Verizon data

[djiddon]

For the last year or so, Verizon has been pushing me (emails, texts, notifications) to switch to an unlimited plan that is much more expensive than my current plan. Around the same time, I started getting charged for data overage, at a cost of $15 per GB, usually 2-4 times a billing cycle, routinely increasing my bill from around $120/month to $180/month, even though our phone usage habits had not changed. I work from home and do not need data often, and my daughter (who has a line on this account) uses data when she is out only in emergencies. I have tried to find data usage information in my online account, and it always says "unavailable." Tonight I started a chat in the website and insisted to a customer service agent to see when my data usage was occurring. Instead, I had repeated offers to upgrade to an unlimited plan "to solve the problem I had with my plan" instead of an answer to my question - no surprise, there. Through my insistence, I was able to get a link to see the data usage, and as I suspected, Verizon is "stealing" my data at 6-hour intervals four times a day, every day, like clockwork: 12/12/22: 4:12pm, 0.08939 GB, 12/12/1222, 10:12pm 0.00025 GB, 12/13/22: 4:12am, 0.00024GB, 12/13/2022: 10:11am, 0.00069 GB and so on, day in and day out, every six hours. I asked to speak to a supervisor three times, and then the agent just left me hanging for 15 minutes. When I let them know I had copied the chat and the documentation showing the theft and would take steps on my own, they suddenly came back on line and said they didn't understand my question. I've since gone into the website and downloaded the only three monthly reports available (why can't I see all of them?) which shows my data "usage".  I don't need an unlimited plan. Before this, I rarely used the 3GB I had on my original plan, now I'm regularly using 7-10GB a month when I'm at home connected to wi-fi all day? 

[vzw_customer_support]

Hi, our goal is to provide you the best experience. Please allow us the opportunity to provide you with the help you deserve. To get started please send us a Private Message.

>Bris

[djiddon]

Hi. I truly don’t believe that is Verizon’s goal, otherwise they wouldn’t be stealing the data I’m paying for and then charging me extra for going over my “limit” several times a month. And it’s not just me. Now I know what’s going on, I’m finding countless other stories. This has been going on for YEARS.

[vzw_customer_support]

This is not the experience we want to provide. Please send us a DM to better assist you.

>Bris

[dpstruewing]

Exact same story here.  Friday, January 13th.  We get notification that we only have 10% data left...which for our plan is 1 gb.  My husband, 28 year old responsible daughter, and I began limiting our data usage to prevent overage.  I guess since we weren't using data, Verizon decides that we need a little action.  So yesterday morning, my husband's phone shows .27 usage at 4:48 a.m (when he was sound asleep)., and then between 9:38 a.m. and 10:00 a.m., a mere 22 minutes, he uses another 2.47 (nearly 2.5gigs) of data.  This is impossible.  My husband only uses his phone for talk and text, and maybe uses the internet every great once in awhile to look at something at Menards or Lowes.  HE HAS NO APPS, other than a weather app and spylink (which is currently not working) on his phone.  So for him to use 2.47 gigs of data in 22 minutes is not realistic.  Not to mention he was working at the time.  He did make a text during that time frame, and the data shows .57 used near the same time frame.  I might add for the 26 days prior to this happening he only used .33 gigs of data.  Unfortunately, I didn't have the opportunity to call yesterday about it.  I wake up to texts from my daughter this morning saying what the heck (can't use a bad word here), she was driving to work, left her house around 7 a.m. and arrived at 7:15.  At 7:18 and 7:20, we get 2 additional notices that we had gone over our data.  So now we are up to 4 gigs over in a matter of 2 days.  When i check the records, it shows data usage of 5:46 a.m. of .24 (sleeping and at home on wifi), and then at 7:18 a.m. she used 1.13, at 7:20 she used .65, and 7:21, she used .19 (ironically 7:21 is when she texted me to say what the heck (again censored for using a bad word).  She used 1.97 of gigs in 3 minutes.  How is that even possible?  It's not.  And she tells me she even had her apps closed to conserve usage, everything.  Something fishy is going on here.  So I call Verizon today.  First thing Ms. Shacola says when she answers, before I can even say anything, she asks if I want to upgrade my plan. NOOOO, I want my current plan, but I want to figure out what's going on with this data usage.  I mean seriously, how can someone use 2 gigs in 3 minutes.  And I get from her:  well your daughter can be running things in the background, or basically she's lying about her use.  I tell her she's a grown woman, not a teenager, and she knows how to control herself, and if it was just her, I an see maybe, but not that much especially after we have been notified to lay off the usage.  But then there's my husband's supposed usage...I know for a fact that he's not using it.  She continues to argue with me and is basically no help, and i finally say, well I am not paying for it.  We didn't use, so i am not paying for it.  And i might add, that i have paid for overage before but i can usually attribute that to being on vacation, using maps or something like that.  Then I get put on hold, and she comes back and says support says when using wifi you need to turn your cellular data off so it doesn't revert to using it.  Oh really, still doesn't explain 2 gigs of usage in 3 minutes.  Basically a blow off!  And I thought I was talking to support, if I am not, then give them to me.  After further argument/discussion, she says she will give me 25% off my usage.  I am like that's not good enough.  I want my data back.  It's .11 until I go over another gig, so really what you are offering is no help.  Again, I am still trying to figure out what's going on.  51 minutes of total blow off.  I hung up saying I would contact counsel.  And that's exactly what I plan to do, plus take action with the appropriate FCC and my congress people. 

