AUGUSTA (AP) – A billing company has agreed to pay a $10,000 fine to settle violations for charging for services without customers’ authorization, state regulators said Thursday.

The Public Utilities Commission said it investigated 14 complaints of “cramming” by Integretel that it received over one year.

Integretel is a billing aggregator for other companies that provide services to consumers. Charges for those service appear on consumers’ local telephone bills.

The PUC said its investigators found that the company improperly forwarded charges on behalf of four service providers that were not registered with the state, Spoonful.Net, Qital Communications, VoiceNet, Inc. and Switched Access Communications.

The charges were for services such as Internet access, voicemail and e-mail.


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