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A class action lawsuit alleges that Verizon Communications Inc. has violated consumer protection laws by charging fees for the upkeep of its regular telephone service over old copper phone lines while intentionally allowing them to degrade over time. The complaint alleges that Verizon is phasing out its “Plain Old Telephone Service” in favor of its new fiber optic service.
Plaintiff Nicholas Johnnidis states that he is a dentist, and has been a Verizon telephone customer for 20 years. Johnnidis claims that he relies on the stability of telephone service over old copper wires for his work and for emergency needs of his 90-year-old mother, because copper telephone lines work even through extended power outages.
However, the complaint alleges that two years ago Johnnidis and his mother started to hear static over the telephone when it rained. According to the class action, when Johnnidis reported the issue to Verizon, the technician tried to get him to switch to Verizon’s fiber optic “FiOS” product.
The Verizon copper telephone line maintenance fee class action lawsuit contends that Johnnidis is not alone. The complaint cites numerous news reports and technical articles that state Verizon is intentionally attempting to get customers switched over to its fiber optic telephone service by not repairing its copper lines.
For example, the class action cites a letter from 29 consumer organizations, including the union of workers who repair telephone lines for Verizon, from June of 2015 that states “Verizon was neglecting its copper telephone lines for fiber optic data lines to ‘upsell’ customers with more expensive services in its FiOS product.”
In addition, the complaint transcribes part of a report by Verizon’s Chief Technical Officer explaining to investors that Verizon would use its “systems to identify when [customers] call in for trouble that we automatically go out and not repair the copper but immediately flip them over to FiOS.”
The main issue the class action asserts is that Verizon is intentionally neglecting its copper telephone lines while it continues to charge its customers a maintenance fee for those same lines. Verizon charges all of its customers a “Line Charge/Access Charge” fee and a “Right of Way” fee that the complaint argues are “uniformly fraudulent,” because Verizon does not spend that money on its copper telephone lines. According to the class action, Verizon charges its customers around $27 each for maintenance fees, when in fact its actual maintenance costs are much less, and the extra money is diverted for its wireless business.
Johnnidis seeks to represent a Class of all persons in the U.S. “who were Verizon copper telephone line customers who were charged network maintenance fees.” For the alleged consumer protection law and fraud violations, the class action requests restitution and punitive damages, as well as a court order “compelling Defendant to adequately maintain its copper telephone lines to the standards required under federal and state statues.”
The plaintiff is represented by Paul C. Whalen of the Law Offices of Paul C. Whalen, P.C., and Jasper D. Ward IV and Alex C. Davis of Jones Ward PLC.
The Verizon Copper Telephone Line Maintenance Fee Class Action Lawsuit is Nicholas Johnnidis v. Verizon Communications Inc., Case No. 1:16-cv-03454, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
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16 thoughts onVerizon Class Action: Copper Phone Lines Allowed to Deteriorate
talked into switching to Verizon from cable cheaper price for my auto repair shop worst move of my life.cooper lines in boonton N.J. lost lot of money. phones were messed up from day 1 several call to service didn’t help humid or rain forget it 4-5 weeks this junk switched back to cable now Verizon want 500 for breach of contract and services rendered .whent right into collection agency they never even botherd to call me back geuss there phone don’t work either
Please HELP. I live in Bennington, Vermont. My phone and Internet are FairPoint. They go out often. FairPoint says they do not know how to fix the problem?
Please contact me if you can help.
dissent@sover.net
I live in New Jersey. Verizon – formerly Bell Atlantic – before that New Jersey Bell. I am 79 years old and I have been their customer for almost 60 years. About a month ago, my phone would not work at all. I disconnected and reconnected both of my telephones, no help. Since I could not call Verizon, I communicated with customer service on line. The person on the other end of the on-line chat asked me if I have copper wires. I had no idea what he was talking about. He told me I should go outside of my house, look for a box containing the phone wires, open it with a screw driver, and do something to the wires. I told him no way! It was pouring rain, cold and windy. I said after being a loyal customer for all those years, I would like a service call at my house. They gave me an appointment for 6 days later. Over the next couple of days I noticed that sometimes the phones worked, and sometimes they did not. When they worked, there was a great deal of static on the line. After about 3 days, they seemed to be working alright. I cancelled the appointment. (I was afraid they would charge me for it.) Now today, it is happening again. And again, it is raining. Your article was a real eye opener. I guess I do have copper wires (FIOS is not available in my area). I would love to be a part of this class action suit. After paying for service for many years, I should be entitled to something. Meanwhile, I am seriously thinking about getting a different telephone service provider.
I have had verizon phone service for over 30 years and have been charged a line charge and have had no phone or lots of static when it rains. My service has been the worst in the last couple of years. They have sold out to Frontier phone service in the last couple of months.
My sister had the same situation. The line stopped working and the service tech said Verizon is no longer fixing the copper wires so they had to switch to Fios.
If the lawyers need a witness to this, I was a technician for Verizon during this time and watched this happen first hand. Verizon’s push was towards FIOS because the copper wiring was costing them to much money. Their plan was to get as many customers on the fiber and sell off the copper cable. Verizon’s CEO even announced this plan on CNN.
Yeah, he made it very clear that the Copper Plant was no longer going to be supported. The Push toward FIOS also allowed Verizon to sell other services that they could not sell if the customer had copper.
I, too, have had this and many others with Verizon. Just like the banks, we are getting fees and penalties that increase without reason. Gouging consumers at every turn and there have been no increase to the quality of that which we receive while decreases in competition abound.
This is true! We were forced onto Verizon digital voice or FIOS because the POTS kept breaking down and my elderly mom would be without phone service for days. Now though it doesn’t break down anymore, she will only get a few hours of use in the event of a power failure. Where do we sign up for this class action?
I have been having this problem for years, I used to have three lines( one for a fax) when ever it rained my lines would go out, the fax line and the line for my son’s room would be out for weeks at a time I would call for service but it would take days or weeks for a tech to come only to tell me he would have to call the linemen in, when they don’t come after a few days I call back, and the operator responds there was no service call reported, I got so Fed up, I had the two lines disconnected, I would take the main line out but my wife likes having a land line
I am stuck with copper landline in Boston a tiny little town in MA , the Northeast part of the country , where Verizon refuses to allow VIOS capability due to a political beef with the Mayors office historically stemming back 10 years or more. My phones/DSL go down a minimum of 3 times per year and they have convinced me that it is worth it to pay the now $11 month for inside wire maintenance which has cost me approx $1500 over the course of 15 years. The last time my phone line went out 2 weeks ago Repair said it would be 5 days before I had service When I informed Verizon that I have Lifeline equipment paid for by the City of Boston Elder Services as a Disabled Senior , Repair never even came , the service I pay for. Instead I receive a call later that afternoon reporting that my line was now functional and they do not know why my phones were out of service. This is all during the bi annual strike we get saddled with. Historically, Verizon blames landline outages on humidity and wet weather. Boston has a lot of wet weather and humidity, ten months or more per year. Hahhaha, the bot box verification for me is thats enough