Verizon Wireless to pay $25 million for spurious data charges

“Verizon Wireless has agreed to pay a fine of $25 million and at least $52.8 million in refunds to customers who inadvertently racked up data charges on their phones over the last three years, federal regulators said Thursday,” Peter Svensson reports for The Associated Press.

“The Federal Communications Commission said the settlement is the largest in its history,” Svensson reports. “To forestall action by the FCC, Verizon Wireless said earlier this month that it would issue refunds, mostly of $2 to $6, to about 15 million subscribers. It didn’t give a total value for the refunds.”

MacDailyNews Take: A couple of free half-assed iOS app ports for every Fandroid!

Svensson reports, “The FCC started asking Verizon Wireless last year about $1.99-a-megabyte data access fees that appeared on the bills of customers who didn’t have data plans but who accidentally initiated data or Web access by pressing a button on their phones… After the Cleveland Plain Dealer raised awareness of the spurious fees, Verizon Wireless said last year that it would take steps to prevent the charges from appearing and that it would issue refunds to customers who complained.”

Full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lynn W.” for the heads up.]

26 Comments

  1. Well let me tell you this.

    AT&T agreed to settle out of court for illegal and excessive termination fee’s if one canceled their contracts, did they pay? No.

    AT&T hangs and places phones books in US postal mailboxes using a series of shell companies. It’s a $500 fine per indecent for everyone else and yet they do it all over the country routinely. Do they get busted? No.

    A white hacker who informed AT&T that their iPad website was vulnerable to a certain simple automated script attack (could be done by a human but faster with a script) to gleam the email addresses of iPad owners was raided by the Feds and a bunch of drugs found on the premises. He now sits in jail awaiting trial.

    AT&T has secret NSA rooms next to the backbone of the Internet servers.

    Verizon seems the right way to go as they are being excessively fined by the government and AT&T is the wrong way to go if you ask me. It’s likely because Steve is such a lefty that Verizon blew him off the first time.

  2. Well let me tell you this.

    AT&T agreed to settle out of court for illegal and excessive termination fee’s if one canceled their contracts, did they pay? No.

    AT&T hangs and places phones books in US postal mailboxes using a series of shell companies. It’s a $500 fine per indecent for everyone else and yet they do it all over the country routinely. Do they get busted? No.

    A white hacker who informed AT&T that their iPad website was vulnerable to a certain simple automated script attack (could be done by a human but faster with a script) to gleam the email addresses of iPad owners was raided by the Feds and a bunch of drugs found on the premises. He now sits in jail awaiting trial.

    AT&T has secret NSA rooms next to the backbone of the Internet servers.

    Verizon seems the right way to go as they are being excessively fined by the government and AT&T is the wrong way to go if you ask me. It’s likely because Steve is such a lefty that Verizon blew him off the first time.

  3. Yeah Big Red said when Steve walked into the meeting, “Let’s Blow This Guy”!

    Someone else says, “Away! Let’s Blow This Guy Away”! ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />

    Good for me cause I like AT&T but that’s cause AT&T has never wronged me.

  4. Yeah Big Red said when Steve walked into the meeting, “Let’s Blow This Guy”!

    Someone else says, “Away! Let’s Blow This Guy Away”! ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />

    Good for me cause I like AT&T but that’s cause AT&T has never wronged me.

  5. “wow dude, just wow… what color is the air on your planet?”

    Same as yours. Research the info yourself.

    http://www.macworld.com/article/145921/2010/01/att_settlement.html

    http://www.spamdailynews.com/publish/ATT_tech_outs_NSA_spy_room.shtml

    Far as the phone book in the mailbox thing, that’s a personal observation and the shell companies private contractors take the fall if caught, but AT&T benefits. So I have no reference for that at this time.

  6. “wow dude, just wow… what color is the air on your planet?”

    Same as yours. Research the info yourself.

    http://www.macworld.com/article/145921/2010/01/att_settlement.html

    http://www.spamdailynews.com/publish/ATT_tech_outs_NSA_spy_room.shtml

    Far as the phone book in the mailbox thing, that’s a personal observation and the shell companies private contractors take the fall if caught, but AT&T benefits. So I have no reference for that at this time.

  7. I forgot to include AT&T benefits because they only pay enough to deliver the phone books as easily as possible, which usually is the roadside mailbox, instead of what it really costs to deliver to the front door like they say they want.

    So it’s the case of: “We want you to do it this way, but we are going to pay for you enough to do it the way you shouldn’t be doing it.”

    When I found out my son got involved with this scam, I was pissed.

  8. I forgot to include AT&T benefits because they only pay enough to deliver the phone books as easily as possible, which usually is the roadside mailbox, instead of what it really costs to deliver to the front door like they say they want.

    So it’s the case of: “We want you to do it this way, but we are going to pay for you enough to do it the way you shouldn’t be doing it.”

    When I found out my son got involved with this scam, I was pissed.

  9. Just remember… AT&T and Apple screwed iPad 3G owners with the abrupt change in the data plans, resulting in the elimination of the Unlimited Data Plan, only about a month after the device shipped….

    – Apple touted and advertised the $29.99 data plan as a major inducement to buy the iPad 3g.
    – Apple described it as a “breakthrough deal” with AT&T, leading consumers to believe that Apple had locked in the terms and price.
    – A key, heavily advertised, feature was the ability to jump between plans or have no 3G plan as dictated by needs and budget.
    – The “grandfathering” announced by AT&T forces customers to either keep an unlimited plan continuously active in order to not lose it.
    – The change in the plans has significant impact on the value of the device and the manner in which it can be used.
    – AT&T and Apple need to honor the advertised deal, not give us money, a coupon, a refund, free service for a month, etc.

    If you’re one of the people cheering because your bill got cut by $5 per month, don’t bother with replying to this. This is a legal issue related to FTC rules and regulations as well as other laws on false and deceptive advertising, not whether you like the new plans better because you don’t happen to move more than 2GB per month.

    http://www.lieffcabraser.com/cases.php?CaseID=316

  10. Just remember… AT&T and Apple screwed iPad 3G owners with the abrupt change in the data plans, resulting in the elimination of the Unlimited Data Plan, only about a month after the device shipped….

    – Apple touted and advertised the $29.99 data plan as a major inducement to buy the iPad 3g.
    – Apple described it as a “breakthrough deal” with AT&T, leading consumers to believe that Apple had locked in the terms and price.
    – A key, heavily advertised, feature was the ability to jump between plans or have no 3G plan as dictated by needs and budget.
    – The “grandfathering” announced by AT&T forces customers to either keep an unlimited plan continuously active in order to not lose it.
    – The change in the plans has significant impact on the value of the device and the manner in which it can be used.
    – AT&T and Apple need to honor the advertised deal, not give us money, a coupon, a refund, free service for a month, etc.

    If you’re one of the people cheering because your bill got cut by $5 per month, don’t bother with replying to this. This is a legal issue related to FTC rules and regulations as well as other laws on false and deceptive advertising, not whether you like the new plans better because you don’t happen to move more than 2GB per month.

    http://www.lieffcabraser.com/cases.php?CaseID=316

  11. Our big phone books are put out by Qwest (our local phone company) and a small one put out by Verizon. Neither fit in my mailbox unless they were finely shredded, which would make their use difficult.

    In the previous apartments & houses that I’ve lived in, phonebooks would never have fit in the mailbox, unless finely shredded.

    Our phonebooks are delivered to the front step and have been for decades.

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