Verizon Wireless Decides Not To Make Florida Woman Pay For $8,535 In Data Overages

Image courtesy of Mike Mozart

The Florida woman who was shocked to receive a $9,100 bill from Verizon Wireless for data she says she couldn’t possibly have used is off the hook, as the company has decided not to make her pay up.

To recap: A Tampa woman who never goes over her monthly 4 GB data allotment was suddenly hit with a bill for $8,535 because Verizon said she used 569 GB. Tack on the $600 fee she’d have to pay to leave the company for T-Mobile, and her total bill was $9,135.

She told The Plain Dealer that a company representative called her late on Wednesday afternoon, the same day the Cleveland newspaper and The Tampa Bay Times published stories about her situation.

She says the representative didn’t offer an apology, but instead just said: “We’re going to resolve all of the data overages,” without explaining why her bill spiked so dramatically, or why the company had a change of heart.

Verizon didn’t respond to the Plain Dealer’s requests for comments, but did tell The Times, “We’ve talked with the customer who reported a $9,000 monthly wireless bill and resolved it to her satisfaction.”

Verizon did want the woman to pay the $600 cancellation fee, and she’s agreed to do so. But the $20 she paid when Verizon said she needed more data? She’s not paying for that. The company agreed, and asked if she was ready to pay off the rest of the bill right then.

“I said, ‘No. I want to see something in writing,'” she told the Plain Dealer. “I want to make sure everything is taken off before I pay anything.”

Verizon agrees to drop Florida mother’s $9,100 cellphone bill [The Plain Dealer]
This is the story of the Wesley Chapel woman whose Verizon cellphone bill shot from $118 to $9,153 [Tampa Bay Times]

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