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Verizon Wireless is facing a new class action lawsuit from a customer who says the company adds extra charges to his bill for services without properly notifying him or providing him an adequate contract in writing.
By adding the services without sending him a written contract to agree to, and in light of the company’s push to convince customers to choose paperless billing, Verizon is putting consumers at a disadvantage that violates New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Act, plaintiff Stephen Simoni says.
Simoni, who lives in Wyoming, filed the class action lawsuit and is seeking to represent a Class of consumers from his home state who had similar charges on their Verizon bill within the last six years. He is unsure at this point how many potential Class Members there might be, but estimates there are “most likely many thousands.”
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, he says. The plan would reportedly cover more than just Simoni’s phone — it would offer him protection for various other household devices that operate with Verizon’s wireless service.
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, the procedure for which would also be outlined in the email.
The plaintiff says he never got a “confirmation of sale” for the protection plan, but Verizon added the monthly Asurion charge to his Verizon bill without him realizing it.
“Verizon did not adhere to its well-established policy of sending consumers a notification of the new ‘Next Bill Summary’ caused by the addition of the new charge,” his class action lawsuit says.
Simoni says he 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.”
The Verizon bill class action lawsuit was originally filed in state court in New Jersey on Nov. 30. This month, lawyers for Verizon moved to have the case transferred to federal court. Now it is being considered by the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.
Are you a Verizon Wireless customer? Have you discovered charges on your Verizon bill for services or goods you didn’t realize you had purchased? Tell us about it in the comment section below.
Lead plaintiff Simoni and the proposed Class Members are represented by Stephen J. Simoni of Simoni Consumers Class Action Law Offices.
The Verizon Bill Class Action Lawsuit is Stephen Simoni, et al. v. Cellco Partnership, et al., Case No. 3:20-cv-20513, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.
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1,257 thoughts onVerizon Class Action Lawsuit Says Extra Charges Added to Bills
I have spoke to Verizon several times about them over charging me for cellular service account. They always just brush me off. My Verizon phone has been hacked into twice in the last year, causing me to have to replace my sim card this past summer, as well as letting someone hack into my phone get a hold of all of my information causing me to have to close all of my financial accounts. They also automatically charge you a reconnection fee at $20 per item on your account if your bill is not paid by the day of the bill date. However, they will then send you a notice telling you, you have 5 days to pay your bill. I have asked several times how can you charge me $60 a month for reconnection fees on all my devices, when you have never actually disconnected and reconnected my service. Of course, no one ever has an answer. I mean I always thought if your charging a reconnection fee then you would obviously have to disconnect and reconnect a service, right. I guess not.
I recently spoke with Verizon customer care about my phone bill. When I initially switched to Verizon I explained that I needed to keep my bill at a certain amount. They told me my monthly bill would be under a hundred dollars for the unlimited plan I’m currently on. Every bill has been higher than promised and towards the end of every billing cycle my service slows down drastically.
Verizon has been overcharging our business account for at least 3 or 4 years…hidden fees, additional services added without our consent, excessive bills, etc. Please have an attorney contact me ASAP, I would like to know what recourse we have, if any at all
Verizon charged me sales tax on my monthly bill. I have had VZW since at least 1993. We lived in Seattle at that time. We moved to Oregon in 1999. For 2 years they charged us sales tax on our monthly bill. My husband didn’t catch it but I did one day. I contacted VZW and they told me I would have to give them copies of the bills for credit. Of course, we didn’t have all of them. They should’ve had the information themselves!
Add me Verizon keep changing my bill every month from 250 to 541. Back to 417 my bill one month 1456.00 for stolen cell phones that Verizon sent out by fedex and the driver give my cell phone to someone with out Id. And Verizon try to charge me
Being placed on an International Calling Plan which was not requested. Furthermore, the date initiated is the first day of the billing cycle where they claim the charge can not be eliminated from the bill. I have had this happen to me just a few months ago and had a great deal of difficulty having the charge reimbursed. Also, because their billing is so opaque, it is difficult to tell even if I was fully reimbursed. Please have an attorney or representative contact me as the initial charge several months ago is even more convoluted. Thank you.
I opened an account with Verizon in year 2022 and was told my monthly bill will be $127 a month. I called in to pay my first bill and was told I had a zero $0.00 balance and my bill wasn’t due until the month. When that time came I received a bill of $296. When I asked why was my bill so high I was to by a representative, ” Oh, we bill a month in advance.” I was doubled billed without consent and given misleading information about my balance and monthly billing. I paid the balance in full and bought my account to a zero $0.00 balance even received a notice thanking me for my payment informing me of a $0.00 balance moving forward. That very next month I received a bill for $396.When I asked why was my bill so high I was told because I was behind and there was a previous balance even though there wasn’t a previous balance. They also charged my disconnect fees even though my service was not disconnected. I received Shared account charges of $196 even though I don’t share accounts with anyone. When I called in about it I was told its just how it written on the billing statement and there was a problem with their system. after paying bill of $160 I was hit with another bill the following month of $186 and was told I was paying late fees from three months back because of how they run their billing cycles. I was being charge fees in the month of July for may bill that I had already paid in full that they also charged late fees on as well. I was also told that even though I paid my current bill on time I will still be charged a late fee for the previous paid month.
Verizon’s billing cycle and charges do not add up not even on paper. They also send out harassing text messages informing our bill is past due even before it’s actual due day. I receive texts message telling to pay my bill or services will be interrupted even though I paid my bill the same week. Verizon even calls my phone and leaves voicemail messages and denies it when I ask about the call, my services were interrupted for over charges as well and they have not credited my account.
I recently ported all my phones to T-Mobile for Verizon. Verizon expects me to continue to pay monthly use as long as I still have a Verizon phone that we still owe on. They sent a bill showing a much higher balance than we owed in the first place
and want it paid within 30 days or they will shut off service to that phone.They will only accept monthly payment s for that phone if we reconnect service with them.
Verizon Wireless has been charging me for Disney Plus since 2020 and I didn’t know and I’ve never used it and it does not show up on my paper statement. How is this legal? They gave me a partial refund of $39.95 for 5 months and said they are “working on” the rest of the refund and I will be notified next month if I get the rest of the money refunded. This is not acceptable and should not be legal. I never agreed to this. They said if I played a game it could be an add on etc. I don’t play games. Third parties should not be allowed to jump on a bill and not even show up on the statement. This can not be legal.
Here are the facts I provided to Verizon and CAB about the Smart Family Add-on:
(1) the Verizon customer must sign up for the Smart Family Add-on before it could be billed. I never signed up for this plan and Verizon cannot show that I ever signed up for it.
(2) the Smart Family Add-on is only for parents or guardians of children (ie “Family”). I am single, have never fathered a child, and never cared for children who would need this service. One cannot be on a Smart Family Add-on without children!
(3) To activate the plan, the subscriber must provide necessary information on these children such as phone numbers, etc. No information was provided to Verizon relating to children.
Without all three of these requirements, the Smart Family Add-on cannot be activated and legally billed.
Verizon’s response after denying my written complaint was to agree to pay a portion of what they billed me. When I researched Verizon’s past lawsuits against them I found several examples of the same practice.