The Florida Attorney General’s Office is offering simple advice to cell phone users: Read your bill carefully.
This advice comes after the attorney general settled with Verizon and Alltel over third-party charges that appeared on consumer bills.
Under the settlement, Verizon agreed to pay the attorney general’s office $1.5 million for its investigation of third-party charges — $1 million for Verizon Wireless and $500,000 for Alltel, which it acquired earlier this year.
Verizon agreed to reimburse customers who were billed for third-party services like ringtones that were promoted as “free,” but were actually attached to fee-based subscriptions that appeared as recurring charges for as much as $19.95 on monthly bills.
That could amount to a payout approaching $30 million, said Ryan Wiggins, a spokeswoman in the attorney general’s office.
“That was the amount that they received in profit from this third-party content from January 2005 to December 2008,” Wiggins said. “But it will probably be significantly less because it’s up to consumers to file for restitution.”
Verizon has continued to dispute the $30 million figure, saying there is no way to accurately predict how many customers were trulyeffected.
“Our position is unchanged and even more emphatic,” said Chuck Hamby, Florida spokesperson for Verizon Wireless. “Their office is wrong, wrong, wrong about that figure.”
Verizon customers who may have been improperly billed will be notified by bill insert or e-mail and be given an opportunity to contest the charges.
Verizon spokesman Ed Gilhuly said the company is still working out the notification process for customers.
“They (Verizon) have six months to work out that process, but we hope to do it sooner than that,” he said. “Those charges were third-party operators that created those things so Verizon has to figure out what really went on here.”
David Lysher, of Bradenton, is wondering that same thing.
He said he received an additional monthly charge of $10 on his Verizon bill for a premium texting service he said he and his wife, both retirees, never ordered.
The line item on his bill read “Premium SMS Messages.”
Lysher says his wife occasionally text-voted on American Idol, but he didn’t believe that would amount to a $10 charge. The couple don’t play Internet or phone games and would also not be downloading special ring tones, he added.
He said it took him two months of talking to Verizon to get the charge removed.
“We were very angry by virtue of the fact that a text- ing application appeared on my wife’s cell phone that we had no idea how it got there,” Lysher said.
Hamby, of Verizon Wireless, said the code that appeared on Lysher’s bill does appear that it could qualify for fee reimbursement under the settlement.
“Without knowing what that individual’s situation is, I can tell you in general that it’s possible that those charges could be something like what is being described in that settlement,” Hamby said. “So we’ll look at it and do what’s right for our customer.”
Wiggins of the attorney general’s office said the agency is continuing to investigate third-party service billing among other major wireless carriers.
Last year, the office settled with AT&T over third-party service charges similar to those in the Verizon case.
Under the settlement, AT&T agreed to pay $2.5 million to the attorney general’s office to fund efforts of its Cyberfraud Task Force and also agreed to pay restitution to consumers who were unknowingly billed.
Verizon and AT&T both agreed to ensure that content providers and advertisers clearly and prominently displayed true costs associated with any offer billed as “free.”
Wiggins said that young people will often download ring tones on cell phones furnished by their parents thinking the features are free, when they are actually linked to some type of subscription.
The additional charges often go unnoticed because many consumers fail to closely read their bills, she said.
“The problem is most people don’t have a clue they’re paying for this third-party content because they don’t know how to properly read their bill,” Wiggins said. “And what happens is they pay these bills month after month after month and don’t realize they’re paying these fees.”
Consumers with restitution questions from Verizon can call the attorney general’s office at (866) 966-7226.
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