I was a 5 year customer of Verizon Wireless with as many as 6 concurrently active phone lines in my name. Using the conservative estimate of $300/month, I have paid VZW in excess of $18K, during the life of my contract with them. Over that time, I have always paid my bills (admittedly, at times late) and have never resorted to lodging a formal complaint such as this. However, in December I reached the point when I decided to no longer subject myself to their deceptive practices, took my business elsewhere and asked for arbitration on the outstanding bill. They have not met their obligations under our negotiated agreement. I am now receiving collection calls from CBE Group although I informed them, by registered mail, that I want to meet them in Small Claims Court. This organization's pricing schemes are confusing, by design. Their representatives provide erroneous information, both in person and on the phone, that is often later disavowed by their "superiors". They play upon the "billing cycle phenomenon" to subject the customer to excess charges. This occurred more than once but, in Dec. it exceeded my ability to continue tolerating it. I had purchased a $130 monthly plan (in addition to my other services) which allowed for 250Mb of data while traveling abroad. Since I left the US 2 days before the close of the billing cycle, they prorated the data use and charged me an exorbitant fee for having exceed the daily limit. I was gone for 10 days. I offered to buy two 250Mb "chunks" of data, which would have more than covered the actual use but they refused. Recognizing today's absolute necessity of cellular devices in the conduct of business, they exploit customers knowing it is impossible to hold them accountable for their deception. If one withholds payment, for a balance in dispute, they will suspend service and prevent phone number portability, thereby forcing the exploited millions of VZW customers to simply accept their abuse.
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