Verizon committed to accurate customer billing

A recent letter (“Check your Verizon bill for scam by Cheap2Dial,” June 22) describes a charge that appeared on a reader’s Verizon bill. The customer did the right thing in checking her bill and, when she noticed a charge she didn’t understand, contacting Verizon and the company whose charge appeared on her bill.

Consumers should regularly examine their bills and statements from service providers, banks, retailers and others to ensure the charges are accurate.

Verizon has provided billing services for more than two decades for companies that provide telecommunications and information services to customers.  In general, a customer subscribes to such a service by phone or through the Internet. During this subscription, the customer agrees to accept the charges on their telephone account.

When a company places a charge on a customer’s phone bill that the customer hasn’t authorized, that’s known as cramming.  More information on cramming is available at verizon.com, keyword: cramming.

If a customer contacts Verizon about such a charge, we immediately will remove the charges from the customer’s phone bill and recourse them to the company, noting that the customer is disputing them. Customers also may contact the provider directly at the toll-free number that appears on the provider’s specific page of a customer’s bill. 

It’s important to note that customers’ Verizon phone service won’t be affected by their refusal to pay the unauthorized third-party charges on the bill.

Customers who do not want this kind of third-party billing on their Verizon bill can block such billing by calling our service center at (800) 837-4966.

Verizon is vigilant with the companies for whom it provides billing services. If we see an excessive number of complaints about cramming by a particular provider, we will take action, possibly up to terminating the contract.