Cramming and unauthorized third-party charge claims
How do we take a cramming or unauthorized third-party charge claim, remove the charges, block future ones if asked, and record the decision?
Treat the claim as a classification with a credit at the end. When a customer disputes a third-party charge on the bill (a premium text subscription, a third-party service billed through the carrier, a charge they did not authorize), Callvu prefills the bill's third-party line items with the vendor, the dates and the amounts, classifies each disputed charge (a third-party charge billed on the carrier's bill, a carrier charge the customer did not authorize, a charge under a block that should have stopped it), checks the authorization record the vendor or the carrier holds, applies the truth-in-billing and the carrier's cramming policy, credits the charges within the policy's limits by rule, routes a charge above the limit or with a vendor dispute to the billing desk in the Decision Desk, sets the third-party billing block where the customer asks, and writes the credit, the block and the decision to the billing system and the account in the BSS, the system of record.
In scopeSimpleCallvu moves: classify, decide, write back
Last updated November 7, 2026.
The problem today
The customer paid a charge for a horoscope subscription for fourteen months before anyone could explain what it was.
Cramming is the placement of unauthorized charges on a telephone bill, often by a third party billing through the carrier. The charges are small, the descriptions are vague, and the customer who notices is told to call the vendor. The carrier's own unauthorized charges (a feature added by an agent, a plan change the customer did not agree to) get the same treatment. The regulators treat both as the carrier's problem.
The truth-in-billing rules require clear and non-misleading descriptions, separation of third-party charges, and the carrier's contact for disputes; the FCC's cramming orders and consent decrees set the expectation that the carrier refunds unauthorized charges, offers a free block on third-party billing, and keeps the authorization records; the state attorneys general add their own. The claim is a classification against records the carrier already holds.
A credit by rule and a block on request is cheaper than the complaint.
How it runs
From the requestto the system of record.
A customer disputes a charge on the bill as unauthorized, in any channel (the app, a call, the website, a regulator's complaint). Callvu opens the claim on the account.
- Customer
- Identifies the charges, states whether they authorized them, and asks for the block.
- Third-party vendor
- Provides the authorization record where the carrier bills for it.
- Billing desk
- Decides charges above the limit or with a vendor dispute in the Decision Desk.
- Callvu
- Prefills, classifies, checks the authorization, credits by rule, routes, sets the block and writes.
Prefill and classify
The bill's third-party and recent carrier charges are prefilled with the vendor or the feature, the dates, the amounts and the description; the customer marks the disputed ones; each is classified: a third-party charge billed through the carrier, a carrier feature or plan change the customer says they did not authorize (with the change record's channel and agent), a charge after a block was set, or a recurring subscription; the look-back period under the policy is applied.
Decide
The authorization record is checked: the vendor's double opt-in record for a premium text or a third-party service, the carrier's change record for a feature (the channel, the authentication, the agent); a charge with no valid authorization within the policy's limits is credited by rule with the recurring charge cancelled; a charge above the limit, a vendor who asserts a valid authorization the customer denies, or a pattern across accounts goes to the billing desk in the Decision Desk with the records and only the allowed outcomes (credit, credit in part with the reason, refer the vendor, or deny with the written reason and the complaint rights).
Block and write back
Where the customer asks (or the policy applies it after a cramming finding), the third-party billing block is set on the account at no charge; the credit, the cancellation of the recurring charge, the block and the decision with its reason are written to the billing system and the account in the BSS, the system of record, and the customer receives the confirmation on the next bill and in their channel.
Record and report
The claim, the classification, the authorization check and the decision are retained; vendor-level patterns are reported to the vendor management function for the carrier's third-party billing controls, and the record is available for a regulator's complaint.
Where it ends: The disputed charges were classified against the authorization records, credited by rule within the policy, decided by the billing desk above it, the block set on request, and the billing system and the BSS hold the credit, the block and the reason. The Decision Trace shows the classification, the authorization check and any decision; the Audit Trace shows the claim, the credit, the block and the confirmation with time.
Runtime enforcement
What is enforcedwhile the work runs.
The regulations preloaded in Callvu Studio and the bank's own policies, applied as steps that run, not lines in a binder. A step that breaks a rule does not run, so a completed run was compliant.
The handoff
Between the front doorand the back office.
The front door
The app, a call, the website or a regulator's complaint; the customer marks the charges and asks for the block on a screen.
The back office
The billing desk decides only charges above the limit or with vendor disputes; the credits and the blocks run by rule.
The Decision Desk
- A charge above the credit limit, a vendor asserting an authorization the customer denies, or a pattern across accounts goes to the billing desk in the Decision Desk with the records and only credit, credit in part with the reason, refer the vendor, or deny with the written reason and the complaint rights.
Proof
In scope.Proof at scale, not one process at a time.
The kind of process Callvu runs in production for customers in this industry. Ask for a reference on this exact process. The results below are the industry's published proof; each claim code links to its record on agents.callvu.com.
More than 1,000 processes are live across Callvu customers.
Across Callvu customers
AT&T runs close to 100 processes on Callvu, used by 55,000 agents.
Questions
What buyers ask next,answered plainly.
Does the customer have to contact the vendor?
No. The carrier checks the vendor's authorization record and credits a charge without a valid one by rule within the policy's limits.
Can third-party billing be blocked?
Yes, free, on request or by rule after a cramming finding; the block is written to the account and stops every later third-party charge.
What if the vendor says the charge was authorized?
The billing desk decides with the vendor's record and the customer's statement, with written reasons and the complaint rights if the claim is denied.
Related processes
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