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Verizon Wireless teamed up with a warranty provider to secretly add extra charges to customer bills without properly notifying them or providing them any sort of contract in writing, a new class action lawsuit alleges.
Plaintiff Stephen Simoni’s proposed class action lawsuit against Verizon and warranty provider Asurion was moved to a New Jersey federal court Friday, because the potential Class of impacted customers is more than 150,000 across multiple states with charges over $10 million, the lawsuit states.
Simoni previously filed a lawsuit that did not name Asurion, but removed it voluntarily and filed this most recent complaint against both Verizon and Asurion.
The Wyoming resident alleges the pair conspired to sneak unauthorized charges for Asurion Warranty Services Inc.’s “smart home support” plan into customer bills, and then hide it.
“Verizon and Asurion fraudulently cram customers’ bills with surreptitious charges for Asurion’s Total Home Support and conceal them with paperless billing, automatic payments, and deliberate failure to send promised sales confirmations and “next bill summaries.””
According to Simoni, one of his wireless phones got damaged between November and December 2019 and he initiated a claim for insurance coverage through Verizon’s carrier, Asurion.
While working with an Asurion agent to process the claim, the agent solicited Simoni to purchase a monthly “Smart Home Support” protection plan that would cover other household devices, according to the class action.
Simoni says Asurion told him he would receive an email explaining more about the plan and its terms and said he could cancel it at any time, with the info to cancel in the email. He never got a “confirmation of sale” email for the protection plan.
“[Simoni] recognized that the contract for the purchase therefore had not been consummated and did not pursue any effort to purchase it,” the lawsuit says.
However, Verizon started adding the monthly Asurion charge to his Verizon bill without him realizing it. Simoni says he only became aware that he had been charged for the plan nearly a year later, when he got a paper receipt and account summary while purchasing a new wireless phone.
He later contacted Verizon and demanded reimbursement. The company “only provided a minimal refund and blamed [him] for not having read his monthly paperless bills.”
By signing Simoni up to the service without providing a contract, and then pushing him into paperless billing to conceal it, Verizon and Asurion violated New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Act, the class action lawsuit states.
Simoni is seeking to represent a Class of consumers who were charged for Asurion’s Total Home Support warranty in the last six years without a contract.
Simoni is asking for damages, restitution, statutory damages, punitive damages, sanctions, interest, court costs, attorneys’ fees and injunctive relief stopping the defendants from selling the warranty without a contract.
Meanwhile, in another class action filed against Verizon last year, an Arkansas couple claimed they fell victim to a Verizon “bait and switch” scheme in a two-for-one iPhone deal that was “purposefully deceptive, false, unconscionable, fraudulent, and also allowed Verizon to be unjustly enriched.”
Do you have an account with Verizon? Do you check your bills to make sure you haven’t had any additional charges added? Let us know in the comments.
Simoni and the proposed Class are represented by Stephen J. Simoni of Simoni Consumers Class Action Law Offices c/o Jardim, Meisner & Susser PC.
The Verizon Asurion Hidden Warranty Class Action Lawsuit is Stephen Simoni v. Asurion Warranty Services Inc. et al., Case No. 3:21-cv-04311, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.
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547 thoughts onVerizon Sneaks Extra Charges into Customer Bills, Class Action Lawsuit Says
Please add me. Just called about $15 increase on my bill with no warning. Calling it a “plan rate adjustment fee”?
My bill has been. Going up for years and been seeing weird charges and they said to me when I called about it that it was the government tax . Started from paying 98 dollars a month to over 130 due to these funny charges so I left. Hope I can still get in on this lawsuit.
I just found out I have been charged $31.00 per month for Asurion device insurance that I never signed up for. They stole $1,023 from me over 33 months and I want it back
Add me! Verizon sold me an android phone that was already used, as a new phone!
Our contract is done & noq the harrass us continually via text & adds. To but new phones. We don’t want new phones. We were supposed to be on the fastest speed plan they have but right after our contract was done our phones began to slow down. I was told there was congestion in my area. That is a laugh my area.. I live in a real area. What we would consider congestion around here would be the cities at their SLOWEST times. Congestion my ass! When at the Verizon store the next day I casually mentioned they must have had lots of activity on their system yesterday because I had heard phones were slowing down due to congestion. The tech looked at me confused & said no there was no Congestion, the phones should not have slowed down, his never did. Lie told to me by a verizon executive confirmed.
I opened anVerizon account for my elderly mother over a decade ago. At a Lifetime rate of $30 a month. In 2021, Her bill was never consist and she paid different amounts from $30.19 to $87.10. They increased charge for no reason or consent to change plan. I have called every month since January 2022 and received different quotes on plans but the next bill is double or tripled the amount quoted. Her plan changes to a plan over $100 without warning or consent to changes. She is 88 years old and does not use the internet or technology but is being charged for any random political text that comes through: I have an email from Verizon stating the agreed upon monthly amount and the next bill that is due and they will not honor it. I have document conversations with them but they continue to say that the plan doesn’t exit anymore after 3 or 4 weeks. I have made monthly contact with Verizon agents but some agents would not talk to me because they said I am not on the account even though I opened the account for my mom and my name is on the bill.
Is there a way to join a class action suit or should I file in a local small claims court or federal court?
We have had Verizon for over 30 years. And I’m tired of their Scams
Please add me
Please add me also
Please add me also. Longtime customer. They also just raised my monthly fees on my phone and home bill. Recent switch in home plans was supposed to lower my monthly bills which they have been raising for several months.
It made it cost more!