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Fraudulent charges from ILD (Compufix) added to my Verizon bill...

Royals1969

Just received my monthly bill from Verizon, and there was a $12.95 charge added under MISCELLANEOUS Charges.

It was called ILD Teleservices Inc. .....billed on Behalf of Compufix Inc. dated March 25 2011.

Well I said to myself here we go again..This is not the first time and I am sure not going to be the last time that FRAUDULENT charges are added to a service we are subscribing to.I have had this happen to my AT+T cell phone bill several month back.

Needless to say I did not order any service from this company and they don't tell you how they got you.

Well of course I called both ILD Teleservices as well as verizon to give them a piece of my mind. Oh and it takes them 1 day to add this to your bill and collect the money, but it takes 3 billing cycles for them to credit your Verizon account when you call them and cancel it.

The must be some LAWYERS out there looking for a nice class action suit, as this nonsense continues to go on. Why in the world would companies like Verizon and AT+T allow such low life scum as ILD Teleservices to bill there customers for services NEVER ordered. I have had it with this type of extortion.

Royals

Comments

Hubrisnxs

when you talk to verizon, make sure that they add a block on all third party billing so this doesn't happen again. They are required by law to honor these requests unless you have a block put on your account, I saw a news report on Fox in California about this about a month or so ago.

next time, don't call Verizon, Get the company to credit you, and you'll get that right back to your account - almost immediately. If you call verizon - it will takea few billing cycles to come off your account. .

Here is a good article about it, make sure to protect yourself and ask verizon to add that block.

How to Determine if Third Party Billing is on Your Phone Bill

What are “Third-party Billers?” Some of them include: Basic Access, USBI, ESBI, PaymentOne.com ETS. What are these charges? Who authorized them? How do you get rid of them?
First, you’ll need to know that removing these charges is a process; it takes time and patience. These companies, although unjustified in charging you these charges, will not go away very easily. Take good notes and document every call you make to them. Make them prove that you or someone in your family authorized those charges. Get confirmation numbers etc.

Step 1: Look carefully at page 1 of your bill — You will see the standard charges from your phone service company first. On the next line will be your long distance charges (if you don’t get billed separately from your LD company). The next line(s) will have any charges from companies that are NOT your local phone company or long distance carrier. There are hundreds of companies out there who are allowed to bill on your phone bill. Unfortunately, due to FCC and local Public Utilities Commission guidelines, your phone company is required to bill charges from third party companies who present requests for payment. So, your phone company has no obligation to determine the validity of the charges. In fact, most inquiries about these companies can only be answered by those companies! Note: If the charges are for long distance calls from someone other than your carrier, see my article “How to Handle Getting Slammed.”

Step 2: Look at the specific charges — The first page of your bill will tell you on which page the charges are itemized. It will also provide you with the phone number of the company that is billing you. This is usually not the company that is charging you. The companies that are charging you are usually so small enough that they find it cheaper to pay a company that has a relationship with your phone company than to handle the cost of billing you directly. As a result, the third party billers themselves will rarely give you credit for the charges or even explain what they are for. They simply provide a buffer between your phone company and the company charging you. Go to the page where the charges show. Here you will find the company charging you. By law, they must provide a phone number to reach them.

Step 3: Try to remember events in the last month or two — Have you accepted any collect calls recently? Did you sign up for online advertising? These may be the legitimate charges for those services. Usually, though, these charges appear after someone calls you pretending to represent your phone company. Sometimes, they offer you great deals that don’t really exist and if you answer “yes” to any of their questions, they will use that recording as proof of authorization. This is completely unethical and illegal; however, if you don’t complain to authorities, these companies don’t get caught! Your phone company cannot verify the validity of their actions by law, because it is in all senses none of their business!

Step 4: Call the company that is charging you — Do NOT call you phone company first. Call the number listed on the page where the itemized charges appear and ask what they represent. Inform the company that there has been a mistake and that you do not wish to be signed up for whatever they have you subscribed to. Kindly ask that they provide you with credit for the charges. If they agree, go to step 6, if they do not agree or they hang up (yes, this happens often), see step 5 first.

Step 5: Call your phone company — Now it is appropriate to call you local phone service provider. Inform them that you have been charged for a service that you did not wish to be subscribed to an that you would like the charges to be sent back to that company. Next, ask that the put in a request to stop billing from that company. This request does not require a response from the company charging you for up to 60 days, so do not be surprised if you see the charges on the following 2 months of bills. You may have to call your phone company twice more to have the charges sent back.

Step 6: Inform the authorities — No, don’t call the cops. There are, however, a few consumer advocates that should know about this: The Federal Communications Commission or FCC. Check out their website at FCC.gov and contact The Public Utilities Commission or PUC. A list is found here with your state. Every state has one, though their name may be different. Look on your state’s official website to learn more. You can also try the Better Business Bureau. BBB.org

Bfly2

I am new to the "Community forum" but I have been with "Bundle" for less than a year and I have never had so much trouble with a simple Bundle product. I agree there has to be someone out there that can help us. Every month I have something new added to my bill. I call, they remove it on the following bill but don't you know they turn around and add something else that I did not order. Where is the FCC or who ever regulates Verizon. There is a common theme here and it "stinks".

