UPDATE: Verizon Still Can’t Count
UPDATE: Verizon Customer Gets Full Refund
UPDATE: Transcript: Verizon Doesn’t Know How To Count
Verizon doesn’t know the difference between .002 cents and .002 dollars.
Before George went to Canada, he asked Verizon the rate for data and voice transfer. They told him, “Point zero zero two cents per kilobyte.”
He was surprised then to receive a bill for Point zero zero two dollars per kilobyte.
Instead of getting charged $.7141, Verizon is charging him $71.41.
This is his call as he tries to explain to Verizon the difference between $.002 and $.00002.
Here’s a nice FCC online complaint form he could fill out.
Verizon doesn’t know Dollars from Cents [VerizonMath] (Thanks to George & Jason!)
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Haha – “Dimensional Analysis” – I’m sure that would have cleared everything up in a flash
Assuming I would have the presence of mind, I would have asked what the field where they enter the rate on the computer is called. I have a very strong feeling it says “dollars per KB”.
I agree with those who are suggesting that you use Google calculator to make your case. Perhaps the Verizon representatives will believe Google even if they don’t believe you. It also helps to have it all spelled out in front of them.
0.002 cents per kilobyte:
http://www.google.com/search?q=35893+kilobytes+times+0.002…
0.002 dollars per kilobyte:
http://www.google.com/search?q=35893+kilobytes+times+0.002…
The verizon reps need to retake basic grade school math.
i bet they went to pubic schools too.
It’s like bouncing a ball against a wall. It comes back to you, but the wall didn’t put any new spin on it.
The root of the problem is that the Verizon reps are looking at the rate sheet that says “$0.015″ and quoting it as cents when in fact it should be quoted in dollars. You’d think that the dollar sign was the dead giveaway.
George’s error is that he’s not simplifying the mathematical equation for them: cents per kilobyte time number of kilobytes equals number of cents. He should be asking why they are conveting the answer from cents to dollars.
George has the patience of a saint…. Isn’t there a pain and suffering case in there somewhere for having to deal with such sheer stupidity????
You’re dimensional analysis is wrong.
Let me show you what actually happens.
$1 = 100c
$1 = 10^2 c
$1 = (10 c)^2 (WRONG, SEE BELOW)
$1 = (10 c)^2 / (c) (CORRECT FORM)
$1 = ($0.1)^2 / ($0.01)
$1 = (($)^2)*0.01 / $(0.01)
$1 = ($ * 0.01 / 0.01) ( one dollar sign from top and bottom cancel out)
$1 = $1
Basically, if you move (c) into the squared value, it becomes squared so you have to balance that.
(10c)^2 = 100 (c^2) (this is an abstract idea since c^2 doesn’t exist in monetary world, but that is correct dimensional analysis)
and 100 (c^2) != 100 (c)
Holy sweet mother of crap, towards the end, when he says, “yeah”, oh, man, I feel that pain.
oh man. the sighs are absolutely comic. i feel so bad for you, george. you seriously need to get justice on this, at least so that other people don’t have to go through this again.
hi george!
with your patience, you will probably get to live 100yrs or smth
we wanted to suggest something: ask them if you can pay your bill in cents
you give them one cent for every 500 kilobyte of your airtime 
best luck!
dtdj, your support from europe
this is so ridiculous. the exact same thing happened to me. buying a motorola Q, they told me it would be ‘like a hundredth of a cent per kilobyte.’ then the guy proceeded to calculate out how much an average image would cost to send at that rate, and it was ‘maybe a couple of cents, tops.’ it seems like this must be a deliberate strategy of ignorance–doesn’t surprise me. how is it that american telecoms can be such flagrants criminals in so many ways, and nothing happens to punish or correct it?
@fourthnen…
Explain to me how the Motorola guy was being ignorant? Most .JPG and .GIF images I’ve seen, obviously excluding specifically super-high-resolution photos, are somewhere between 50-450 kilobytes of data. Divide that by a hundred.
As in, 1/100th of a cent.
You come out with .5 to 4.5 cents.
“Maybe a couple of cents, tops,” seems like a fairly reasonable answer, based on the information you’ve given.
Being American, and therefore clearly unable to understand incredibly difficult concepts like “that, only times ten,” and “that, only divided by 100,” maybe I’ve gotten all confused.
But I don’t actually think so.
@ practically everyone else so far…
The more than likely answer lies in a simple business dynamic.
Telcos hire the cheapest possible labor to work in their so-called “customer service” centers. This is because, for the overwhelming majority of customers, the responses the reps need can be heavily scripted and very simple, so there’s no need to hire brain surgeons and rocket scientists to man the phones.
I agree, totally, that this particular crop of reps seem to be afflicted with a massive case of math incapacity. The only thing about this that surprises me, frankly, is that it surprises anyone else.
Remember that in recent years, companies in the U.S. have been fanatically cost-cutting to such silly extents that they’ve outsourced “customer service” in many cases to contractors whose reps don’t even speak English.
The fact that undereducated, poorly paid and trained, call center employees are unable to think outside the rules on their computer screen is sad, and depressing, but not surprising.
I am, however, more than a little disappointed that so many people seem so eager to use this story as a reason to loudly proclaim all Americans to be math-retarded jacklegs.
People – in any society, not just America – tend to rise to the level of their mediocrity. Granted that Verizon seems to have mediocrity down to a science, but that doesn’t mean everyone in the entire country is incapable of using the metric system.
.02 cents = 2/10 cents …
Either they are not using math correctly or they are do not speak english properly…….
Probably .02 cents and 2 cents….
Just sue them in court…..
You DONT even need a lawyer…!!!!!!!!!
Just request a whiteboard and some felt tipped markers to draw it on the board….
HAHAHAH
I work for a customer service company, and unlike these jokers, we don’t guess when we don’t know the answer to something. These guys are blatantly telling you the wrong numbers. I stand corrected – not the wrong numbers, they are doing the math wrong.
Being a major in mathetmatics, I can, like you, see the difference with ease.
I guess that’s why they are working at a call center!
Good luck bud, hopefully they’ll charge you the correct amount
P.S. – Amazing patience, I’m impressed.