Dear ABC News Fixer: Verizon’s $10K-Plus Phantom Billing
Published at
Ryan Anson/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesBy STEPHANIE ZIMMERMANN, ABC News Fixer
Dear ABC News Fixer: I work at a private law firm which also acts as the Office of the City Attorney for the City of Sarasota, Fla. Our problems began back in December 2011, when we attempted to change from our current phone set-up to a more complex PRI line, following the advice of a Verizon sales rep.
The attempt to install this was unsuccessful due to technical reasons. We told them we were no longer interested in trying to make this conversion; instead we would keep the T1 line we currently had.
Since we were never connected to this service, we all assumed that would be the end of it.
However, the Verizon billing office continued to bill us monthly for this line. Our part-time bookkeeper paid the invoices, along with our regular monthly bill of $811.69. The incorrect bills were for just over $900 per month.
Unfortunately, we did not catch this error and continued to pay these incorrect charges for a year, from January through December 2012. We now realize we have paid Verizon $11,836.30 for service that was never actually in effect.
We have called, sent emails and written to Verizon about receiving a credit or refund, all to no avail. We got them to deactivate the account, but haven’t gotten a response about a refund or credit. We would really appreciate some help.
– Lillie Fournier, Sarasota, Fla.
Dear Lillie: This seemed like a relatively simple problem, despite the huge price tag. You didn’t get the service, so you shouldn’t have to pay for it. Easy-peasy.
But you told the ABC News Fixer you’d had a dizzying time dealing with various departments here and overseas, and several months later you still had no refund.
Well, put away the Dramamine because we finally got this fixed.
Click here to continue reading…
Got a consumer problem? The ABC News Fixer may be able to help. Click here to submit your problem online. Letters are edited for length and clarity.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio