A couple in Oregon started mobile phone service with Verizon Wireless, then decided not to stick with the company after some billing weirdness. Something obviously wasn’t right when they received a first bill of $698, so they decided to return their phones and bail. Now, almost a year later, Verizon claims that their account has an outstanding balance of $2,156,593.64, which is one heck of an early termination fee. [More]
verizon math
Google Makes Up For Verizon’s Bad Math, Offers $150 To Screwed-Over Chromebook Owners
By 6.25.14
Earlier this week, the mathletes at Verizon were caught once again making up their own rules about the meaning of the quantity “2 years.” People who had bought Chromebook Pixel laptops under the illusion that the promised two years of free 100MB/month of wireless data were suddenly finding out that Verizon was only giving them one year. So far, Verizon hasn’t explained its idiocy, leaving the Chromebook’s maker, Google, to do damage control. [More]
Verizon Decides “2 Years Of Free Data” Actually Means 1 Year
By 6.23.14
When Google released its LTE-enabled Chromebook Pixel in the spring of 2013, it was advertised as coming with two years of 100MB/month in data from Verizon. But as Pixel owners cross the one-year threshold, they are suddenly finding out that this relatively meager amount of gratis data is no longer free. [More]
This Tissue Coupon Can’t Possibly Be Verizon Math
By 11.4.13
Verizon math, as you may recall, is what happens when copywriters or customer service drones aren’t quite clear on how decimal points or cents signs work. Using Verizon math, $.01 and .01¢ are the same number. Is this item from the Redplum coupon book an example of a silly typo, or of Verizon math? [More]
Verizon Doesn’t Know The Difference Between “Can’t” And “Won’t”
By 9.19.13
I can jump off my third-floor balcony, but I won’t because it would just make an absolute mess. The fact that I won’t do it doesn’t negate my ability to do it. This is a distinction that apparently eludes the folks at Verizon Wireless. [More]
Verizon Math Returns, Songs Shrink In Size When Uploaded – Or Do They?
By 4.16.13
Reader Rod noticed something interesting as he shopped around to compare Internet service providers. Verizon provided a helpful chart that explains to customers how long they could expect an upload or download to take for many mundane things: movies, songs, and photos. He points out that the problem is, the songs magically become half as large when they’re uploaded. Or do they? [More]
Subway Applies Verizon Math To Sandwiches, Confusion And Tastiness Ensue
By 11.7.12
“It seems Subway picked up Verizon math!” tipster Brad wrote when he submitted this message using one of our mobile apps. Yes, again someone has mistaken .99 cents for 99 cents. You know that some pedant somewhere is going to try to pay for that second sandwich with a penny and make a sandwich artist’s day really crappy. [More]
Verizon's Bad Math Extends To Its Online Product Ratings
By 4.19.12
For years, we’ve been poking fun at Verizon’s apparent inability to use a calculator on its customers’ bills. Now we’re finding out that the wireless wonder also has no idea how to figure out an average rating for the products on its own website. [More]
Verizon Math At T-Mobile: 1¢ Is The Same As Free
By 3.23.12
I don’t really want to sit here writing painfully obvious sentences, but here’s the thing. A penny isn’t very much money. It is, however, more than zero, so an item that costs one cent is not free. In practical terms, it might as well be free, but it still isn’t. Which is why Mark found this bit of math confusion on a Verizon T-Mobile phone purchase page through Costco so amusing. “Even though the difference between .01 and .00 is quite small,” he writes, “it’s still not infinitesimal enough to be considered ‘free,’ right?” No, not yet. [More]
No One Said Verizon FiOS Pricing Schemes Had To Make Sense
By 3.23.11
James would like some fast Internet tubes running to his house. Faster than the regular access that Verizon sells to consumers. He’s willing to pay more for the privilege, but frustrated that it would actually cost less to have two separate lines run into his house and use a load-balancing router than to have a single line that’s twice as fast. [More]
Verizon's FiOS "One Bill" Service Is More Like "Six Bills, None Of Which Make Any Sense"
By 10.13.10
MIke writes that he’s having some catastrophic billing issues with Verizon. He’s never had good luck with their customer service, which was fine with him because he never really had issues with his account. The simple act of choosing a new home service bundle set off a chain reaction ended up with Mike receiving multiple bills with different charges for different things, totaling about $1,100 for a 45-day period.
When he threw up his hands and asked Verizon to just cancel his service, waiving the early termination fees for his trouble, they couldn’t handle that, either. Update: Verizon has fixed the accounts and given Mike a full refund.
Yogurt Shop Sells Frozen Treats Using Verizon Math
By 8.21.10
“Maybe I’m being picky,” tipster David writes. “But it says what it says.” [More]
Data Roaming: Don't Try This On The AT&T Network
By 6.26.09
For as long as there’s been mobile Internet, there have been outrageous roaming charges for using mobile Internet abroad. Now, people affected by this issue have a celebrity spokesman: Adam Savage of “Mythbusters” fame.
