Verizon Wireless just hit us up, and the news is very big. Verizon is refunding erroneously billed customers over $90 million next month. 15 million cellular customers were wrongly charged for internet usage, Verizon said, and they will be refunding around $2-$6 (and possibly much more) per customer. If you’ve already skipped out on Big Red, your reimbursement will come in the form of a check in the mail. Why is Verizon Wireless doing this? Well, it’s being reported by the The New York Times that the FCC presured Verizon as hundreds of complaints about this issue had been building up. Here is the full statement from Verizon Wireless:
Verizon Wireless values our customer relationships and we always want to do the right thing for our customers.
In October and November, we are notifying about 15 million customers, through their regular bill messages, that we are applying credits to their accounts due to mistaken past data charges. We will mail former customers refund checks. In most cases, these credits are in the $2 to $6 range; some will receive larger credits or refunds.
As we reviewed customer accounts, we discovered that over the past several years approximately 15 million customers who did not have data plans were billed for data sessions on their phones that they did not initiate. These customers would normally have been billed at the standard rate of $1.99 per megabyte for any data they chose to access from their phones. The majority of the data sessions involved minor data exchanges caused by software built into their phones; others involved accessing the web, which should not have incurred charges. We have addressed these issues to avoid unintended data charges in the future.
Verizon Wireless issue credits to customers from time to time based on regular review and monitoring. When we identify errors, we remedy them as quickly as possible. Our goal is to maintain our customers’ trust and ensure they receive the best experience possible.
