A couple of weeks ago I told you that I took my internet provider business from Comcast to Verizon hoping for better prices and service. I had my first hiccup with Verizon this week: the second bill arrived and it included charges for items that I did not order and never used.
The items that they were charging me $14.99 for were Verizon Security and Backup Bundle 5GB and Verizon Games on Demand Unlimited. I don’t know how Verizon thought it could place these items on my account without me asking for them. The good news is that the customer service representative did take those items off my account and credited my account on the current bill.
I’ve always heard that it is important to review bills for extraneous charges and this was the first time that I’ve noticed such a trick on my own bill. Let me know in the comments if you’ve been over charged by your internet service provider.
16 responses so far ↓
1 ReneC // May 2, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Wow, I was just in the store today and they said I was not getting the cheapest price on my FIOS, so I needed to give them my email address to verify my new pricing. I now go into my email, and they said to activate the Security and Backup Bundle 5GB . Crazy!! HE NEVER said anything about that at all. I am a very technical person, and would have known if he said that to me. This is insane…….
2 Evan // Jun 9, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Rene, this is exactly what *should not happen*. How can they do this to you (and me and I’m sure many others)? Good luck getting them off your bill.
As I said, the CSR told me those items wouldn’t be charged but the bill never changed. I ended up calling them a few weeks ago and was told that they only reversed the second month of the service. I get to pay for the first month because I had those services for a whole month. Nothing I said would convince this guy that 1. I DID NOT order that service. 2. I canceled the service on the web site within days of the service starting up.
Watch out when you start your Verizon service because they are charging for services you don’t want and don’t ask for!
3 Debbie // Oct 18, 2008 at 8:07 pm
I just took over my 90 yr old father’s checkbook and bills. LO and BEHOLD Verizon started charging my father $7.99 for Verizon Security and Backup Bundle in Feb ‘08. This bundle is for SMALL BUSINESSES not for 90 yr olds!! Verizon owes me for 10 mos of services that were not requested. Good thing there’s a Verizon employee in the family. This is going to be investigated for sure!!!
4 Barbara // May 15, 2009 at 9:50 pm
Additional services charges were also on my bill, without my consent: Security and Backup Bundle/5GB @ $8.99, Starz Play @ $5.99 and Games on Demand @ $14.99. Also about 2 months ago there was an additional $19.99 charge on my bill (don’t remember what it was for). I called and had it taken off and given a credit on the following bill but I’m getting a little fed up with checking every month to see what they may be charging me for without my consent. You have to wonder how many people they are doing this to and how many don’t realize the extra fees they are paying. It is a very money hungry organization.
5 Kate // Jul 16, 2009 at 7:58 am
After one year of service and with no warning, Verizon increased the price up my phone/DSL package. When I called, they switched it to a plan that was more than what I had paid the previous year and then told me that I was being signed up for “Verizon Unlimited Games + Starz(R) Play Pak”. I told the CSR that I was not interested and his reply was that I should log on to my account to unsubscribe.
I told him that that was unacceptable and that he needed to remove it from my account right then. He left for a few minutes and when he came back, he told me it had been taken care of. That was about 40 minutes of my life I’ll never get back.
So, now my next bill comes, and, sure enough, there are $16 (plus all kinds of taxes, presumably) worth of “Verizon Unlimited Games + Starz(R) Play Pak” charges. Their customer service keeps old-fashioned bankers’ hours, so I still haven’t been able to talk to them.
This is really slimey, loathesome behavior that must be affecting a huge number of people (something like this also apparently appeared on my parents’ phone bill out of nowhere months ago, but they didn’t notice it). Maybe I’ll try to complain to the FCC.
6 Evan // Jul 16, 2009 at 8:10 am
Kate if you find a good place to complain to the FCC about this, please let us know. This seems like cheating and lying to me and it needs to stop.
7 Cora // Aug 23, 2009 at 1:23 pm
I just signed my mom up for Verizon and sure enough, they added this extra Security and Backup Bundle/5GB for $8.99 on her second bill without her consent. I’ll be calling the customer service rep to get it removed from the bill but I wish there was more I could do so that no one else gets swindled like this.