[vzw_customer_support]

We always want to ensure you get clear and accurate information. I apologize for the negative experience.  I can confirm that data sessions can be logged over the course of up to 6 hours. The session you see at 7:20 could have started at 1:20 and included any data used up front or in the background up to 7:20. I can assure you there is no way for our network to add data usage to a line. We only see data usage as it is generated through the phone. You can monitor the usage on many types of devices to get a better idea of what apps are consuming the data,. What model is each phone? 

-Yale

[dpstruewing]

I don't believe you.  Because I am 100% certain that we did not use the data in question.  The ONLY apps my husband uses on his phone is Safari (very minimal), Weather app, and Spypoint (for a trail camera that is currently disabled and not functioning)-so this app is not being used.  Since we got the notification Friday night that we had 10% of data left, we have been closing all applications so they are not running in the background.  There is nothing running up front or foreshadowing in the background.  EVEN IF THERE WAS, there's no way possible that my husband could have used 2.47 gigs of data in 22 minutes.  He sent a text sitting his van at 9:39 a.m. Monday, January 16th to get a load of gravel, employee shows up to work, and he and the employee go inside to begin remodeling a house.  He did not use his phone.  And if you want to say he did, okay, you tell me what he could have done in 22 minutes to use 2.47 gigs?  I understand that data logs can be logged over the course of 6 hours, and there are  many instances in our records to support that.  However, if you LOOK at those records, its usually minimal activity so it accumulates together.  Like for example:  January 15 on line 5714, its documented at 4:49 a.m. 0.00, 10:49 a.m. .01, 4:49 p.m. 0.00, 10:48 p.m. 0.00, January 14th --same times as the 15th--all 0.00, January 13th same time frame 0.00, January 12th--same time frame 0.00, January 11, same time frame but at 4:53 a.m. .02, 10:53 a.m. .02, 4:53 p.m. .03, and 10:52 p.m. 0.00.  this cycle is pretty much repeated back to our beginning cycle date of December 20, 2022.  Up until January 16th, my husband on line 5714 had only used .32 gigs of data for 26 days of our cycle.  Further, if you check his data records the most he has used over the last 1 1/2 years is somewhere around .75 gigs of data a month.  He is NOT a heavy user, because he's never on his phone, doesn't use apps, social media, nothing.  Now all of a sudden you have him using 3.14 gigs this month.  It's not accurate.  Back to the 6 hour intervals to log data, it's all true that when there's a large usage of data that Verizon will document it at that point in time.  Again on line 5714, the trouble began on January 16, 2023...while my husband was sleeping at 4:48 a.m. he was logged .27 gigs of data.  The last log was at 10:48 the night before.  I know he was not on his phone from 10:48p.m. to midnight because we were watching the football game on TV, talked a little bit then went to bed.  So that leaves his phone using .27 gigs of data in 4 hours 48 minutes.  