Saturday, July 26, 2008

Pickpockets from the Phone Company ? Check your phone bills

By Rob Metras

You can save money and improve your business profitability if you make sure you are getting the best rates available in your market. Once you have done this ,the difficult part starts, in checking your bills to make sure you got the deal you ordered. With all the varieties of billing plans by phone companies today you have to take the time to check your bills carefully.

Your best protection against telco pick-pocketers is to ensure you have a written signed coy of the contract that they have signed with you. Ensure that no extra charges are slipped in and that the carrier complies to the terms of the contract without any extras.

A common error that occurs with long distance carriers is that you might be paying for calls made on one network provider which you have a contract with but being billed by a former carrier. Ensure all old plans are canceled when you move to a new long-distance carrier. The number portability ability with cellphones and changing carriers should allow you to keep your old number- but not your old rates.

When phone company bills get paid automatically without review you could be losing hundreds of dollars which may better be spent or contribute to improving the bottom line. Insist on a manager being responsible and doing an audit at least twice a year. Mobile and landline carriers have gained a reputation of waiting until the customer calls to complain and then reversing the charges. Hidden fees are common and are usually explained by "mistakes in billing".

It pays to be on guard for these errors. I audit one of my bills , which was around $18,000.00 a month and found lines that were never ordered, installed and billed, and never used.

For more tips and tactics on business telecommunication management go to 2BigTelecomGuys. Jeff Brodie and I do our best to keep you up to date on the latest trends and help you optimize your business communications costs for telephone,internet and other technology.

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