Verizon Wireless To Refund $90 Million in Cell Phone Charges

Verizon Wireless has agreed to provide up to $90 million in refunds to consumers who were wrongly charged for accessing the Internet with their mobile phones.

"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," said Mary Coyne, Deputy General Counsel, Verizon Wireless. "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 smartphones began to become the standard in wireless devices, some consumers who simply wanted a phone for voice communications found themselves being charged for a service they didn't want or need.

Awad of Burke, Va., told ConsumerAffairs.com he purchased a phone after being assured by Verizon that it could be used for voice and text messaging only. He said he signed up for unlimited texting because he had two teen-agers.

"I still see over charges for this month and for previous month that I have received," he said. "I am getting tired for this billing system for Verizon. It is simply designed to take more money than the services provided to consumers."

Verizon says that after reviewing customer accounts, the company 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," Coyne said. "The majority of the data sessions involved minor data exchanges caused by software built into their phones; others included accessing certain web links, which should not have incurred charges. We have addressed these issues to avoid unintended data charges in the future."

FCC pressure

Verizon announced the refunds while in the midst of negotiations with the Federal Communications Commission, which is looking into the complaints about unauthorized charges. The New York Times quotes sources close to the talks as saying the agency is likely to press for additional penalties for Verizon's unauthorized charges.

The $90 million refund is the largest ever initiated by a telecommunications company.