Spin-off the the recent Verizon bill thread...

[timetosave]

Well, GET THIS!! As I was reading this thread, I pulled out my verizon bill, and low and behold it is double what is normally due! So I called customer service wanting to know why they are billing me for TWO months, even though I am current. The guy is all confused, and then says that we just opened our account so I have to pay for the current month, and one month in advance. I told him I opened up my account in December, and had already been through the "double" phone bill payment we always have to pay during the first month of service. He puts me on hold and comes back and asks if I had recently filed bankruptcy, and I said yes, and that that should not have affected my bill! He then told me that they closed out my old account, and opened up a new one, so now I have to pay this "double" bill again! I told him I don't understand how my bankruptcy should've affected my account at all (since we did not even include them in our bk matrix), and that if they did open up a new account for me, I never gave them permission to do so, and I would like to see the document where I signed and gave them permission to open up this new account. He was very apologetic and told me I would need to speak to someone in their finance dept, but of course, they are closed for the night. ugh. One more thing I need to take care of... One thing's for sure. If they don't make this right, they are GONE! Good-bye Verizon, hello T-mobile flex pay!

[Flamingo]

You need to pull out your Verizon contract and review all the fine print that, of course, none of us ever reads. If there is anything stated in that that if one files BK while under contract that they can redo your account or charge fees, you are out of luck. If nothing is stated in there and you never signed any other Agreement or received any notification in the mail from them as to a change to your contract of that sort, it could be illegal. Pull out your contract and read.

[timetosave]

Well, I did just go and review everything in the contract, and the only thing I found was that they have the right to terminate my account at any time for various reason, including if I file for bk. Okay, so they can terminate, but no where did it state that they have the tight to open a NEW account for me, and treat it as so, including charging me for the first month's payment, and the prorate (which was basically one whole month). AND, the thing is - I ALREADY paid for the "prorate" period they are charging me on this "new" account, credited to my "old" account when I made paid my bill last month (since cell phone bills are set up to be paid one month in advance). So in essence, they are charging me twice for the same month! I will definitely be calling them in the morning, and since they made changes to my account (which they have the right to), their very own contract says I have the right to cancel without paying the early termination fee when any changes are made to my account. So, we shall see what happens tomorrow.

[PoorGrammyinBK7]

Go get 'em!!

I actually reported Verizon to the FCC once - a couple of years ago for termination fees that were never disclosed (over $400 - 2 business phones) and they had to refund/credit our account for the full amount! Personally, I cannot trust Verizon - they are sneaky!

[13bound]

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/globalText?textName=CUSTOMER_AGREEMENT&jspName=footer/customerAgreementv2.jsp&thirdParty=true

it's in the " OUR RIGHTS TO LIMIT OR END SERVICE OR THIS AGREEMENT ". i filed in july and no problem yet.

[laurannm]

We filed in July as well and no problems so far

[Cali]

I filed first week of June and my bill is still the same. I haven't received any txts, mail or random charges.

[Pinkie86]

So they can end the agreement, but it doesn't say that they can double bill you. I call BS!

[13bound]

BS on this end too.............

So they can end the agreement, but it doesn't say that they can double bill you. I call BS!

i would think they can do whatever they want.

[Pinkie86]

Since it doesn't make mention in the user agreement, I wouldn't think they could legally. Just because they own the company doesn't mean they can do whatever they want - I would assume they're FCC regulated.

From what I did read, if they intend on billing you additional random fees, they HAVE to put it in writing. So they should have notified OP.

I've SCOURED this one and paper copy I have here at home. I'm looking for loopholes in case they charge me some stupid fee.

I'll ask my lawyer on Monday and see what he thinks. Hopefully I can find out for sure for us.

