ESBI - Verizon Third Party Biller-Scammer Enhanced Services Billing Inc. I got crammed AGAIN! Internet,

How many times do you really check your phone / cable / internet bill?  It changes a few dollars and you think "some sort of tax change" or "pay-per-view my guest didn't tell me about".  Well, I just got my monthly Verizon bill which happens to be the same month after month, but because of what happened 6 months ago, I notice now when it is different. 

Six months ago I got billed by some random company I had never heard of for voicemail.  Does anyone even pay $15 a month to a separate company for voicemail?  Why would you when your phone company can do it for much less and/or you have an answering machine?  I called Verizon only to be told they can't do anything about 3rd party billings.  To be honest, I forgot who that company was now but I was able to get in touch with them and they did credit 2 months of charges.  In the meantime, Verizon asks if we can change my plan to save me some money.  Worked out great in the end for me - $25 a month!

All that to say I am now aware of how much my bill is because it is so much less that I paid for the last several years.  Now my bill comes in today and I'll be darn it's $15 higher and I look and this ESBI company has gotten me for something called The Recipe Source webbased mail?  I called, they gave me the same runaround others mentioned - "you signed up on some kind of survey".  I asked for the info. to see if it was accurate and they would not give out over the phone.  They did say they would email it to me and if it was inaccurate I could report it to the correct authorities. 

In the meantime, I researched and found that this company is doing this to others and in fact got nailed for it back in 2001.  This time, I did call Verizon and had them block all 3rd party billing charges.  Hopefully at least this time it won't happen again. 

So, if this happens to you, report to FTC and FCC but get Verizon (or whatever your phone company) to block 3rd party billings.