-555-1212. If you're going to call directory assistance, check the cost first. Some plans may give you a few free calls, then charge. You can find numbers online at sites such as http://www.switchboard.com , http://www.whitepages.com and http://www.phonenumber.com. Not all numbers are free, but they may be cheaper than calling directory assistance. Allentown Morning Call "Watchdog"