The telephone company tells you it will give you low, low rates on your calls. It even says you'll get the cheapest charges of all.
The nice salesperson has no clue how your rate plan stacks up against other customers' plans. In fact, per the tariff it filed with the agency that regulates it, you will pay much more than the guy told you. Sucker!
Blawgletter just insulted you because a nifty kink in the law — the filed rate doctrine — guarantees you can't get relief. That doctrine, as the Eighth Circuit noted today, "prohibits a regulated entity from charging any rate other than that filed with the relevant regulatory authority . . . ." Firstcom, Inc. v. Qwest Corp., No. 07-3548, slip op. at 16 (8th Cir. Feb. 9, 2009).
In Firstcom, the court affirmed dismissal of claims by a competitive local exchange carrier against Qwest. The CLEC, Firstcom, bought access to Qwest's network under an "interconnection agreement". It alleged that Qwest gave other CLECs better and cheaper access. Qwest lodged a copy of the Firstcom interconnection agreement with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, which approved the agreement. The filing, the court held, triggered the FRD, precluding Firstcom's overcharge claims.
