Customer Service Report (CSR) errors

The following items are the most common errors that can easily be located when auditing customer service records. Each item is an example of local telephone company overbilling, wherein the customer should be entitled to a refund.

Wrong PIC
To keep track of which long-distance carrier a customer is using, the local carrier uses the PIC code of that carrier. The PIC code may be expressed numerically on the CSR as in “222” or with letters, as in “MCI.” AT&T’s most commonly used PIC code is 288. The PIC code is stored in the local carrier’s central office and in its billing records. It will be printed on the CSR.

If a customer’s phone lines have the wrong PIC code, his long-distance traffic will be routed to that carrier. This is a very common problem, especially in the case of slamming, when a fraudulent carrier changes a customer’s PIC without the customer’s authorization. When auditing CSRs, you must check the PIC code on each line. If it is wrong, call your local carrier and have the company change it. Call your long-distance carrier if you do not know its correct PIC code. Appendix 10B lists common PIC codes.

Wrong LPIC
As a result of the Telecom Act of 1996, customers can now select their carrier for intralata calling. On the CSR, the code LPIC appears and is followed by the PIC code for the carrier. Many customers have moved their intralata traffic to their long-distance carrier, so their PIC code and LPIC code should be the same. If the wrong LPIC code is on the CSR, your calls will be handled by the wrong carrier. In the sample CSR in Figure 10.1, the second phone line shows “/LPIC TCB,” which means the intralata calls from that line will be carried by Telephone Company B. The customer should call Telephone Company C and have the company change it.

Too many 9ZR charges
As stated above, the 9ZR is the USOC for the end user common line charge, which is about $9 per line. Sometimes, the number of 9ZR charges is greater than the number of lines. This is especially true for large Centrex accounts that bill the 9ZR as one single-line item separate from the line charge. When auditing your CSR, count the number of lines and the number of 9ZR charges. If you are being overbilled, contact your local telephone company.

Wrong tax area
The code TAR indicates which tax area you are in. Taxes are based on where the customer is physically located. Some customers have a city address but are located outside the city limits. Such a customer should be exempt from any city taxes. In other cases, the local carrier enters the tax area of the billing address instead of the physical address of the customer. For example, a company based in downtown Chicago has a manufacturing facility in the suburbs. The taxes are lower in the suburbs, but if the phone company enters the wrong tax area, the customer will be overbilled.

Incorrect hunting sequence
HTG is the code for hunting service. If an incoming call finds your main number busy or gets no answer, hunting allows the call to automatically transfer to another line. If the second line is busy or unanswered, the incoming call hunts for another line. At the end of this “hunt group” of lines, the call will “rollover” back to the first line. Hunting is designed to prevent a business from missing out on important business calls.

A common error with hunting is that one of the numbers in the hunt group may be an old number that is no longer in use. In this case, the call will not work. Another problem is with the rollover feature. At the end of the hunt group, the call should be transferred back to the first number. If this is not set up properly, calls will be lost.

Hidden wire maintenance charges
Many local telephone bills do not offer an itemized list of all charges. Even simple phone bills with only one or two lines may contain hidden charges. You must check the CSR for these charges. The most common hidden charge is for wire maintenance. It is very common for a phone bill to simply say “monthly charge for local service” but the CSR lists MNTPB, the code for wire maintenance plans. If the customer has not ordered wire maintenance, this charge should be canceled.

Wrong mileage—first 1/4 mile
Point-to-point data circuits are billed according to the bandwidth and mileage of the circuit. The rate for the first 1/4 mile is higher than the rate for additional 1/4 miles. A 5-mile circuit will, therefore, be something like this:

First 1/4 mile:
$30

19 additional 1/4 miles @ $20:
$380

Total:
$410


If the data entry clerk makes an error when provisioning the above circuit, the customer may be billed each 1/4 mile at the higher “first mile” rate.

