Verizon agreed to a proposed settlement under which it would pay $64.2 million to settle
claims that it overcharged customers who signed up for family plans. Family SharePlan
customers were allegedly billed for in-network calls that were supposed to be free, according
to a class-action lawsuit filed in 2006 in a New Jersey federal court. Customers with that plan
were also allegedly billed more than the advertised rate for additional minutes they used over
their monthly allowance.The alleged overcharges happened between 2002 and 2006, at the
height of so-called "family share" plans' popularity with customers.Under the terms of the
settlement, which has yet to be approved by the court, Verizon would pay $36.7 million into
a settlement fund, according to court filings obtained by Consumerist. Once lawyer fees and
other expenses have been deducted -- $19.26 million alone will be paid to plaintiffs' attorneys,
Law360 reports -- Verizon would pay the remaining amount in cash and bill credits to affected
customers.
Verizon would then pay out another $27.5 million in the form of credits for free phone calls,
the court documents state. When asked whether Verizon had deliberately overcharged people
with Family SharePlans, or whether it was merely a mistake, Peter Bezek, one of the attorneys
who filed the class-action suit, said he believed it was “primarily an oversight.”
Verizon declined to comment for this story. Of course, we don’t make phone calls today nearly
as much as we used to, opting instead to send text messages and emails. As a result, cell
phone providers now offer plans with unlimited talk time, meaning this problem is unlikely to
happen on a large scale again. But just because charging for "minutes" isn't as common now
doesn't mean that Verizon -- and companies like it won't overcharge you in other ways. Verizon
and AT&T have both been accused of other types of improper billing, and have had to pay out
substantial sums of money in order to make such cases go away.
Source: Huff Post