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Verizon "Enhanced" Services

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The telephone companies, huge merged beasts that they are, have tremendous appetites, what with all the new letterhead and repainted trucks they have to pay for. They're getting pretty slick at sneaking in "enhanced services" that are unregulated, exorbitant and very, very close to the line that separates convenient from deceptive.

Christine of Whitesboro, NY, writes:
While dialing a local phone number and getting a busy signal, I received a message stating that the number I was dialing was busy. This message then instructed me to dial #3 and the phone system would automatically dial that number until it reached the connection. At the very end of this message there was a very quick little blurb stating there MAY be charges associated with this service.

The other day, my 11 year old son got a busy signal while dialing his cousin. He got the same message, but being a child, he just did what the recording instructed him to do. When I asked him why the phone kept dialing our home in such an odd manner, he told me about the message on the line. I was concerned but thought it was some one time thing.

Now, however, since I have also gotten this message attached to a busy signal call, I decided to contact Verizon and inquire about it. I was told that this is an "enhanced service" offered by Verizon to all its customers. When I asked how long this service had been available, the woman from Verizon stated she didn't know. I asked if there was a charge for this use. She said yes there was.

I told her that I thought it was not proper for Verizon to automatically place this message to its customers in the middle of a call. She informed me that they do state in the message that there is a fee for this service. I told her that the fee statement is so quick that most people would not even hear it. And, I told her that a child would not understand what that part about "may be charges attached" would mean and go ahead and do as the recording instructed. The Verizon employee then told me that it was up to the parents to make sure the child knows and understands about the use of this service.

How can a parent tell a child about this "service" when the parent isn't even aware of it? I then told her that I felt it was just a scam by Verizon to get money out of their customers without them knowing about it. She said "Well, we can block the 'enhanced service' to your line." I said yes, do that.

I am certain that there will be a charge on my next phone bill for the time my child was "tricked" into dialing #3 when he got that busy signal that day. I just wonder how many other customers are being taken by this "enhanced service" that has appeared on our phones?

I feel we were taken advantage of. I was not aware that this "enhanced service" had been added to our phone service. It was a bit of an intrusion to suddenly have this message telling you to dial a number because the number you were dialing was busy. It made me angry that my child was duped into dialing the number and Verizon sees nothing wrong with it. And, as I stated above, I don't yet know what charges may be on my next phone bill.