back to article Verizon to refund $30-$90m in 'mystery fees'

Verizon will refund between $30 and $90 million to customers for "mystery fees" charged to their wireless accounts — but the US Federal Communications Commission says that the paybacks won't end their investigation into the US's largest wireless provider's billing practices. "As we reviewed customer accounts," said Verizon …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Goes to show

    It is no surprise to me that this happened to so many and as long as it did.

    In the U.S., we get these "mystery fees" on any phone product whether it be lan line or mobile. The phone companies can't even explain them when ask what they are, but refuse to remove them.

    That's sad when you pay for something and you don't even know what it is and have no way of not paying it.

    I guarantee many companies have been in meetings and watching this with a microscope because they could be next.

  2. onyxruby
    Thumb Up

    I should be owed some of these

    My wife and I both had a pair of Palm Treo 650wx's. Mine had a data-plan as I traveled for work, however she didn't see any need. Such charges could be incurred by doing something as simple as bumping the 'c' button on the telephone (this phone has the keys on the outside).

    I got hit with at least 10 bucks worth of charges off of my wife's phone per month for a couple of years. The irritating thing about this is that there was no ready way to disable the automatic feature. Each feature had it's way to disable it, and any given feature automatically hit you with the fee.

    They also had a one button click for an information call (at 1.99 per) that was extremely difficult to disable. The phone was a disaster as it was literally one button (from several possibilities) away from additional $2 charge. You had to treat it as fragile to avoid getting sacked with extra fees every month.

  3. Henry Wertz 1 Gold badge

    Explanation...

    So, to explain (since the article doesn't), without a data plan or data block (which blocks all data as the name implies...) the cost for pay-per-use is $1.99/MB. But, that means that 1KB of usage bills at $1.99 -- thus the mystery fees. Why don't they just make the first MB free, to cover accidentally bumping the browser button, or random small data uses of apps? Well, I guess the "$30-90 million" says it 8-)

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    FCC?

    Why is the US telecommunications regulator involved? Services were billed that were not delivered, this should be a matter for the Federal Trade Commission, just like it would be if it happened to *any other industry*!

    Same thing with advertised broadband speeds, network neutrality, and on and on. ISPs do thing that have been illegal and tightly regulated in other industries for years (racketeering, false advertising, bait-and-switch), and for some reason because "technology" is involved, they get away with it!

    Unfair trade practices are unfair, electronic or otherwise. Can we please put an end to this?

    1. Peter H. Coffin

      Ah, but see...

      The services WERE delivered, and at the contracted rate. The problem is that the services were not explicitly *requested* but were instead invoked as an unintended consequence of a user's action, without explicit notice of the consequential charge.

      As for why this is the FCC and not another agency, it does come down to that "Communications" aspect. FCC handles communications, SEC handles financials (mostly), FAA handles most things to do with airplanes even if it's how an airline handles things on the ground, FDA hands stuff wot is food or drugs, etc. FTC handles just what's left because they do not have the resources to cover specialized areas of knowledge.

  5. James Woods

    as a verizon victim

    they charge you a fee to get a detailed statement so you may never know what's going on unless you pay them extra or view things online.

    i've been fighting with them for awhile now for recording my calls without my permission (my state doesn't permit call recording if both parties do not provide consent).

    They don't care, the only thing they seem to 'get' is the bill not getting paid.

    Quoting some of the other posts regarding "advertised broadband speeds" etc.... Verizon has been in the internet business longer than most and they've always been tricky with things.

    Far as I know verizon fios doesn't have limitations for usage like cable does but that may or perhaps already has changed.

    What the hell good is a comcast 20Mbit+ connection when your only allowed a few hundred gb without paying more.

    If the concept behind speed is to download more faster that presents a problem with bandwidth caps. I'd pay for my 'usage' anyday that comcast would provide an SLA.

    Go FCC.

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