So let's say that Safari was running in the background as you all suggest, cause he doesn't have any other apps that could be running, and we will even use the 6 hours time frame.  6 hours equates to 360 minutes.  According to multiple sources I found online, one gig of data will last a user either 40 minutes daily (1200 minutes or 20 hours monthly) of websurfing or checking email, 20 minutes daily (600 minutes  or 10 hours monthly) of social media apps, 22 hours a month of listening to music, or 1-2 low quality films a month.  If it takes 20 hours of active websurfing to use 1 gig, then 6 hours of active websurfing uses .3 gig.  Therefore is you report my husband using .27 gigs of data, then basically you are saying that he was surfing ALL NIGHT between 10:48 p.m. and 4:48 a.m.  I already told you that he was NOT on his phone from 10:48-midnight, so that leaves even a smaller time period to use that much data.  AND, I forgot to even mention that his phone is on WIFI.  It's not believable at all that he was up all night, when i know for a fact that he was sleeping, and no app on his phone is going to use a third of gig especially while is phone is connected to WIFI.  I can pretty much tell you if he had Safari open, it's been open since the last time he used it, so if it was running in the background, which is doubtful, there would have been multiple days prior of the same usage.  Furthermore,  we have a DESKTOP computer, so that's my husband's preferred method of surfing.  If he needs something, he usually waits to get home to look for it, because he can see it better on the larger screen.  The same day January 16th, he got up around 8:30 to go to work.  Same routine every day, gets up takes a shower, checks email on OUR DESKTOP, checks some things on ebay on our DESKTOP, and then goes to work.  But somehow between that 4:48 a.m. usage and 9:38 a.m. he uses another .57 gigs.  I will note that this is obviously NOT a 6 hour interval.  Based on the gig usage I noted above, using the 1200 minutes for 1 gig formula, .57 gigs would equate to 684 minutes or 11 hours.  This was a 5 hour time frame, so not possible to use that much data just surfing on his phone, and when 4.5 hours of it would have been on wifi to boot, and another 15 minutes of driving time to his job site)  I should note that he did do a text message at 9:39 a.m. while sitting at his job site, and he had just pulled in the driveway and parked and made the text--which of course, I am sure Verizon was aware of his "activity" on his phone.  5 minutes later, he allegedly uses another .15, 1 minute later, he allegedly uses .47, 4 minutes later he allegedly uses another .42, 7 minutes later, he allegedly uses another .14, 1 minute later uses another whopping .58 gigs, and 4 minutes later, he allegedly used another .14 gigs for a total of 2.47 gigs in 22 minutes--which equates to approximately .11 gig PER MINUTE.  There's NOTHING on his phone that could possibly be using that much data that fast...Never.  Furthermore, he knows that he was not doing anything with this phone because he was installing a ceiling with his employee who arrived right after his 9:39 text. 

