Verizon puts customer through the wringer before admitting 10K bill was an error

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus10-2009jun10,0,5926932.column

Verizon puts cellphone customer through the wringer

The company tries to hold an Aliso Viejo man accountable for $10,000 worth of Internet access in a month. It eventually admits a billing error.

David Lazarus
June 10, 2009

We've all found unexpected charges on our phone bills at one time or another. But nothing compares with the nearly $10,000 hit that Aliso Viejo resident Mark Elliot took from Verizon Wireless.

And even though it seems pretty obvious this had to be a mistake on somebody's part, Verizon's first instinct was to stick to its guns.

"We believe in the accuracy of the charges," Ken Muche, a company spokesman, told me after checking into Elliot's situation.

The company would eventually back down, but not before wiping out Elliot's checking account. More on that in a moment.


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The company told him that the activity was on his account and that was all there was to it. Ten thousand dollars, please.

By Monday night, however, Verizon execs seem to have realized they had it wrong -- and were about to have the whole episode detailed in the media.

Elliot said a high-ranking company official called him to say that the charge was being dropped -- for real this time.

"It was an Olympic gold medal backstroke performance," he said. "She was as deferential as any corporate person I've ever spoken with in my life."

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus10-2009jun10,0,5926932.column?page=2

take money directly from your checking account. Never.

Never.

Never.

I learned that the hard way -- and with Verizon too.

I went to the bank and requested that they stop the two automatic payments that I had coming out of my account monthly. They said they couldn't do it, that I had to contact the corporation and tell them to stop. I was pissed that a corporation has control over my account and that I or the bank didn't. So, I said close the account. I opened a new one and now they will have no access to my account. in fact, I think I'll pay those two bills in the future with money orders.

Many horror stories like this one have been reported.
Company wins all around while some poor schmo has to suffer all the hardship of getting the problem fixed.

no matter how much they try to convince me it's a good thing.

Account.

I ended my Verizon service -- told them I was closing my bank account (I was moving) and gave them my forwarding address for the final payment.

Even though my service with Verizon had ended, Verizon continued to bill my account for monthly charges as if the account were still open. Since the bank account was closed, the payment was refused and Verizon and wanted to charge me a penalty for having insufficient funds. It took me a couple of months and I don't know how many phone calls to straighten that out.

Even though I was tempted to save on stamps..now I know why ya don't.

There is no redress. They make no errors. Pay or they report you to the credit agencies.

Verizon did it to me and I had to sue them in Small Claims. They settled out of court, needless to say.

Same thing with the gas and electric company.

Their own people even told me that if I was to get them to remove the charge I would have to sue them. This person said there was no way anyone could take a charge of my bill. This was the utility company and they charged me $350 for a month's worth of heat when the furnace was broken in one of my rental units. The irony is they were the people in charge of fixing the furnace and on their own records it showed they'd been there four times.

Yet they still would not admit their error.

Egregious.

That is America in the Age of Greed and Drive for Insane Profits.


Cher