Congratulations, you have been SLAMMED.
Slamming is a technique whereby your long-distance provider is changed without your permission. It has been going on since the 1980's, when Sprint, MCI, and other "new" long-distance providers were made available through your local telcos.
The gag was, they would call you and try to get you to say the word "YES" which they would then record as your consent to a new long-distance service.
Slamming has fallen by the wayside in recent years, mostly due to huge lawsuits filed against SPRINT and others (I was slammed by Sprint, back in the 1980's).
However, new services have sprung up, most of which are "garbage" service add-ons to your cell phone or landline. When you sign up for a "contest" to win a car, for example, at the local Bodega, you may have signed permission to change your long distance service or to add-on a useless service to your cell phone.
Often these services charge several dollars a minute, or add on $10 a month to your bill. And often they are listed as "special access fee" or something, so you might not notice them.
You can call the phone company and ask them to LOCK your service (as I did, when I had regular landline) to HELP prevent slamming (the person answering the phone at AT&T/BellSouth said that sometimes slamming still takes place, even with this lock).
Also, never enter these contests, or if you do, READ THE BACK SIDE OF THE ENTRY FORM carefully (better bet, just don't enter). When strange people call you, and say, "Is this Mr. Jones?" don't say "YES", say, "This is Mr. Jones Speaking" instead.
You posted your question in the UVERSE billing section. I am not aware that UVERSE has long-distance provider choice, so perhaps your question is related to land-lines. I am not aware that you can be SLAMMED on a UVERSE account. But maybe this is possible?
Welcome to the exciting new world of telecommunications! Where you can end up with a phone bill for thousands of dollars in a matter of microseconds - and end up with a destroyed credit rating if you don't pay it!
The telcos seem to be reluctant to do anything about this. The wireless folks seemed happy to send people $10,000 phone bills when they went overseas and their kids started downloading videos. Today, they are *supposed* to send you warnings when your bill exceeds a certain amount (e.g., $500) to prevent this sort of thing. Again, this is criticized as "unnecessary regulation" by some on the Right.
The only real option you have is to check your phone usage online and check it often. Lock your line against slamming, if possible (if you are ising POTS service).
For overseas long distance, I use an AT&T calling card. It is fairly cheap and since I don't call overseas a lot, it works well. Best of all, at the end of each call, it tells me exactly how much money I have left on the card and how much I spend. No mysteries and no "gotcha" suprises down the road.
I used to represent Bell South, and one of their representatives explained the "threshold of pain" theory in telecommunications. They make things annoying on purpose, as it is not cost-effective to really provide good customer service. What they have learned is that people will put up with a high threshold of pain, just to have wireless, for example.
And the "threshold of pain" theory explains why it will never, ever get better. Your only option is to consume less, or consume not at all.....
