Unauthorized charges by my ISP

We purchased a computer system from major computer corp.and they included a "free"internet service in the package.After using the service for roughly 3 1/2 months they charged my bank acct. 650.72 for the month of feb. after further investigating we found that they also charged us 135.80 for Jan. Now when we found these charges we notified the ISP for a explanation. They stated:1) the charge was for the use of a 888/800 number to connect.I gave my card # in case we went over the 150 free hours.2)It was clearly on step one of the registration process, we checked all through and found no notices of these charges($4.95/hr) They said they would refund the $650 dollars in thirty days.3) they also charged us $709.00 for Dec. but we have no record from our bankaccount.
#1- there were overdraft charges because they cleaned us out.can we recover these?
#2- Can we recover the charges applied for Jan. even though we missed them on our acct.?
#3-is it legal for a company to use debit cards for other reasons other than what they specify?
#4Is there any recourse for us in this matter?
#5What are our rights as a consumer?

First I'd have to know what type of notice you received that there would be per minute charges, and how regularly it was recommunicated. Second I'd have to know what exactly happened that caused you to continue to use the 800/888 number.

If it appears to be a cleverly designed sceme to suck people in and take advantage of them that's one thing. If it is something no reasonable person would have failed to spot it's something else.

Third I'd ask you to decide what you want. Assuminf fraud, are you prepared to take this on as a virtual crusade? If so, you can posibly find a lawyer who brings consumer class action cases, become a lead plaintiff, and charge the company with deceptive trade practices and possibly being a criminal enterprise (the "RICO" statute). Or do you simply want your money back? Or do you want to share your story with every consumer protection columnist and computer magazine and TV reporter in the country to warn everyone, and the Federal, State and local consumer protection agencies? Or some combination.

If this is something that is at least part of the company's fault, and not almost your fault (for example, AOL now tells people there is a $6.00 per hour charge for use of the 800 number each time they log on thru the 800 number and makes them say YES before proceeding), the company should quickly make a full refund. The person on the phone has some but not full authority (for example he probably can reverse charges and give a credit, but not payt the bank charges -- if so I'd take it -- regard the charges as your penalty for your own carelessness). If you do not get satisfaction, you may want to write to the CEO.

Thanks Larry for your imput! We never were told of the charges until they withdrew the $650.00 on 3/2,when the ATM said the account was overdrawn we called our banks 24hr # they informed us of the debit. that was the only way we found out. the ISP did not send any info on my account,there wasn't a confermation, statement,email,nothing.we used that # because it had (Toll-Free) right next to it,this is our first PC and we thought that it was"Toll-Free" Had we knew there is no way we would subscribe to it. Even though all we knew was we had a years "FREE" Internet access up to 150hrs per month.Well we already learned a lesson on how we need to protect ourselves and the feelings of being violated, we would like any/all monies paid but its a David vs Goliath we don't have the means esp. now, to mount a legal suit.they have all the funds mine too! ultimately if we're out the $ then the media will love this,I'm unsure when to call the TV news,doing it could hurt our chances for a refund? or will it help? had dell did what AOL does this would never of occured Thanks for responding & any insite would be helpful