I've got a client in Spokane who's been getting double-charged by Verizon for the past eight months. They have a business bundle that includes internet and phone service, but Verizon is billing them separately for the phone portion on top of the bundle price. We're talking about $340/month in duplicate charges. The customer service reps keep saying the billing is correct but can't explain why they're seeing two separate line items for the same phone service. Anyone dealt with this specific issue?
Verizon double-billing for internet and phone bundles
Nancy, this sounds like the same problem we had with CenturyLink here in Nebraska. They were billing the bundle price AND the individual component prices. The issue was in their billing system migration - when they moved to the new platform, some accounts got flagged for both bundle and individual service billing. You need to get escalated past customer service to their billing dispute department. Regular CSRs can't see the backend coding that's causing the duplication.
We see this all the time with telecom bundles. The problem is usually in how they've coded the services in their billing system. What you want to ask for is a "service inventory report" that shows exactly what services are provisioned on the account and how they're being billed. Here in New Mexico, we've found that about 30% of business telecom accounts have some kind of billing discrepancy. Verizon is notorious for this kind of system error.
Nancy, make sure you're documenting the total overcharges with interest calculations. In California, we've had success getting automatic interest on telecom billing errors if you can prove they had constructive notice of the problem. Eight months of double billing at $340/month is over $2,700 plus interest. That's enough to make it worth filing a formal complaint if they don't resolve it voluntarily.
Thanks for the advice everyone. Greg, you're right about escalating past regular customer service - I finally got through to someone who could actually see the billing codes. Turns out they had the account coded for both "Business Bundle Plan A" and individual "Premium Voice Service" which is exactly what's included in the bundle. They're working on the correction now but said it could take 2-3 billing cycles to fully resolve.
I've been seeing more of these bundling errors lately, especially with Verizon and Comcast Business. The problem seems to be when they upgrade or modify existing services - their system doesn't always remove the old billing codes when they add the new bundle. Always check the service start dates on each line item. If you see services that started on the same date but are billed separately, that's usually a red flag for duplicate billing.
Donna makes a great point about service start dates. Here in Texas, I always run a chronological analysis of when services were added or modified. We caught AT&T billing a client for both DSL and fiber internet service for six months after they upgraded. The DSL should have been automatically disconnected but stayed on the bill. Simple $89/month error but it adds up. These telecom companies need better internal controls on their provisioning systems.
This thread is really helpful. We've got PSE&G's telecom arm doing something similar with their business customers here in Washington. They're billing for "premium support services" that are supposed to be included in their managed internet packages. It's only $45/month per location but across 12 sites that's over $500 monthly. I'm going to use Nancy's approach and request the detailed service inventory report.
David, make sure you get everything in writing when you request that service inventory. These telecom billing departments have a habit of "fixing" things verbally but not following through with the actual billing corrections. I always send a follow-up email summarizing what they told me and asking for written confirmation. It saves a lot of headaches later when the next bill comes out wrong again.
Update: Got the refund processed for the full $2,720 in overcharges but they're not paying interest. Going to push back on that since Washington state law requires interest on billing errors after 30 days. Floyd's advice about getting everything in writing was spot on - I have email confirmation of the billing error acknowledgment which should help with the interest claim.
Nancy, in Texas we typically get 1.5% monthly interest on telecom billing errors. Check if Washington has a similar statute - most states require utilities to pay interest on erroneous charges after a certain period. You might want to cite the specific statute number in your interest demand. That usually gets their attention faster than a general request.