(a) No person or corporation shall misrepresent its association or affiliation with a telephone carrier when soliciting, inducing, or otherwise implementing the subscriber’s agreement to purchase the products or services of the person or corporation, and have the charge for the product or service appear on the subscriber’s telephone bill.
(b) The provisions of Chapter 11 (commencing with Section 2100) of Part 1 of Division 1 apply to a public utility subject to this section and Section 2890. If the commission finds that a person or corporation or its billing agent that is a nonpublic utility, and is subject to the provisions of this section and Section 2890, has violated any requirement of this article, or knowingly provided false information to the commission on matters subject to this section and Section 2890, the commission may enforce Sections 2102, 2103, 2104, 2105, 2106, 2107, 2108, 2109, 2110, 2111, and 2114 against those persons, corporations, and billing agents as if the persons, corporations, or billing agents were a public utility. Neither this authority nor any other provision of this article grants the commission jurisdiction to regulate persons or corporations or their billing agents who are not otherwise subject to commission regulation, other than as specifically set forth in this section and Section 2890.
(c) If the commission finds that a person, corporation, or billing agent is operating in violation of any provision of this section and Section 2890, the commission may order the billing telephone company to terminate the billing and collection services for that person, corporation, or billing agent. Nothing in this section and Section 2890 precludes a billing telephone company from taking action on its own to terminate billing and collection services.
(d) The commission shall establish rules that require each billing telephone company, billing agent, and company that provides products or services that are charged on subscribers’ telephone bills, to provide the commission with reports of complaints made by subscribers regarding the billing for products or services that are charged on their telephone bills as a result of the billing and collection services that the billing telephone company provides to third parties, including affiliates of the billing telephone company.
(e) If the commission receives more than 100 complaints regarding unauthorized telephone charges in any 90-day period as to a person, corporation, or billing agent’s activities that are subject to Section 2890 and this section, the commission’s consumer services division shall commence a formal or informal investigation. The commission, to further the purposes of Section 2890 and this section, may change the number of complaints in any 90-day period that initiates the commencement of an investigation. This subdivision does not prohibit the commission’s consumer services division from opening any investigation it deems necessary to enforce Section 2890 or this section.
(f) Failure by a person, corporation, or billing agent to respond to commission staff requests for information is grounds for the commission to order the billing telephone company or companies that are providing billing and collection services to cease billing and collection services for the person, corporation, or billing agent.
(g) Persons or corporations originating charges for products or services, their billing agents, and telephone corporations billing for these products or services shall cooperate with the commission in the commission’s efforts to enforce the provisions of this article.
(h) This section and Section 2890 do not obligate a billing telephone company to provide billing and collection services to a billing agent.
(i) The commission may adopt rules, regulations and issue decisions and orders, as necessary, to safeguard the rights of consumers and to enforce the provisions of this article.
(j) For the purposes of this section, “billing agent” means the clearinghouse or billing aggregator.
(Added by Stats. 1998, Ch. 1036, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 1999.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018