[timetosave]

Hi everyone. Just wanted to update. I called this morning, and they admitted the double billing was a mistake. I was also concerned about how this new account they opened up for me would change my contract date and extend my contract, but the csr said that my contract end date will remain the same, and stated that I only have a one year contract, which ends in March 09. Well, I checked my contract here at home, and it says I have a two year contract, which expires March 2010, so I asked her to double check it, and she said it definitely expires March 09. I decided it was in my best interest not to argue that one : ) . So, I guess it ended well.

I am sure they closed the old one and opened the new one so that we can't just decide to include the contract in the bk and cancel early. I still think it's pretty sneaky of them to do that, and if I was ready to end the contract, I probably could've fought it since they DID NOT have my permission to open a new account, and no where in their contract states that they have the right to do this. All I would need to do is ask them to produce the new SIGNED contract, and they wouldn't be able to. It was nice of them to not even notify me at all that they had done this.

Oh, and I better not see this post bk charge on my bill, or I will definitely cancel. In their contract, under "Our right to make changes," they can "change prices and any other conditions at any time" by sending a written notice prior to the billing period the change would affect. However, they also state:

"IF THE CHANGES HAVE A MATERIAL ADVERSE EFFECT ON YOU, YOU CAN END THE AFFECTED SERVICE, WITHOUT ANY EARLY TERMINATION FEE, JUST BY CALLING US WITHIN 60 DAYS AFTER WE SEND YOU NOTICE OF THE CHANGE."

So everyone should use that statement to their benefit whenever a wireless service provider decides to make changes to their terms, like raising the price for text messages, etc.

[Flamingo]

Hi everyone. Just wanted to update. I called this morning, and they admitted the double billing was a mistake. I was also concerned about how this new account they opened up for me would change my contract date and extend my contract, but the csr said that my contract end date will remain the same, and stated that I only have a one year contract, which ends in March 09. Well, I checked my contract here at home, and it says I have a two year contract, which expires March 2010, so I asked her to double check it, and she said it definitely expires March 09. I decided it was in my best interest not to argue that one : ) . So, I guess it ended well.

I am sure they closed the old one and opened the new one so that we can't just decide to include the contract in the bk and cancel early. I still think it's pretty sneaky of them to do that, and if I was ready to end the contract, I probably could've fought it since they DID NOT have my permission to open a new account, and no where in their contract states that they have the right to do this. All I would need to do is ask them to produce the new SIGNED contract, and they wouldn't be able to. It was nice of them to not even notify me at all that they had done this.

Oh, and I better not see this post bk charge on my bill, or I will definitely cancel. In their contract, under "Our right to make changes," they can "change prices and any other conditions at any time" by sending a written notice prior to the billing period the change would affect. However, they also state:

"IF THE CHANGES HAVE A MATERIAL ADVERSE EFFECT ON YOU, YOU CAN END THE AFFECTED SERVICE, WITHOUT ANY EARLY TERMINATION FEE, JUST BY CALLING US WITHIN 60 DAYS AFTER WE SEND YOU NOTICE OF THE CHANGE."

So everyone should use that statement to their benefit whenever a wireless service provider decides to make changes to their terms, like raising the price for text messages, etc.

See my posting under the related thread to this thread. Verizon protects itself totally under their contract as most lenders/creditors do. When you took on that contract, you agreed to those terms. Those terms gave them the right to do whatever they want to your contract during its term if certain conditions occur. However, they do give you the right to cancel if you do not agree when that change occurs. It appears to be 60 days. There may have been in insert in a recent billing concerning those changes or if you payonline there may have been messages posted for you to read that you did not see. Or they could state that once you became aware of the changes on your bill, that was your notice as you noticed the change. In any event, if you are not happy, you do have the right to get out of the contract.

As I stated in my positing on the other thread, most of us do not read all the fine print that comes along with signing for a loan, credit card or whatever. When you sign you agree to all those terms listed in there and believe me, they are all geared to protect the creditor. To protect oneself and not get "shocked" when something like this occurs out of the blue, educate oneself and read those terms on any account that stays open during your BK or opened after discharge. After reading some of them you may not want to open the account.