Verizon Verizon SRC's Hidden Unreasonable FiOS International Charges ANNAPOLIS, Maryland

To Whom It May Concern,
I am requesting a modification of the amount due on my February bill for two international calls made on January 27th of this year.

The Events.
I signed up for FIOS towards the end of 2008 and, to the best of my knowledge, was not told anything about international calls.  I received installation on January 19th.  The installer, Shelly, explained Verizon's services and the contract in great detail.  I asked Shelly at that point about our international calls, in particular, about maintaining our current international provider.  I was told that Verizon would be my long-distance carrier but that I could retain my separate international service.

On January 27th, my wife made two calls to Russia, for a total of approximately 120 minutes.

Approximately January 30th, I received a letter from Verizon from the Fraud unit stating that my international service was being blocked because of some questionable charges.  I called the Fraud unit to find out about this matter and was told that they were blocking my international access because there were two telephone calls to Russia for about 120 minutes for a total charge of approximately $800.  I asked how that could be since I had an international calling service.  I was informed that once I had switched to FIOS that my international carrier had been dropped and that I was paying the Verizon Long-Distance rates.

A few days later, I called Verizon to try and sort this matter out.  After speaking to several people and being transferred several times, I was pretty much told that there was nothing that anybody could do until the bill had been posted. 

While waiting for the bill to be posted, I explored some other options for international calling.  My wife and I finally settled on Verizon's 300 minute plan.  I signed up for this service approximately February 14th.

Having received the bill, I called Verizon customer support and, again, being transferred numerous times, I found out that (a) this matter couldn't be resolved over the telephone, (2) I would have to write a letter of appeal to Verizon Annapolis SRC and (2) I could get a hold placed on $900 ($800 base + $100 taxes) of my current bill until this matter had been resolved.

The Analysis.
I believe that, in the order of fairness, my bill should be adjusted.  I believe so for the following reasons:

(1).  It was never made clear to me by any Verizon Representative that my current international provider would be dropped.  If I had received that information, I would have found out about my options for international calling and arranged for some kind of international service.

(2).  Verizon Long-Distance's rates are exorbitant in comparison to the international plan.  Verizon Long Distance is billing me approximately $900 (approximately $800 in LD charges plus another $100 in related taxes) for two calls totaling approximately 120 minutes.  That comes out to an effective rate of $7.50 per minute.  Compare that with market rate international calling plans which typically offer Russia (non-Moscow) for $0.05 to $0.10 per.  Even the international calling companies that don't focus on Russia are usually billing less than $0.25 per minute.  When I first started calling Russia without a rate plan back in 1995, the most I ever paid was $1.10 per minute.  Lastly, the 300-minute plan that I signed up for is $15.00 per month or the equivalent of $0.05 per minute.  In short, the rate charged by Verizon Long-Distance is 75 to 150 times higher than market rate international calling plans, and even 150 times higher than Verizon's marketed international calling plan.

The Request
I would request, then, that my February bill be adjusted to reflect market rates of $0.05 per minute with a corresponding reduction in the taxes and fees associated with these two calls.  I would also offer that we could make the international calling plan that I have with Verizon be retroactively assigned to my account effective January 19th and billed accordingly in lieu of the entire approximately $900 for the two calls.  I believe that either of these options are fare because (1) I have suffered undue stress over this situation because I had to wait so long from the time that I was informed of this matter until I received adequate instructions about how I could resolve it, (2) it was never made clear to me that my international calling plan was going to be dropped, (3) Verizon Long Distance's non-calling plan international rates are excessive in comparison to market rate calling plans and even Verizon's own marketed international calling plan rates, (4) I have made significant efforts to clear this matter up, including calling Verizon about this a couple of times and (5) I have made arrangements to prevent this from happening in the future by securing one of Verizon's international calling plans.

If you have any questions about this matter, please feel free to contact me either by mail at the above address or by telephone at (XXX) XXX-XXXX.

NOTE: The Aftermath
After sending the above text to Verizon SRC, I recieved a rather ugly call late one evening from a Verizon rep saying that SRC had decided that the charges were legitimate and to either pay up or have my telephone service cut off and be sent to collections.  I never recieved a form letter stating such.  About 4 months from the initial call, I wound up paying because I can't have this kind of black mark on credit history as it could adversely effect me at my job.  (I work in banking.

I no longer give a rat's butt about FiOS technical advantages over Comcast.  At least Comcast never levied any unreasonable charges.  At the end of my contract with Verizon in January, I fully intend to dump them and return to Comcast.

Do you hear me, Verizon?  Your petty demands and lack of concern for what was an honest mistake ON YOUR PART is going to cost you my $150/month.  I hope that you're satisfied.

Roni
Reston, Va.