TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Slammed for 25 Grand

Re: Slammed for 25 Grand

heyarnoldusa@yahoo.com
5 Jan 2006 20:44:49 -0800

NOTvalid@Queensbridge.us wrote:

> 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]

It's easy for the average able bodied person to read the fine print on
those phony checks and discard them. However, Timmy is a quadriplegic
and can't hold the check and read the tiny 1 point size fine print.
Timmy told his assistant to deposit the $3.25 check which has cost him
over $25000.00 in fraudulent charges billed by Verizon.

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