Transaction Clearing Charges of 12.95 (total including taxes 13.60) on my Verizon Bill (monthly telephone bill).
Some company has added a $12.95 without my permission to my Verizon phone bill. This has been going on for couple of months until we realized that there is something fishy about this.
When we called Verizon, they gave us the companys number 1-866-421-4816. According to Verizon, we have to call this company and fight it out with them, and that Verizon is not responsible for the charges. They will allow companies to charge the customers, unless the customers put a auto billing block on their account.
First of all, we never gave express permission to Verizon to allow other companies to charge through them. According the Superintendent of Verizon Customer Service, all customers who have signed up for Verizon internet have given permission (without the customers knowing about this). And that Verizon Online Internet is a different company and the Verizon phone customer service will not be able to help with that.
When we googled 'verizon transaction clearing charges or 1 866 421 4816, we saw tons of complaints from people about the same charges appearing in their Verizon phone bill (example - http://usacomplaints.com/Sales-People/Verizon-ESBI-Rocket/verizon-esbi-rocket-communic-eq94b.htm). When we brought this up with the Superintendent of Verizon Customer Service, she insisted that they are not responsible and that it is a valid company, otherwise they cannot bill you. And that we or someone else has given them permission to bill!
It is very frustrating that Verizon is allowing this to happen to so many customers, and they are of absolutely no help when we call them.
We have now put a block on further charges being levied to our account from third parties.
But how can this company continue to cheat people? Why is Verizon not taking any action despite that many complaints have been logged even on their own web forum. Are they that deaf or cold? There must be thousands of customers who are getting charged and are not aware of this because they do not study their bill. What about the helpless elderly people who have no energy to fight with Verizon or these unethical third party companies.
On top of this, the Verizon representative was claiming proudly that they have provided auto billing block for FREE! How generous of them!
If Verizon is a responsible company, why arent they launching an investigation on this? Why are they turning a deaf ear on this? Probably they get a cut in this? We are very suspicious since the Verizon customer service people were defending this company and their charges. Will this practice ever end? Will anyone not hold any of these companies accountable? Will customers continue to get duped until they realize they are being charged this? How do we get that money back? What will these companies come up with next to dupe the customers? Is there no end to these unethical practices?
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