Rocket11213

Verizon should not allow 3 partys to be able to bill there customers account in first place, unless it is authrized. any outside of verizon s serives should come from that company service in mail seperatly to begin with.. there is to much billing abuse as it is with company one is doing business with to begin with , never mind name or unnamed 3rd party companys trying to ripoof customers of verizon, and who pays you for all the calling an disputing this 3rd party billing? I would make verizon who is ur service provider to repersent you and let them resolve the issue once u reported it to them.

Hubrisnxs

Call them and add a third party billing BLOCK

They unfortunately are required by the FCC to allow these companies to third party bill.

Step 1: Look carefully at page 1 of your bill — You will see the standard charges from your phone service company first. On the next line will be your long distance charges (if you don’t get billed separately from your LD company). The next line(s) will have any charges from companies that are NOT your local phone company or long distance carrier. There are hundreds of companies out there who are allowed to bill on your phone bill. Unfortunately, due to FCC and local Public Utilities Commission guidelines, your phone company is required to bill charges from third party companies who present requests for payment. So, your phone company has no obligation to determine the validity of the charges. In fact, most inquiries about these companies can only be answered by those companies! Note: If the charges are for long distance calls from someone other than your carrier, see my article “How to Handle Getting Slammed.”

if you try to remove the charge through Verizon, you're going the long and scenic route. if you want it immediately removed, then work directly with the company charging you.

guitarman008

Verizon knows all about this company but they don't block them. ILD compufix is a total front for fraudulent third party charges.

I called ILD and they said they had "a name" from "an online source" (in other words, pulled from the air) but "no documentation or confirmation they could send me" showing that the charge was authorized and that in "two to three billing cycles" they would remove the charge. Bogus!

Compufix (same phone number as ILD) apparently harvests random names they can associate with a Verizon customer and just fill out phony online third party billing and hope the customer never reads the 14 pages of his/her monthly bill. Speaking of monthly, Compufix and ILD have tried to cram a monthly recurring charge. So it would be $12.95 each month (plus taxes).

Verizon doesn't care. They don't alert you and act like "it's no big deal." It's just money.

mkIver

This company just billed my April statement. They did cancel and will reverse charges in a couple of billing cycles!!!! They had my wife's name who is not even on the home phone account! I also have requested Verizon email notifications on changes to my account. I did not get one. Verizon also has to collect this information to place it on my statement without verifying the information (they provide a service on behalf of ILD Teleservices/Compufix)? Third party billing is for a customer requested service not add on at the third parties request. I can say no thanks to a sales pitch but charging me is ridiculous! If I don't pay the $13.60 now, I'll get a late charge. This has to be wrong and fraudulent.

hello1239

This happened on my last bill. Never heard of compufix, don't know what they are. Called them, they asked if anyone in the house might have signed up for it. I said no. They also had a fake email on file for me. They said they would process a credit and also put a block on my number so no one could use it so sign up for compufix services, and they closed the account. I called verizon. They put a "third party billing block" on my number and said they would "recourse" the amount (also called "sending it back). The rep said I didn't have to pay it, and gave me the correct amount of my bill to send in. Verizon was very helpful. I have never heard of this business about using the phone bill to pay for services that aren't phone services. That is just crazy talk. The rep says it is used legitimately all the time and has been for several years. For example someone who doesn't have a credit card can have charges put on their phone bill, even hospital charges. I look it at that Verizon is billing me for a service I didnt' use. The rep disagreed with me, but helped me get it straightened out. What a scam.

Blanford

You're SOL if there is an arbitration clause in the contract. Supreme Court just recently ruled that corporations are allowed to force you to sign unconscionable contracts and enforce them in by going to scam arbitration companies.

DaveO34

I had the same charge on my bill...trying to get it removed as we speak.

Come on Verizon, if you are going to allow these fraudulent companys third-party bill, you have an obligation to let your customers block third-party billing.

As it is now, I have to pay close attention to my monthly bill, and spend my time refuting charges.

Not happy at all about this.

tns

It may be stupid, but verizon is obligated to honor these 3rd party charges unless you take action to tell them you don't want such charges.

dslr595148

@tns wrote:
But verizon is obligated to honor these 3rd party charges unless you take action to tell them you don't want such charges.

but why?

Thanks.

tns

@dslr595148 wrote:
@tns wrote:
But verizon is obligated to honor these 3rd party charges unless you take action to tell them you don't want such charges.
but why?
Thanks.

Federal and local regulations under which they have to operate.

Yep complain to Congress and your local representives.

spiker18

I just had those same charges on my Verizon bill... I called Compufix.. and got voicemail.. so I called Verizon...

The Verizon agent agreed to remove the charges right away... but she said that it's possible that Compufix has already submitted a charge for next month.. .so it may take 2 more months of this to clean it up...

She also said that they got HER Verizon line as well... What a nightmare!

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