ESBI - Verizon Charged for services not ordered, refused to pay, now in collections!! Nationwide

More of the same...

I had the same thing happen with ESBI and Verizon and its 5 years later I'm noticing from the original post! I realized that for the past 5 months, I had a $14.95 charge on my Verizon bill credited to ESBI. After finding this report and reading it along with the comments, I decided to call Verizon first. The representative was very nice (they usually are at Verizon even though they're often unable to help). I explained the story and she knew right away what I was talking about and even used the "fraudulent" word several times herself. So of course I asked why, if they know its a bogus company, they allow ESBI to bill through them. She said its because some of their business is legit. I asked why they allow any third party billing without authorization and she said it allows things such as collect calls, etc. and that by law they are not allowed to call the customer to ask if its ok, the customer has to call them. I don't know if any of this is true, just relaying what she said. She then said she would only be able to remove two months of charges but as the conversation progressed, she ended up removing all 5 months AND she pointed out that yet another company - "The Billing Resource" - had started doing the same thing! She removed those charges as well - giving me a credit of over $130! She then put a block on third party billing for me but said I still needed to call ESBI. Since they had already been billing for a while the block may not work. Expecting a real hassle, I made the call to ESBI. The woman was very nice so I stayed nice as well (easier attracting flies with honey after all). She seemed like she gets this call a LOT and didn't even ask any questions, just credited back everything (even though I had already said that Verizon was crediting me) and then she tried switch me over to a free cruise to the bahamas offer.
:-\  Geez. I'm going to file a complaint with the FCC on them. Now I have to call the Billing Resource. Can't think of anything more fun to do on my day off than this crap!

I got crammed by ESBI also'

I just got my latest Verizon phone bill over the weekend and had a mysterious charge for voicemail service from ESBI. I never signed up for it. When I googled the firm, I found a lot of complaints, including ones previously submitted to ripoffreport.com.

I can't believe these people can get away with this. As far as I'm concerned, it's fraud.

Victims

Yes I agree that in most cases Verizon should not be blamed for this. Look at it this way, Verizon probably gets hundreds of call each week about ESBI cramming customer phone bills. I called and they said "we can put a block on them" hmmmmmmm now if they can block it for me and they are VERY AWARE that these people are known crammers. Well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to fill in the rest of the blanks. Verizon can prevent this but chooses not to, unless you ask.

Verizon should not allow these crammers to end up on your bill period. You see, it comes down to.... your provider should protect you! Some companies have a theory, if you don't find an issue or complain about a problem then No Worries, more money for them! If you do find the problem, they will be happy to return your money.

Verizon, only you can stop the madness. Do your customers a favor and offer this cramming protection for free. These changes MUST be authorized by the person and not some ninny on the Internet. Your trust will be strong with your customers unlike the trust some of us feel with you now.

Remember Verizon, your faith is our future.

Earth to whiner...............

YOUR BEEF IS WITH ESBI, NOT VERIZON!!!!! It always amazes me how customers find new and imaginative ways to blame local carriers for 3rd party charges. If you have a dispute with ESBI, and they fail to resolve the issue, report them negatively - not Verizon. It is not Verizon's job to resolve YOUR third-party billing issues.

Verizon IS responsible

My mother, a senior citizen, is a victim of this phone bill cramming scam by ESBI/Billing Concepts. I had to help her decipher her bill to identify the fraudulent charges. She feared that if she canceled the fraudulent account or didn't pay the bogus charges, Verizon would cancel her phone service. How many seniors are victimized in this way!?!

If your account is with Verizon, your dispute is with Verizon. They have a responsibility to inform you when and why third party charges have been added to your bill, and a responsibility to resolve disputes concerning charges on THIER BILL to you that are outright fraud. The fact is, all the scammer needs is your phone number. Verizon allows them to include charges on your bill with no other information or proof that you ordered the third party service. It's disgusting!

Heads Up On Cramming/Scamming

Everyone here who has been ripped off due to "cramming" on phone bills, should make copies of their bills, write down their conversations with their phone service AND the crammer service, send it all to your Attorney General's office AND the Attorney General's office where your service provider and the crammer are located.

ESBI - Still at it

ESBI is still at their game. I had an unauthorized charge on my recent Embarq bill. Apparently anyone can use any phone number without verification on the internet and have charges applied to someone else's phone bill by ESBI/billview.

I called ESBI and they offered to issue a refund. However, I told them that I did not want a refund, I wanted the charges removed from my phone bill. I did not initiate business with them nor did I want to do business with them. They canceled the account but would not issue a refund through the phone company.

I called Embarq and they were very nice and willing to cancel the charges, issue a credit and process a charge back against ESBI. I told them they should not be doing business with a company that does not verify the accounts they are billing against.

I THOUGHT this type of thing had been taken care of by the Federal anti-slamming laws. My telephone account is locked except for changes made by me but apparently any third party can still cram charges on your phone bills.

While the phone companies seem to be in the middle of this they do have the right to refuse to do business with other companies that do not meet their requirements for accuracy and honest billing. The phone companies profit on this business and DO have a responsibility to the consumer.