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Obscene Prices for International Calls!!! What a Rip-Off!!!

I just took a look at my very first bill and to my surprise, my 10 year old had attempted to make 6 (1 minute calls) and 1 (29 minute call) to England to speak with her father. I admit it was partly my fault because with the last company they could just pick up the phone and call their father and I neglected to tell them that they could not do that anymore. Blah, blah, blah.....my 1st Verizon bill is $220.00 (@$100 or so in long distance charges for basically 1 call).

I called customer service to get some kind of relief but nothing. The advisor said that the billing is done by a 3rd party and that verizon can not do anything about it. I was a loyal Verizon cellular customer for 2 years, paying my bill on time and all and this is how they treat me.

I'm sorry...I know this blog si probably for people who have real issues but I needed to vent my frustration!!! I guess it's time to look for another carrier or go back to old one. For the sake of my sanity and wallet, I had a block put on my phone for international calls but how nice it would have been for Verizon to step up and do the right thing. They could have atleast put me on the international plan and backdated it!!!! GRINCH!!!! BTW, 1 minute call to England is $2.89 so don't make the same mistake!!!!

Comments

divilspawn

You might want to look into some third party alternatives for international calling, skype or google voice are two of my go-to's. Google voice will result in a local call for you and the person you're calling, though still showing the appropriate caller id, which is much cheaper though a little cumbersome if you're not initiating the call from a computer.

Hope this helps.

askme123

I feel your pain. I'm in bill shock too. I made one phone call to China and my bill was $200. When I called Verizon for help, they refused.

Actually the FCC received so many complaints about this issue related to cell phones that they were going to pass a law to regulate it. As a preemptive measure, many wireless carriers voluntarily agreed to send text messages to users when their charges were approaching their monthly limit. Unfortunately, there was no such action taken for landlines. Hence your and my situation.

It certainly would be a smart business decision for Verizon to include a voice alert on landlines warning you of the rate you are about to incur, as it would prevent these situations from happening, but they have yet to do so. Every time they do something like this, they lose a long-term customer for a quick profit.

Verizon is aware of the problem. It happens to millions of customers a year. But until people like you and I put pressure on the FCC to regulate them regarding landlines, nothing will change. So I encourage you to contact http://www.fcc.gov/

oldfashioned

How exactly does international calling work? I have never had to make any international calls before and I probably never will. I've always known that international calls are more expense than domestic calls. All I know about is the unlimited calling with the Freedom Plan when calling around the US and Canada.

bell239

If you call canada, china, hongkong, northamerican , that is cheap, other country that is so expensive, you must check the rate before to call

oldfashioned

Good to know.

acraftylady2

So if you go to another carrier and the same thing happens then what? I don't get why it's such a me society these days and people can't take responsibility for their actions. It wasn't verizon's fault this happend. Mary

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