This is kind of old because I ran into a brick wall with Verizon and had nowhere else to turn.
To summarize - in early March my son had a motorcycle accident and ended up in the hospital for several weeks with several more weeks of recovery and rehab. Obviously, he could not work during this time. As a favor to him, I paid his April Verizon phone bill over the phone with my debit card (which he paid back).
21 July Verizon wireless debited my credit union account in the amount of $528.67 without any notification or my permission. When contacted, the local (Houston) Verizon CS rep told me that since my debit card information was still on file, that constituted my permission to use it and to take up the matter with my credit union to try and get the charge reversed. I demanded Verizon remove my debit info from MY SON's account immediately. The credit union confirmed this gaping loophole in the law and said that I would need to get a refund from Verizon.
On 21 July Verizon wireless also debited my son's account in the amount of $528.67 FOR THE SAME BILL. Yes, the bill was paid TWICE.
I talked to numerous CS reps, I wrote letters, I provided all of the account statements, I even had the account statements wired directly from the credit union to Verizon to remove any doubt of authenticity. I finally made contact with the Grand Poobah of customer service at Verizon Hq in Atlanta, who immediately launched an "investigation" into the matter. Verizon Hq did in fact confirm that my son and I had both been debited for the SAME BILL (keep in mind this is my son's account, not mine). They still refused to refund my money stating that their "Policy" prohibits refunding payments that were made in error. After that ruling, they basically refused to talk to me at all. I filed a complaint with the Texas States Attorney General but basically got no response.
I still want my hard earned money back, now with about 3 years worth of interest. Has this happened to anyone else, and what can be done about it? Clearly, this is theft since they ACKNOWLEDGED the double payment (which was done without my permission) and REFUSED to give it back.
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