Long-distance giant WorldCom Inc. will pay $3.5 million to settle charges that it switched customers to its long-distance service without permission.
The Federal Communications Commission said it received 2,900 consumer complaints against WorldCom in 1999 over the practice known as “slamming,” the most against any carrier. The settlement represents the largest slamming enforcement action in the FCC’s history.
WorldCom, the No. 2 U.S. long-distance carrier after AT&T Corp., said the incidents were perpetrated by a few sales employees who have since been fired.
Under an agreement ending an FCC investigation, WorldCom also will implement a new slamming prevention program that includes financial penalties and disciplinary action for employees and agents found slamming accounts.
WorldCom has agreed to refund all long-distance charges to any of the 2,900 people it determines it slammed, an FCC official said.
That goes further than FCC anti-slamming measures adopted in late 1998 that let consumers off the hook for charges.
WorldCom also will be required to institute quarterly internal reviews and will supply reports of its progress to the FCC. The $3.5 million WorldCom agreed to pay in the settlement will go to the federal government.
“Our zero tolerance policy for slamming is very real, and we will take whatever steps necessary to prevent slamming from occurring,” WorldCom Chief Executive Bernard Ebbers said in a statement.
Prior to the WorldCom settlement, the FCC had received $5 million in slamming actions against five firms since February. The largest was $2 million against Long Distance Direct Inc.
