2889.5
. (a) No telephone corporation, or any person, firm, or
corporation representing a telephone corporation, shall make any
change or authorize a different telephone corporation to make any
change in the provider of any telephone service for which competition
has been authorized of a telephone subscriber until all of the
following steps have been completed:
(1) The telephone corporation, its representatives or agents shall
thoroughly inform the subscriber of the nature and extent of the
service being offered.
(2) The telephone corporation, its representatives or agents shall
specifically establish whether the subscriber intends to make any
change in his or her telephone service provider, and explain any
charges associated with that change.
(3) For sales of residential service, the subscriber's decision to
change his or her telephone service provider shall be confirmed by
an independent third-party verification company, or as provided in
paragraph (5). For purposes of this provision, the confirmation by a
third-party verification company shall be made as follows:
(A) The third-party verification company shall meet each of the
following criteria:
(i) Be independent from the telephone corporation that seeks to
provide the subscriber's new service.
(ii) Not be directly or indirectly managed, controlled, or
directed, or owned wholly or in part, by the telephone corporation
that seeks to provide the new service or by any corporation, firm, or
person who directly or indirectly manages, controls, or directs, or
owns more than 5 percent of the telephone corporation.
(iii) Operate from facilities physically separate from those of
the telephone corporation that seeks to provide the subscriber's new
service.
(iv) Not derive commissions or compensation based upon the number
of sales confirmed.
(B) The telephone corporation seeking to verify the sale shall do
so by connecting the subscriber by telephone to the third-party
verification company or by arranging for the third-party verification
company to call the subscriber to confirm the sale.
(C) The third-party verification company shall obtain the
subscriber's oral confirmation regarding the change, and shall record
that confirmation by obtaining appropriate verification data. The
record shall be available to the subscriber upon request. Information
obtained from the subscriber through confirmation shall not be used
for marketing purposes. Any unauthorized release of this information
is grounds for a civil suit by the aggrieved subscriber against the
telephone corporation or its employees who are responsible for the
violation.
(D) Notwithstanding subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), a service
provider shall not be required to comply with these provisions when
the customer directly calls the local service provider to make
changes in service providers. However, a service provider shall not
avoid the verification requirements by asking a subscribing customer
to contact a local exchange service provider directly to make any
change in the service provider. A local exchange service provider
shall be required to comply with these verification requirements for
its own competitive services. However, a local exchange service
provider shall not be required to perform any verification
requirements for any changes solicited by another telephone
corporation.
(4) For a sale of residential service, the telephone corporation
seeking to verify the change in service, in addition to the
requirements of paragraph (3), shall notify the subscriber by United
States Postal Service that the subscriber's telephone service
provider has been changed. The service provider that initiated the
change shall send that notice within 14 days of the date of the
change. The notice shall provide the subscriber with clear, legible
notice of the change in service provider, and shall include a
customer service telephone number for the subscriber to call if the
subscriber did not authorize the change in service.
(5) Confirmation of a sale of residential service may be made
using an electronic means that complies with Section 64.1120 of Title
47 of the Code of Federal Regulations in effect as of June 17, 2008.
(6) For sales of all nonresidential services, the subscriber's
decision to change his or her service provider shall be confirmed
through any of the following means:
(A) Independent third-party verification, as set forth in
paragraph (3) of subdivision (a).
(B) The telephone corporation shall mail to the subscriber an
information package seeking confirmation of his or her change in the
telephone corporation. The information package shall describe the new
service and shall include a postage prepaid postcard or mailer that
the subscriber can use to deny, cancel, or confirm a service order,
as soon as possible, and wait 14 days after the information package
is mailed before making the change in the telephone corporation. The
telephone corporation shall make the change only if the subscriber
does not cancel the change in service order.
(C) Verify the subscriber's change in his or her telephone service
provider by obtaining the subscriber's signature on a document fully
explaining the nature and extent of the action. The document shall
be a separate document whose sole purpose is to explain the nature
and extent of the action.
(D) Obtain the subscriber's authorization through an electronic
means that takes the information, including the calling number, and
confirms the change to which the subscriber has given his or her
consent.
(7) Where the telephone corporation obtains a written order for
service, the document shall thoroughly inform the subscriber of the
nature and extent of the action. The subscriber shall be furnished
with a copy of the signed document. The subscriber by his or her
signature on the document shall indicate a full understanding of the
relationship being established with the telephone corporation. If a
written subscriber solicitation or other document contains a letter
of agency authorizing a change in service provider, in combination
with other information including, but not limited to, inducements to
subscribers to purchase service, the solicitation shall include a
separate document whose sole purpose is to explain the nature and
extent of the action. If any part of a mailing to a prospective
subscriber is in language other than English, any written
authorization contained in the mailing shall be sent to the same
prospective subscriber in the same language.
(8) The telephone corporation shall retain a record of the
verification of the sale for at least one year. These records shall
be made available to the subscriber, the Attorney General, or the
commission upon request.
(b) If a residential or business subscriber that has not signed an
authorization notifies the telephone corporation within 90 days that
he or she does not wish to change telephone corporations, the
subscriber shall be switched back to his or her former telephone
corporation at the expense of the telephone corporation that
initiated the change.
(c) For purposes of this section, competitive services are those
services where subscribers have the ability to presubscribe to a
telephone service provider.
(d) When a subscriber changes telephone service providers, the
change shall be conspicuously noticed on the subscriber's bill.
Notice in the following form is deemed to comply with this
subdivision:
"NOTICE: Your local (or long distance) telephone service provider has
been changed from (name of prior provider) to (name of current
provider).
Cost of change: $ ____."
(e) Any telephone corporation that violates the verification
procedures described in this section shall be liable to the telephone
corporation previously selected by the subscriber in an amount equal
to all charges paid by the subscriber after the violation.
(f) In addition to the liability described in subdivision (e), any
telephone corporation that violates the verification procedures
described in this section shall credit to a subscriber any charges
paid by the subscriber in excess of the amount that the subscriber
would have been obligated to pay had the subscriber's telephone
service not been changed. The commission shall adopt regulations to
govern credits to subscribers pursuant to this subdivision.
(g) The remedies provided by this section are in addition to any
other remedies available by law.
(h) As described in federal law, no telephone corporation, or any
person, firm, or corporation representing a telephone corporation,
shall make any change or authorize a different telephone corporation
to make any change in the provider of any telephone service for which
competition has been authorized of a telephone subscriber without
having on file, or having instituted reasonable steps designed to
obtain, signed, dated orders for service from the subscriber. All
orders shall be in the form prescribed in federal law for letters of
agency. As described in federal law, the telephone corporation is
responsible for charges associated with disputed changes in telephone
service for which it cannot produce a signed, dated order for
service from the subscriber. This subdivision applies to all
intrastate services for which competition has been authorized.