The phone bill for one of the rental cabins was running high, and yesterday I finally looked into it. Because I had turned on the service for the summer I expected some extra fees, but this went on past time.

My phone bills are electronic so I have to locate the passwords etc to view them. The phone company came up with several levels of security that complicates things. There was a $14.95 per month charge by a third party company for 'internet email.' I called the company and they said that people sign up for this via one of those pop-up boxes on the Internet and it takes them through a click-through process where they give a telephone number and certify that they own the telephone line. The company sends them a confirmation email telling them they will be charged, and they have 72 hours to cancel the account.

Of course I didn't receive that email since it went to whomever used my phone number to sign up for the account. The person on the phone who helped me told me the name of the person who signed up in May and I didn't recognize it, but it sounded kind of foreign. Our May guests included a woman from Norway, so it could have had something to do with her.

The thing is, though, anyone who wants to harass a person could take their phone number and sign up for this kind of deal and the victim would have to spend a lot of time and energy trying to deal with it even if they caught it the first month.

The company says they are going to send me a refund in two or three billing cycles.