Verizon's $1.99 'data usage' charge...

Submitted by suestock on August 30, 2009 - 11:00am.
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I love reading the Consumerist Web site. It generally makes me laugh.

But this headline about a $1.99 data usage charge from Verizon got my attention in a hurry since I've been seeing it on my own bill and wondering about it.

Turns out, others have, too.

The Consumerist post refers back to a story from a Cleveland Plain Dealer writer who noticed the charge too. She spent six months trying to get it reversed. And when she published her account, she got 400 readers from her area with the same complaint. I'm guessing there are others around here, too. Fortunately, the story also includes some good tips on what to do about it.

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Re: Verizon's $1.99 'data usage' charge...

Submitted by riggeba on August 31, 2009 - 3:43pm.

Thanks for the post. I discovered one of these $1.99 data usage charges on my husband's account last month. I assumed it was something he had done. Come to find out that he had no idea what that would have been from. I immediately called Verizon, and they removed the charge without much of an arguement. I am thankful for the post and for Verizon's good customer service.

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Re: Verizon's $1.99 'data usage' charge...

Submitted by ThePRGuy on August 31, 2009 - 11:13am.

My wife fought this charge with Verizon several months ago. They told her it was for texting. She does not text nor needs to receive texts. She had to get them to block all texting on her account to take care of this.

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Re: Verizon's $1.99 'data usage' charge...

Submitted by carbonLib on August 30, 2009 - 8:19pm.

i strongly urge EVERYONE to go online to the attorney general's consumer protection division and download the complaint form. Fill it out (yes, it a pain) and send it in......you can't imagine how powerful this is. I was locked in mortal combat (and a wicked customer service complaint mobeus loop) with SUNCOM regarding similar things. As SOON as they got the notice from the Attorney General's office, the zeroed my account and apologized.

this works...

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Re: Verizon's $1.99 'data usage' charge...

Submitted by My3Girls63 on August 30, 2009 - 1:03pm.

I, too, dealt with this for many months with many calls for reimbursements until I finally spoke with a supervisor. He informed me that the culprit is the picture/video messaging which in some instances accesses the internet "through the back door". In order to stop the charges I had to have a National Access Block put on my account. It stopped the charges but we also lose picture/video messaging. He agreed that it didn't seem right, took my formal complaint, and suggested I also submit an email complaint via the Verizon website. Maybe if we all do this, they can fix this very lucrative software "glitch" of theirs.

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