I have 5 phones on a family plan, 3x vx9900 eNV, a plainish candybar and a Juke SCH-U470. On all lines I've disabled the Get-It-Now, Premium Content and Web services.
Monthly, since the phones were new, I've been billed for 'minimum' data usages on 1,2 or 3 of the phones. This is typically $6 a month. When I call, ask to know what these charges are for, they can't trace them, but to hazard a guess that *maybe* the button was pushed to download or search for an application. They offer (what sounds like) a very practiced banter about "Ways to get around the blocks."
A dozen times (for as many months) I've explained we have all those services disconnected and don't wish access to them. I can easily speak for my phone; this button for App downloads is not getting it pushed.
I asked them to either guarantee that these charges won't be continuously added or I leave for another carrier. They couldn't, so I'm now with AT&T, waiting for my LG Xenons to arrive.
I construe their billing as a soft Negative-Option to siphon a couple bucks ($1.99 per phone per month) in a way which will get ignored by most people. I believe that it's part of their system design and business model. Extrapolated, this amounts to huge charges over the census of VX-9900, Juke and other users. If not for the 5-phone family plan, I might have not even noticed or bothered.
But, it was 30 minutes, minimum, on the phone with various tiers of support, all of whom claimed "It's very unusual... Haven't heard of this before." Though, also seemed to have a careful line explaining it away. The time it cost me, by design, was the Ripoff; a negative option. CIAO Verizon!
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