I have been a Verizon Wireless customer for six or more years now, unfortunately for me. Last year, my fiance and I "upgraded" to the Family Share Plan with 800 "Anytime" minutes per month, for $59.99 per month for the primary line and an additional $20 per month for the secondary line, plus $10 per month for each line for unlimited "IN" calling.
We also foolishly purchased the "Asurion" phone insurance for $4.99 per month for each phone. A month afterward, the insurance went up to $5.99/month per phone. And yet, two weeks ago while I was at a local Verizon store attempting to get my defective phone replaced, the brochure I was handed listed the insurance price at $4.99/month. Very interesting, I thought.
Incidentally, when I went to the Verizon store to request a replacement phone, I was at first told by an extremely rude salesperson, that I would have to call "Asurion" and file an insurance claim. After an hour of refusing to let Verizon walk all over me, they finally agreed to mail me a replacement phone, which came four days later.
Ever since signing up for Family Share, our typical monthly phone bill has been over $200. We have had monthly bills of over $400 and even $500. At some point in the past, Verizon stopped providing the phone numbers for incoming phone calls. Each month, they list dozens upon dozens of incoming calls to both myself and my fiance that we know darned good and well we did not receive, and the minutes for those "fake" calls are deducted from our 800 "Anytime" minutes. Then we get charged $0.45 per minute for "going over our monthly allowance of 800 Anytime minutes."
We are also billed for outgoing calls that we did not make, either. Every single month, it's whopping "Usage Charges" and sometimes even "Roaming Charges." I have been paying and paying and paying through the nose and finally got fed up. I sent Verizon an email via their website demanding that I be sent detailed call lists for incoming and outgoing calls to my account for 2005. I told them that I know that they are ripping me off. The condescending email I received stated (copied and pasted directly from Verizon's email to me):
"To ensure the privacy of the calling party, the number of the person calling you is not supplied on any of our bills. All incoming calls will be displayed on your statement as your own wireless number. If you would like this information it may be subpoena by law, and we will be more than happy to provide the information you are requesting."
A subpoena??? Give me a break!!! How is this any different from a credit card company sending me a bill with unidentified purchase charges on it, and refusing to give me any details about the alleged purchase, while demanding that I pay the bill anyway???
I wrote back to Verizon, informed them that I have filed a complaint with our state Attorney General's office, and also that I have made inquiries to two different lawyers about the legality of their billing practices. I again demanded that they provide me with a list of all incoming calls to my account. They completely ignored that email, other than the automated response letting me know that my email was received by Verizon. It's been six days, no response. I sent them a third email about 14 or 15 hours ago. So far, no response.
Anybody filing a Class Action against Verizon??? Let me in on it!!!
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