GTE agrees to slamming settlement

The Public Service Commission's staff recommends that the phone company pay a $209,000 fine.

By JO BECKER

© St. Petersburg Times, published December 15, 1999

TALLAHASSEE -- The Florida Public Service Commission has taken a tough public stance in recent years against telephone slamming, the practice of switching customers to different companies without their permission.

But when GTE, the state's third-largest local telephone provider, found itself facing slamming charges, it was able to negotiate a relatively sweet deal.

GTE, which provides local telephone service to much of the Tampa Bay area, has agreed to pay a $209,000 fine to settle charges based on 209 complaints that a marketing company it hired improperly switched customers to GTE's long-distance service.

That's $1,000 per infraction -- a far cry from the PSC's recommended fine of $10,000 per infraction for first-time offenders.

The PSC staff recommended that the commission vote to approve the deal at its Dec. 21 meeting.

PSC spokesman Kevin Bloom said Tuesday that the fines are negotiable.

"I can't answer the question about why the fines are lower in this particular case," Bloom said. "It may have something to do with the fact that it was not done by GTE."

GTE spokesman Briana Gowing said the company reported its slamming problem to the PSC during a December 1998 conference call, which she said may explain the staff's decision to recommend the lower fines. The firm that caused the problem, she said, no longer does that kind of work for GTE.

"We have a zero tolerance policy for slamming," she said. "We believe in free choice."

A settlement agreement does mention the conference call and praises GTE for "self-reporting a serious problem" before the PSC initiated formal proceedings.

But Bloom could not confirm Gowing's version of events. "That's not what I'm reading here," he said. According to the PSC's meeting agenda, commission staff received the 209 complaints between December 1997 and September this year. In March, the staff began its investigation. In May, the staff met with GTE "to discuss concerns with the number of consumer complaints."

The PSC has fined 27 companies for slamming since 1989, according to Bloom. Although AT&T and Sprint have both paid fines, most tend to be small companies with little name brand recognition, he said. This summer, for instance, a company named Accutel Communications Inc. was fined $1.7-million based on 171 complaints.

The state's public counsel, who represents consumers before the PSC, said he plans to take a "good look" at GTE's settlement proposal.

"Sometimes you want to look at the way it was done and how it was done," Jack Shreve said. "But at the same time, there has to be some consistency."

The GTE deal is not a sure thing. Citing a history of substandard service by GTE, commissioners last month rejected a proposed settlement worked out between the staff and GTE to improve the telephone company's installation and repair performance.

The company had offered to pay $50,000 and add 300 service employees. Instead, formal hearings will be held to examine in greater detail why GTE has failed for years to meet minimum service standards and how to upgrade the phone company's performance.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.