Approximately 50% of Phone Bills are Incorrect

Ask any Verizon representative about the statement of “50% of phone bills contain errors”, and they will admit to the lesser crime that “some” phone bills may contain minor mistakes, but that the figure is not even close to 50%. The truth is that 50% is more on the low end, and we have the data to prove it.

To begin with, there are people who make their living by recovering your “stolen” money from the phone company. On one hand, it is a great service, while on the other, it makes a disturbing statement. To think that phone bills are so flawed that they actually give rise to other “Robinhood” organizations says that there is a serious problem.

For example, let’s assume that you have a $4.16 error that appears on your phone bill every month. Each year that error is costing you $50. Each state’s law is different, however many states allow you to recoup those losses. In this case, if the law allows you to go back six years, you would receive a $300 check.

Now imagine a large business that is paying for lines that were never installed, lines that were disconnected and are still being charged for and obscure fees that are hidden within the jargon of the phone bill. Now the $350 check has just been increased to tens of thousands of dollars. Sound ridiculous? It happens all the time. If you are a business owner or an individual who has had a line for a number of years, you would be surprised at what you are probably entitled to. In fact, Verizon’s overcharging practices are so rampant, that the state of New York charges the phone company interest on the monies that are owed to you!

So how does the telecom giant respond to this? In New Jersey, where Verizon paid out over $25,000,000 in refunds, they became very concerned. What kind of statement does it make when a company is having to return over $25,000,000 worth of mistakes? Therefore they suddenly decided that they were only going to pay customers back on the past three months of mistakes. Their argument is that if you paid your bills in the past, then you have confirmed your agreement with the charges and that you have no rights beyond that period. Needless to say this caused quite the uproar.

LTC Consulting, an auditing agency for both individuals as well as businesses tells us even more disturbing news:

“The carriers know about their inaccurate phone bills and have cleverly insulated themselves by prematurely and illegally destroying customer service records. Verizon only keeps the CSR (customer service record) for 18 months in states where contract law allows a six year statute of limitations. It is unfair to all consumers when Verizon destroys the billing document that contains the evidence needed to prove the existence of a billing error as well as when it occurred.”

Still having difficulty believing? Then take a look at my actual bill that shows Verizon double charging me! I had to call them to have them remove it, otherwise it would have been more money in their pocket. Am I the exception? Here is a letter that verizonpathetic.com received from the Technology Resource Management Group that performs phone audits for businesses:

“As far as the percentage of bills that are incorrect, I have seen statistics that state it is 75-90%. Several newspapers and news companies have done studies and they typically say 90% of businesses are incorrectly billed. My experience with Verizon and outside has been that virtually every business can benefit. More than ever before Verizon does not proactively recommend packages or services that would reduce costs. Instead they have become more of a sales machine and are constantly trying to increase monthly costs.

Just to give you an example of a current customer, the following is what they saved and recovered. The customer had average monthly charges of about $6000 prior to the audit. We were able to save then almost $1000 a month and recover $4700 from Verizon in over billing. We also recovered $34,000 from their long distance company, $1450 from another long distance company and about $500 from various unauthorized carriers who were billing them. As is typical the customer did not even know that they had a problem.”
In fact, LTC Consulting scored a major victory over Verizon by forcing them to pay a refund check for nearly $500,000. The audit saved the organization millions of dollars on future statements. Unfortunately their name cannot be disclosed in case this organization decides to pursue legal action as well.