Wendy
Recycles dryer sheets
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2007
- Messages
- 54
Ugh. I'm ashamed to admit this to all of you, but my lack of diligence has led to one of those consumer fraud issues we always read about.
I have a Verizon landline at home. Last year I switched the bills to AutoPay and opted for online statements. I would skim the bills each month, but I was mostly checking the general totals for outliers and making sure they hadn't adding any service fees (like Comcast, who loves to add a few dollars here and there, just to see if you're paying attention).
You can see where this is going. One day, I decided to review my bill in more detail and noticed a "Miscellaneous Charge" for a service I didn't recognize and never ordered. Further inspection uncovered a series of these charges billed to me over the past year. A quick Google search confirmed this is an ongoing consumer fraud issue that is the subject of various FTC investigations and actions.
I learned that the phone companies pass through charges from third-parties as a "convenience" to their customers. But the billing may come from another party, a "fourth party" consolidator who bills Verizon on behalf of the "third party" company. And Verizon allows this, with no proof that the charge is legitimate.
I first called the other parties who placed the charges on my account. One told me that "my number wasn't even in their system, isn't that odd?" and agreed to send a credit at some unspecified point in the future. The other never responded. After many more calls, I finally reached Verizon's fraud department, who agreed to issue a credit on a future bill.
I wish I could convey my outrage at this, no doubt fueled by self-anger for letting my guard down. I filed an FTC complaint. I removed Verizon from Auto-Pay and switched to paper billing. I also placed a "third party billing block" on both phone lines, as suggested in this FTC notice: Cramming: Mystery Phone Charges. The entire ordeal took three hours of my valuable semi-ER time.
Here's more about "cramming": FCC moves to fight mystery fees on your phone bill - CNN
Only 5% of consumers ever notice these charges, giving a great incentive to these companies to sneak them in. Some have already been indicted, yet it continues.
As in all things, Buyer Beware.
I have a Verizon landline at home. Last year I switched the bills to AutoPay and opted for online statements. I would skim the bills each month, but I was mostly checking the general totals for outliers and making sure they hadn't adding any service fees (like Comcast, who loves to add a few dollars here and there, just to see if you're paying attention).
You can see where this is going. One day, I decided to review my bill in more detail and noticed a "Miscellaneous Charge" for a service I didn't recognize and never ordered. Further inspection uncovered a series of these charges billed to me over the past year. A quick Google search confirmed this is an ongoing consumer fraud issue that is the subject of various FTC investigations and actions.
I learned that the phone companies pass through charges from third-parties as a "convenience" to their customers. But the billing may come from another party, a "fourth party" consolidator who bills Verizon on behalf of the "third party" company. And Verizon allows this, with no proof that the charge is legitimate.
I first called the other parties who placed the charges on my account. One told me that "my number wasn't even in their system, isn't that odd?" and agreed to send a credit at some unspecified point in the future. The other never responded. After many more calls, I finally reached Verizon's fraud department, who agreed to issue a credit on a future bill.
I wish I could convey my outrage at this, no doubt fueled by self-anger for letting my guard down. I filed an FTC complaint. I removed Verizon from Auto-Pay and switched to paper billing. I also placed a "third party billing block" on both phone lines, as suggested in this FTC notice: Cramming: Mystery Phone Charges. The entire ordeal took three hours of my valuable semi-ER time.
Here's more about "cramming": FCC moves to fight mystery fees on your phone bill - CNN
Only 5% of consumers ever notice these charges, giving a great incentive to these companies to sneak them in. Some have already been indicted, yet it continues.
As in all things, Buyer Beware.
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