PHONE USER ON HOOK FOR 25G By BILL SANDERSON
New York Post 1/3/2006
His monthly tab includes $19.95 for dialup Internet service he's never used and $39.95 for a nonexistent Web page.
There's no explanation for the $29.95 Verizon collects for a company called Directory Billing Service or the $21.45 "multiline charge" for "Business Network LD."
With other mystery charges and the regular ...
TO READ ENTIRE STORY you have to agree to nine pages of privacy policy and fifteen pages of terms of us 24 pages total. I don't have time to study that much legalese.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That's okay, I got it from my RSS feed and have the entire account here for everyone to read: PAT]PHONE USER ON HOOK FOR 25G By BILL SANDERSON
Bedridden for 17 years, Timmy Secor can't work a computer - he can't even lift his head from his pillow - but Verizon bills him as if he were a millionaire keyboard whiz.
He's been overbilled $25,000, a friend said.
His monthly tab includes $19.95 for dialup Internet service he's never used and $39.95 for a nonexistent Web page.
There's no explanation for the $29.95 Verizon collects for a company called Directory Billing Service or the $21.45 "multiline charge" for "Business Network LD."
With other mystery charges and the regular Verizon charges, fees and taxes, Secor's September phone bill was $575.76.
"These phone companies are bankrupting me," said Secor, 63, who runs a modeling agency from his hospital bed in his Upper East Side apartment.
The law requires Verizon to bill its customers on other companies' behalf. Consumer advocates call it "cramming."
Verizon has refunded $4,950, and an official told The Post that the company was working on Secor's "issues" but declined to comment further.
Arnold Martin, a pal helping Secor with the problem, figures he's overpaid around $25,000 over the years.
It's a mystery how his phone bill got so bloated.
One company, Simple.net, says Secor responded in 2004 to a mail solicitation that contained a check for $3.25. By depositing the check, the company says, Secor signed up for dialup Internet service.
by snipped-for-privacy@nypost.com
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[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have gotten a lot of those 'checks' for amounts ranging fom fifty cents through several dollars, always on the condition 'cash this check and you authorize us to do whatever.' I always throw them away, which Mr. Secor should learn to do. PAT]