TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Slammed for 25 Grand

Slammed for 25 Grand

NOTvalid@Queensbridge.us
3 Jan 2006 11:08:15 -0800

PHONE USER ON HOOK FOR 25G
By BILL SANDERSON

New York Post 1/3/2006
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/60856.htm

January 3, 2006 -- 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 ...

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 bill.sanderson@nypost.com

NEW YORK POST is a registered trademark of NYP Holdings, Inc.
NYPOST.COM, NYPOSTONLINE.COM, and NEWYORKPOST.COM are trademarks of
NYP Holdings, Inc.

Copyright 2005 NYP Holdings, Inc.

[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]

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