8 Carolyn // Aug 31, 2009 at 11:27 pm
Yeah, and that backup would be a wonderful idea, too, except that it is useless at 5Gigabytes. My computer has 71 GB, and it’s only average. I don’t know what security they provide, but I’ll bet it’s just as flimsy.
9 yaani // Sep 4, 2009 at 11:01 am
I found a charge for Security and Backup Bundle/5GB on my Verizon bill. We recently changed our Verizon bundle package but we did not order the security & backup bundle. I called the CSR & they tried to tell us we ordered it & it was 30 days free then they started billing, but we did not order it, they removed the charge & gave us credit for it but I am sure they automatically charge others for the same feature & people probably don’t check each item on their bill every month & just pay it. $8.99 a month for 5GB of storage is outrageous.
10 Mike // Sep 11, 2009 at 9:37 pm
Yup, happened to me too. An extra $16 for “Verizon Unlimited Games + Starz(R) Play Pak.” Verizon is disgusting. Is someone finds an FCC person to talk to please let me know.
11 Mike // Sep 11, 2009 at 9:52 pm
File your complaints at the FCC. I did. Here is the link:
http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm
12 John // Oct 24, 2009 at 7:29 pm
I just noticed this charge of $16 on my bills as well. What’s funny is that the article is from November 2007 and they’re still pulling this crap.
13 Jake // Jan 23, 2010 at 9:22 am
Verizon is BT, I found Verizon Unlimited Games + Starz(R) Play Pak charged suddenly showing in my account. What’s shit company, I have to call every month for un-expected charge!
14 PSDoff // Jan 29, 2010 at 6:30 pm
I just got my bill (Feb 2010) and this charge appeared as well:
Verizon unlimited Games + Starz(R) Play Pak : 20.98
Gaming Starz Play Bundle Discount: -4.98
I’ve had FiOS for over two years now and they start pulling this sh*t?
I called, was on hold for less than a minute, it took the CSR less than five minutes to remove the charges, issue a credit and cancel the service.
Annoying as hell, not to mention trying to figure out partial-month charges, the dates they’re charged for (say, for a promo that ended after 90 days or a cancelled premium channel). I have a feeling they get away with a lot of extra charges.
15 Charles // Feb 17, 2010 at 1:06 am
Yep, Starz/Games Pack and the security package… the same thing happened to me. My theory was that the Verizon rep. in India or the Phillipines signed me up for the commission even though I said no. It wouldn’t surprise me. I can just picture some guy in India using broken English and saying “I thought he said yes!” Sadly though, I don’t even think Verizon’s current management either knows about it or is policing the problem. Heck, though, the higher-ups are outsourcing American jobs to a bunch of people in India who patronize and lie so they can be lazy and suck on the capitalist teet rather than do their jobs, so it’s wouldn’t be surprising to find out the middle management probably doesn’t have common sense enough to pay much attention to bill discrepancies…
It just irritates me… I signed up for DLS on about the 12th of Jan and they told me my service ready date was the 19th, when I called because it wasn’t working and someone else told me it had been the 18th. Nothing worked, so they said they would send out a technician to examine the lines, and nobody showed up… ever. I set aside an entire day to watch for a technician, and they’d not even give a courtesy call that they wouldn’t be able to make it or explain why they didn’t show. I ‘d call that evening after the time window during which they were supposed to arrive was over, and they’d tell me some fluff excuse with an Indian accent like “there wush too high a wurrk load.” The one time I spoke to a technician he said it was kinda far out and he would be there the next day (still didn’t show).
I finally got connected when I MOVED on Feb 10th to a new apt, but it looks like they’re trying to charge me for the 20+ days I didn’t even have service. Someone told me I’d have 30 days of free service credited to my account but all I’m seeing is a charge for $35 and a bunch of confusing added on charges for services I didn’t sign up for… After this is all said and done, they will hopefully give me some free days so I don’t have to sit and do math for 2 hours just to figure out why their bill is retardedly confusing…
16 Jake // Feb 20, 2010 at 10:44 pm
It happens again after I called them last time. This is shit. Verizon should go to bankruptcy, rob us money for no reason!
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