Verizon - Verizon Wireless Charged for megebyte downloads I did not use Dallas, Texas

I have an wireless device I use for mobile Internet use on my laptop. My contract is for $59.99 per month with a 5GB transfer limit. I have NEVER gone beyond that since signing up with Verizon in July 2008. Last month, I received a bill for $267.87. They claim I transferred 6.1 GB of information.

This simply is not true. I work part-time, and utilized the device the same amount of time/file transfer as any other month. Verizon directed me to my download "detail," where there is an UNVERIFIED listing of over 1,000 (probably more) file transfers. I am not on the computer enough to have downloaded that much.

I suggested to Verizon that someone may have hacked into my device. They refused this notion, that it was impossible for this to happen. I asked them to give me a list of urls I visited and what I downloaded. They refused this, as they claimed it violated privacy. However, they volunteered to give me the IP number addresses. I said that if they have these addresses, then they could, in fact, access where I went. (I also believe that they know full well what anyone would have downloaded, but that is for another time.) The point is, they could give me the information, but refuse to.

Frankly, it is not worth the ROI to speak with a lawyer about this, time or money. I refused to pay that additional $190 in charges (I did not use), but the CSR said he would make then report it to the credit bureaus.

This incident with Verizon is only the tip of the iceberg. I have been dealing with their sleazy business practices for almost 2 years. A couple of years ago, I received a telemarketing call to have my business listing to be placed FREE OF CHARGE on yellowbook.com. I said yes... free advertising, why not? A month later, we start seeing $45/monthly charges for that listing. We called Verizon to remove it but they claim it came from a third party. The third party said it was Verizon's call... that this was their purview. They played me the recorded conversation I supposedly had with their CSR, and the tape was dubbed, and sloppily too. The recording said I agreed to the monthly charges, but there is a clear slice in the editing. I called them on their games, and they removed the $45 charge. However, another one the following month appeared. I have been fighting with them every month to remove the charge.

The bottom line: I am switching carriers as soon as possible (hopefully this week), and I encourage everyone to do the same.