Wrong mileage—too much mileage
Another common error has to do with the exact mileage, which should be calculated according to the “airline mile” distance between the two local serving offices (LSO) at the ends of the circuit. If the carrier calculates the mileage according to the physical address of the two sites instead of the mileage between the two LSOs, you will be overbilled.

If you do not have access to telecom pricing software, you can double-check the mileage by giving the NPA-NXX (area code + prefix) for each location and requesting a new detailed circuit price quote from the carrier. Many carriers share software, so if you feel your current carrier may not be truthful, you can get the same information from another carrier.

Wrong mileage—double billing
Data circuits crossing LATA boundaries are usually provided by an LEC and an IXC, or long-distance carrier. The bill is handled by one of the carriers, normally the IXC. Sometimes, both carriers provide a bill for their percentage of the circuit. The customer might be billed 60% of the circuit by U S West and 40% of the circuit by WorldCom. The ratio is determined according to mileage. If 60% of the mileage is provided by U S West, then the customer’s rate will be multiplied by 60%. Unfortunately, some customers end up being billed 100% by each carrier. To ensure that you are not being overbilled, match each CSR and each phone bill to your corporate network diagram.

Hanging circuit
Each data circuit must connect two points. If a customer disconnects an unneeded circuit, she should no longer receive a bill for the circuit. But sometimes, the carrier only disconnects one of the two locations. It is difficult to catch this error by looking at the phone bill alone. This error is very obvious on the CSR, however. If the CSR reads CKL 1 (circuit location 1) and there is no CKL 2, you have found a hanging circuit. The LEC should completely disconnect the circuit, stop the monthly billing, and issue a refund.

You should also check the addresses at each end of the circuit. A travel agent had dedicated lines to an airline. The agent stopped selling tickets for that airline but never canceled the billing for the dedicated lines. When the CSRs were audited, the airline’s address showed up as CKL 2. The customer knew he was no longer doing business with the airline, so he canceled the circuits, saving the business about $3,000 per month.

Term plan error
Signing a 12-month term plan agreement will discount voice or data service pricing by 5% to 15%. Longer-term plans will generate greater discounts. Carriers frequently enter the wrong term plan on a CSR, resulting in missing discounts for the customer. To verify discount amounts, check the original term contract with the actual CSR. If the given discount is lower than the contracted discount, the LEC should issue a refund and correct the problem going forward. If neither customer nor carrier can produce a copy of the original contract, you may be out of luck. However, some have used this situation to eliminate an existing term commitment with the carrier.

Sliding scale line rates
Local accounts with more than 12 lines may qualify for sliding scale pricing. This is especially true with Centrex pricing. The billing may work like this:

First 25 Centrex lines @ $20 each:
1,$500

Next 100 Centrex lines @ $15 each:
$1,500

Next 100 Centrex lines @ $12 each:
$1,200

Total:
$3,200


Auditing the CSR might reveal that all 225 lines are being billed at the higher $20 per month rate. In this example, the customer would pay $4,500 per month instead of $3,200. This customer is entitled to a significant refund. To detect this error, the auditor must be familiar with the original contract terms or be willing to wade through the actual tariff to determine how the lines should be priced.

Loose calling cards
Few customers use the calling cards provided by their local telephone company. Lower rates are available through long-distance carriers. When a business changes calling card providers, it sometimes fails to cancel the old cards. A review of the CSR may reveal that active calling cards are still on the loose. This will not be evident by looking at the phone bill, unless someone uses the cards to make calls. Old cards should be deactivated anyway to avoid the risk of future billings if the cards are used by ex-employees or someone else.

Unused voice lines and data circuits
A very valuable piece of information on the CSR is the service address. Companies with multiple locations will often find, after they audit their CSRs, that they are still paying for lines at closed locations or at an ex-employee’s home. Some businesses detect this problem many years after they quit using the lines. They may have even placed a disconnection order with the phone company. If you have documentation to prove that the lines were canceled, you are entitled to a refund. Most carriers and customers fail to keep good records, however, and the customer will never get a refund.