After the Federal Communications Commission saw a huge spike in complaints from Verizon Wireless customers reporting mysterious data overages, the carrier has apparently started offering refunds. In one case, that means canceling a non-profit’s $20,300 bill for using 1,300GB of data — on a single phone, in one month.
Horizon Education Centers of Cleveland had been battling Verizon for three months after receiving a bill in June that claimed the non-profit had used an exorbitant amount of data, The Plain Dealer reports in its latest piece covering Verizon data overages.
Though the center has 49 phones and iPads on its account, Verizon’s bill claimed that all that data was used over 10 days in May on one device. That would be pretty tough to pull off for even the most dedicated person.
“Verizon originally claimed Horizon’s employee took out the SIM card and shared it with other cellphones,” The Plain Dealer wrote, before backing off and blaming the usage on something else, ultimately forgiving the bill.
While Verizon is forgiving the entire bill in some cases, like Horizon’s, it’s offering to dramatically reduce customers’ bills in others, The Plain Dealer notes.
Another customer, a middle school teacher from Georgia, said she received a credit this month for $500 worth of data averages Verizon charged her in September.
Like many others, she told The Plain Dealer it wasn’t the incorrect overages she was mad about, but the fact that the company didn’t send her text alerts to warn her she was approaching her limit as it had one in the past.
She tells the paper that a “very apologetic” customer service representative contacted her, saying the phone call was purely regarding her FCC complaint.
“I still don’t understand,” she says. “I don’t think he knew what he was apologizing for either,” adding that she was too afraid to ask to get the entire overage eliminated. “I accepted his offer,” she said. “I just felt anxious to turn it down and then get stuck with the full amount.”
Verizon customers begin to get refunds after FCC complaints [The Plain Dealer]
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist
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