Verizon To Pay $90 Million To Customers For Data Charges

Verizon Wireless will be handing back millions of dollars to customers in the coming months, who were overcharged on their cell phone bills due to built-in phone software that accesses the network on its own.  Verizon Wireless wouldn't elaborate as to what the kind of software was causing these data charges.

"As we reviewed customer accounts, we 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. The majority of the data sessions involved minor data exchanges caused by software built into their phones; others involved accessing the web, which should not have incurred charges. We have addressed these issues to avoid unintended data charges in the future."

Current customers will see a credit on their bill, former customers that were affected by these charges should get a check in the mail sometime during October and November.  These credits will range from $2 to $6.

Now, Verizon wasnt forced to credit customers but it is said that the FCC was pushing Verizon to do something about the amount of complaints from customers regarding data charges.


By Chase Thompson
Source Engadget