Verizon's new "bend over" long distance fee - options? - Page 3

 kgreenoz@gmail.com wrote:

    Next time you talk to Verizon get the name of the rep. Tell them the
following:
   If it is not taken care of on the next bill you will protest to the
PUC (or appropriate agency in that state).
  When Verizon contacts you after the protest you will tell them it was
done  because____________could not resolve the issue.
   In most states they can not cut off your phone for not paying
non-basic services.

  kgreenoz@gmail.com wrote:

That's the point of what they now call the "shortfall charge." As long
as they are assigned as your LD carrier, especially if you *don't* use
it, the minimum billing "shortfall charge" for Verizon even being
assigned as the LD carrier is now $2.00 a month. Plus tax.

You have to make sure there is no LD carrier assigned to your phone. It
sounds like Verizon is. What does it say one page one, right there on
"New Charges"? Last month my bill read:

New Charges
Verizon (page 3)        $xx.xx
Verizon Long Distance (page 4)    $  .00

As of the April bill it now reads:

New Charges
Verizon (page 3)        $xx.xx
Verizon Long Distance (page 4)    $ 2.19

If your bill says on page one "Verizon Long Distance" then they *are*
assigned as your long distance carrier. Call Verizon to have the LD
service removed. And tell them you will file a complaint with the FCC if
they intend to charge you $5.50 to remove this service because of an
unnanounced increase in rates. And do file a complaint with the FCC if
they give you any crap about it.


Rick

 It appears a litle more complicated than Rick described on the
billing.  I dropped Verizon as my LD carriers years ago - cell phones
are far cheaper.  If one looks back further to the end of last year,
Veizon Long Distance did not appear on my billing summary at all -
which make sense since I had no business relationship with them.  Out
of nowhere, an itemized line for Verizon Long Distance materialized on
my February 2007 billing statement with a $0.00 balance.  It was there
again in March 2007 $0.00.  Then in April 2007 - $2.23.  Talk about
the proverbial camel's nose.  While not slamming in the literal use of
the term, this appears awfully close - they were not my carrier and
now they say they are.

Since it is Saturday, there is no one home at the Verizon Long
Distance number (it seems only sales people work on the weekend).  We
will chat on Monday.  If I have to cancel all of my service and move
from DSL to cable, so be it.  The are not getting my money.  The FCC
and the state PSC will both be hearing from me.  I urge people to do
the same.

 ikewalden@yahoo.com wrote:

That really does sound like the FCC description of "slamming." And it
sounds like Verizon did that on purpose to all customers who may not
have had a LD carrier assigned in anticipation of the "bend over"
minimum fee being assessed. Which would be all the more reason for
people under this described scenario to file a complaint with the FCC.

The first time I called Verizon I talked to a real b*tch who said
Verizon was going to charge me $5.50 to remove them as my LD carrier. A
week later and I got someone a lot nicer who removed Verizon as the LD
carrier, reversed the $2.19 "bend over" fee assessed on the April bill,
and assured me that there would be no fee charged for the change in
service.

I bet they got a lot of calls about this fee suddenly showing up on a
lot of bills. Especially if people like you got "mysteriously" assigned
Verizon for long distance when you explicitly had no LD carrier on you
account before this...

Rick