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From: gauthier@ug.cs.dal.ca (Paul Gauthier)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: On Who You Owe When Slammed
Message-ID: <15593@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 20 Dec 90 09:13:09 GMT
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> [many people offering parallels from fast food outlets, to refridgerators,
>  to the Folger's crystals taste test.]

Let's assume that when a person places a slammed call that they can
not tell the difference between the line quality of the slammer and
that of their regular carrier. If they could decisively tell they were
being slammed from the line quality they could hang up immediately and
avoid all but minimal charges. (How much can the first minute cost you
regardless of where and when you call?)

All the parallels have assumed that you receive an almost identical
product from a company/source other than that which you expected. The
point missed in most of these analogies is the most important: The
difference in costs. I assume that most people so loathe being slammed
because they are getting a better price from their current carrier.
These parallels also break down in that when you buy a burger, fridge,
etc, you get billed up front and know the cost and the biller's
identity BEFORE you can make use of their product.

The parallel that is most accurate is the one mentioned in which you
go into a restaurant, order a meal, receive one that seems to be what
you ordered but costs much more. Say I order a hamburger and actually
receive the wonder-super-steak-burger with escargot and truffles on
the side. You may simply think "Wow, look at all I got and it was only
$2.95 on the menu!"  and happily chow down. When you go to pay your
bill it rings up at $49.95 and you have a coronary. Almost any
reputable restaurant would agree that if you ordered the cheapo-burger
you should only pay for the cheapo-burger regardless of what your
waitress decided to bring you.

While in the case of LD carriers you might not receive a product which
is really far superior to what you ordered, the rest of the parallel
seems to apply. You should pay for the service at the rates which you
expected to pay (those which you ordered) regardless of what the
slammer wants to charge you. Who do you pay? The slammer, after all
they _did_ provide the service. But _they_ should be willing to pay
for any charges above and beyond those incurred for the call such as
any costs to switch back to your proper carrier, etc. Since _they_ did
incur those costs without your permission. 

It also seems fair that they should offer you some further
compensation for the inconvienience they've caused you. Often times,
in the run of a single monthly billing period, this compensation might
cancel out the fair price you would have paid for the LD calls; in
such cases you would be just in not paying the slammer for their
service. Conversely, if you ring up $2,500.00 worth of LD calls while
being slammed it is unreasonable to expect the slammer to give them to
you as a freebie.  Fine, you deserve to pay the price you expected to
pay from your normal carrier minus reasonable compensation for your
trouble, but chances are that would still leave you in a hefty bit of
debt to the slammer. Think of the abuse if someone figured out they
were being slammed early in the billing period and then went berzerk
calling LD numbers knowing that it was expected that the slammer would
have to waive all the charges.

Just as an aisde: When ISDN comes in why not have your LCD screen show
you which carrier is completing the call for you? Is this possible?
Seems like this would close the door on slamming in a big way.


Paul Gauthier                                     | tyrant@ug.cs.dal.ca
President, Cerebral Computer Technologies         | tyrant@dalac.bitnet
Phone: (902)462-8217    Fax: (send email first)   | tyrant@ac.dal.ca