VERIZON DATA STICK BILLING fiasco

Philly man gets 17G bill from Verizon  Oct.29, 2010 by Stephanie Farr,   you will read an almost identical story to mine.

http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20101029_A_BILL_GONE_HAYWIRELESS__Philadelphia_man_gets_a_17G_bill_from_Verizon_Wireless.html

Well, I need help.  I have been writing emailing and and calling newspapers and have filed a complaint with Florida's Division of Consumer Complaints.  I would like to know how to get the FCC to respond to this too, if anyone has an idea on that or any other outlets for some justice please COMMENT.

It's a bit long, but heres a breakdown of the facts as I see it:



May 7th- Bought USB760 Verizon stick ($125)and $50 of time, at Walmart.
May 10th- Went to Verizon store to sign up for their $59./mo 5 Gig data Plan. (Salesman said, Pay by the month no annual contract/ suspend whenever you need to!!) [This was important to me as I only need this device 5 or 6 months a year as the rest of the time, we are out of the country.]

Then I went on Vacation with my wife towards North West, US.
While traveling in Montana's Glacier National Park, we decided to see the other half of it which is shared with Canada. (we are in an RV, camping in remote areas usually)
NOTE too: Our US AT&T cell phone quit working as soon as we crossed the border. Our TracPhone did not work............... However, the Verizon USB 760 stick kept allowing me to access my email and news. No Problem!
We stayed camping in Canada longer but the Verizon stick stopped working around about 12 days later.  Service disconnected! message to contact a phone Verizon phone #.

With no cell phone or computer contact capability, we drove to nearest town and used a payphone to call Verizon. They claimed we now owed them $879. for 12 days of email while in Canada. Was transferred numerous times to Billing, Fraud and other sections and treated well except for Billing dept. where the female was rude. I hope it was recorded. I do have her name written down.
--I was told that they left messages on my phone. now, THEY KNEW BY THEIR DATA, THAT WE WERE IN CANADA AND
OUR U.S. PHONE WOULD NOT WORK!!       (it's a pay as you go AT&T plan.)
--I was told that they sent me TEXT messages to my Verizon log in site.... NOTE** they knew I never used text.. It was not in their plan and if I did,
there was supposed to be an extra charge so THEY KNEW I DID NOT USE IT.

--I'm a senior and have NEVER texted in my life.

--I then asked, "If there was a problem, and you KNEW I was only using the device for email(they should have had ability to see what was being downloaded) that they Did NOT contact me via email.
I had:
--NO phone ability
--Never texted,
--Bought device for email and reading news.

She had no answer ----but got louder and more rude, demanding payment of $879.00!  (I apparently used less than a 1/2 gig and I was on a 5 gig/mo. plan.

I told each person in Verizon that I talked to, that  "They had the ability to contact me through Email.. That they had the Obligation, as I saw it, as They had the tools, to contact me immediately if there was a problem but not after they allowed the bill to escalate to near $75 per DAY for 5% or less data than I
had in my $59./mo.plan."  AT&T did not give service, Tracphone did not, so why did THEY?

--Since they had noted I was in Canada, they could have emailed me(and if they wanted to also call and text)with an ALERT that IN CANADA this amount of data transfer will cost you $75. per day, I would have stopped instantly!

Instead, the only thing I noted was that when i turned the device on to access the Internet, the Usage #'s changed from
Gigabites to Kilobites. I went to the sites online that they suggested I go to and I could NOT find a resolution to figuring
out what to do. I did this several times.
We were camping and traveling in remote areas of Western Canada at the time, and off on Islands. If they felt I was outside the usage I had signed up for, they should have stopped the service immediately and not waited until the bill got ridiculously high.

I have been receiving computer driven calls from Verizon threatening collections. Now from a legal service collection agency.  Contacting their prescribed phone #'s connects to a billing message for over $1100.00 now and I guess are going up monthly. The device does not work. I suspended it in August (they charged $15 for that too) but without service, they keep adding monthly to the bill! yes, they also want a $350. cancellation fee if I opt for that!

"Gotcha" you dumb customer.....

Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services online questionnaire asked:

What would satisfy your complaint?


I agreed to a $59./mo. plan and will pay for such.
I will agree to pay an extra month's ($59.) to satisfy them
I do not feel they have been fair since 'they' had the tools to rectify this before it got out of hand!
I would still like to continue service @ $59. mo. as soon as this can be conclude. I have always been a good customer/a hammer over an individuals reasonable use of service.
Thank you, ---------------


Suggestions or Comments can be sent below.  Thanks