CUB 25th Anniversary "Right Call" Campaign Visits Morton Grove, Report Shows Illinois Consumers Overpaying By $1.5 Billion
CHICAGO, Sept. 18, 2009—In honor of its 25 years fighting for consumers, the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) is taking its “Right Call Campaign” to Morton Grove to show consumers how to cut their phone bills by hundreds of dollars a year.

Contact:
For more information call
Patrick Deignan at 312-263-4282 (office) or 847-636-0677 (cell).
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CUB’s campaign was launched after the consumer group released a report showing that Illinois callers are overpaying by about $1.5 billion a year. However, most consumers can enjoy significant savings by following a few simple steps.

CUB’s free “phone-bill clinics” have shown consumers how to cut their local and long-distance bills by an average of more than $200 a year. The next clinic is:

6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 30
Morton Grove Public Library
6140 Lincoln Ave.
Morton Grove


"Most people are paying too much for phone service, but CUB’s clinics can help you make deep cuts in your phone bills,” CUB Executive Director David Kolata said. “CUB has been showing consumers how to save an average of about $240 a year on their local and long-distance bills. Plus, we have a new online tool that has been teaching consumers how to slash cell-phone bills by another $300 a year. You just can’t get a free service like this anywhere else.”

Consumers frequently complain that they can’t get reliable information from the phone company, which often just throws them a sales pitch for a more expensive plan. At CUB’s clinics, however, citizens will receive helpful tips about:

The CUB Cellphone Saver—a state-of-the art online tool that automatically analyzes individual wireless bills, potentially cutting a caller’s costs by hundreds of dollars a year.
The new CUB-designed Consumer’s Choice local-calling plans that AT&T is forced to offer under a legal settlement. Unlike AT&T’s other plans, these plans are designed to save most consumers money.
Illinois’ best long-distance plans, including how to get an automatic $20 credit CUB negotiated. That amounts to nearly 11 hours of free calls.
Line-Backer, a costly—and optional—AT&T service that most people don’t need.
Attendees should bring their phone bills so CUB experts can analyze them and give tips on how to cut them.

CUB is Illinois’ leading nonprofit utility watchdog organization. It was created by the Illinois legislature in 1983 to represent the interests of residential and small-business utility customers. Since then, CUB has saved consumers more than $10 billion by helping to block rate hikes and secure refunds. For more information, call CUB’s Consumer Hotline at 1-800-669-5556.