Verizon Offers Consolidated Billing Errors

These days all the telecom and cable companies are offering consolidated bills for their “triple play” combo of phone, video, and Internet services. But from what my readers tell me, that might prove particularly convenient for Verizon customers, since it means they can get all the company’s billing errors in one place.

While Verizon’s ability to mess up its One-Bill accounts is something we’ve seen before, readers continue to report new variations on the theme. “I decided to sign up for Verizon’s One-Bill when I received a promotion for a $25 credit,” one reader wrote. “Unfortunately, not only didn’t I receive the credit but Verizon suppressed my wireless account so all I receive is a landline bill stating a total amount due, with no itemized calls. I wonder how many other subscribers didn’t receive their $25 credit?”

It’s interesting how Verizon’s mistakes always seem to work in its favor. “My contract with Verizon Wireless had long expired and I decided to finally get a new phone one Sunday,” another reader wrote. “When my bill arrived two weeks later, I had about $30 in overage charges. I never go over my minutes as I live in a rural area and get no service when I’m at home. Apparently I chose the wrong day to get my new phone. I went into the store on the 17th of the month and my month for my billing cycle didn’t change over until the 19th. With the new phone I also changed my plan from 400 to 450 minutes at the same price. Essentially, I walked into the Verizon store with over 300 minutes and left with about 30 minutes. They prorated the last couple of days of my billing cycle, unbeknownst to me, and then charged me when I went over their proration. No one ever warned me that I would have only a few minutes to use for a couple of days while my billing cycle ran out. Thankfully, with some serious strong-arming on my part, they refunded the overage.”

Customers who study their bill carefully – a necessity with Verizon – can run into some interesting charges. “Just got my Verizon wireless bill,” wrote another reader. “I was billed 30 cents for two text messages. Small potatoes, I know. But who sent the text messages? Verizon did — advertising new phone deals. If they do this on a widespread basis, is this a great racket or what? You send an innocuous text message ad, then bill for it. All those 15 cent charges add up to some real money after awhile.”

Going to online billing doesn’t seem to help make the process any more efficient. “I just got my first e-mail from Verizon since I converted from paper to online billing,” one reader wrote. “I was amazed to see this line in the notification: ‘Please schedule your payment at least 3-4 business days prior to your due date to allow time for your payment to be applied to your account.’ So the 18 days between the e-mail date and the due date is really only 14. Is it really true that in this day of instantaneous money transfers that it takes up to four days to move money from one computer to another? My grocery store debits show up in the 15 minutes between the time I walk away from the register and the time I get home, yet Verizon, with a market capitalization of $120 billion takes four days to get to my bank? Who thinks up this stuff? Clearly not someone who wants to maximize the user’s benefit from online financial transactions.”

And if a customer does happen to make a mistake, Verizon’s procedures are likely to compound it. A former Verizon Business DSL customer writes of what happened when he forgot to update his credit information. “For three months after that I was using the service without paying. I freely admit it was my mistake, but Verizon compounded the error by never actually telling me I had not paid my bill. Before you ask, since I was doing direct-pay via credit card I didn’t receive monthly statements. As a business customer I expected at the very least to get a ‘so … you gonna pay your bill?’ phone call or letter or even an e-mail. Never happened. I even had occasion to call Verizon tech support a few times because there were problems with my connection. Never said a word. Eventually my service was disconnected. I called and still nobody could tell me anything. After four days on the phone with representatives from customer service and billing I finally got someone who was able to tell me what happened. The worse part was that not only had my service been disconnected, my account had been completely deactivated. This apparently meant I would have to go through the whole set-up process again … taking at least two weeks. Since then I’ve avoided using Verizon directly as much as possible. I’m using a regional provider for DSL/phone/long distance service now and have never been happier. Verizon started offering FIOS in my area last year, but it’ll be a cold day in hell before I consider it … no matter how tempting.”

Which all-in-one service provider is giving you multiple problems? Tell us about it by posting your comments on my website or by writing me at Foster@gripe2ed.com.

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