The moving to my daughter's phone ending in 5745...On January 13th, data log starts at 12:27 am with 0.00.  While she was sleeping and on wifi, she was assessed usage of .14 gigs at 6:26 a.m.  This appears to be keeping with the 6 hour interval data reporting.  She knows she was sleeping because she doesn't have to be at work until later in the morning on Fridays, so she slept in.  Again these are recent events, and memories are still sharp.  At 12:26 p.m. on the same day, the assess her with 1.05 gigs.  I find it odd that this large amount of data was reported exactly at the 6 hour interval and not at the usage time like the others.  However, what's more concerning is that my daughter was working at the time of the reported usage and using the company's wifi.  I might add that she works for a University Hospital, and their wifi is no joke.  They have to sign in to the wifi and there would be records of her connection.  Further, she's a pediatric speech therapist and with children, some autistic, most of the day, so she doesn't have the time or ability to "play" on her phone.  Furthermore, she says she closes Apps that she knows are known to use a lot of data.  She may occasionally forget, but not often, and she believes her apps were closed on Friday.  So to believe that this whole gig of data was some wifi breakthrough is ludicrous and unbelievable.  Then at 6:26 p.m. Friday, again the 6 hour interval, she was alleged to have used another .35 gigs.  She, her sister and I started a 3 way text conversation at 3:20 p.m. Friday afternoon.  The conversation continued off and on until 9:48 p.m. Friday night.  During that conversation, she was home and on WIFI, but she left her house around 6:00 p.m. or thereabouts to run an errand.  She continues the conversation with us because we are discussing her birthday dinner the next day.  Upon completing her errand she returns home and to WIFI for the night.  When reviewing the data log and noticing the 6:26 p.m. log, she checks her VENMO app to see what time she transferred funds to her friend.  IRONICALLY, the time stamp is 6:26 p.m., THE EXACT SAME TIME AS THE .35 DATA LOG.  So it appears that her VENMO use caused the data log to register .35 gigs.  Since she was not using any apps on her phone, was having a conversation with her sister and I, and preparing for her birthday party the next day, we know she did not use the data.  And VENMO certainly does use a third of a gig of data for one simple transaction.  It is my belief that the data was pushed on her to push us closer to our 10 gb limit on Friday,  January 13th. 

Then when we get the notification of only have 1 gb of data left, we all went on lockdown on our phones, which is obvious if you look at our weekend data usage.  My daughter did make the mistake of being out to lunch with her friends at or around 12:24 on Sunday January 15th, and she was on Facebook, responding to birthday messages.  At that time, she was charged with .46 gigs of data usage since the last log at 6:24 a.m.  Again, admittedly, she was on Facebook for a brief period of time to respond to birthday wishes.  However, using my knowledge of gig usage, it would take 600 minutes (or 10 hours) of using a social media app a month to use a gig of data.  Verizon alleges she used .46 gigs which means she would have had to been on Facebook for 4.6 hours to use that much data.  I can tell you she was not on her phone.  It was her birthday, and she specifically knows what she was doing that day, and with the exception of responding to some well wishes on Facebook, while she was at lunch with some friends, she was NOT on her phone.  Amazingly though, despite Verizon's best efforts to push us over the limit on Friday and Sunday, we survived the weekend without going over our data limit.  However, Verizon obviously amped up the effort come Monday morning by starting on Doug's phone.  I didn't take any action on Monday cause I had a busy day.  No action from me, meant more data push on Tuesday.  Again it was on my daughter's phone.  With the exception of the .46 gigs on Sunday, she only used .06 gigs all day on Monday, and just .12 all weekend (and .08 of that was used on Sunday morning at 6:24 a.m. when she was in bed sleeping and on wifi--so that too is questionable to me).  My husband only used .01 the entire weekend.  This reflects the constraint we were all doing to conserve data.   I remind you too that she has her apps closed at this time, as she's in conservation mode.  Fast forward to Tuesday, January 17th, she gets up earlier to go to the gym.  She logs into the gym's wifi, and begins her workout.  She was listening to music while working out, and she's 99.9% positive she was on the gym's wifi, as she constantly was checking to make sure, as again we were in extreme conservation mode since we got notifications the day before that we were now 2 gigs over.  The data log shows usage at 5:46 a.m. of .24.  She was at the gym from 5:20 a.m. until 6:30 a.m.  This would coincide to a known time that she would have been on her phone, but again a known time to have been on wifi and her only activity was listening to music BEGINNING around 5:20 a.m.  At 11:46 p.m. the night prior, 0.00 was reported.  So she would have had to use the .24 during a time when she was sleeping, and when she just awoke around 5:00 a.m. and went to the gym.  It's not feasible that she used that much data while sleeping, on wifi, and only awake for a short period of time before she went to the gym.  She arrived at the work (hospital) around 7:15 a.m., again she's prompted to log into the hospital's wifi and to sign in, and then she begins therapy with her first patient/child of the day.  At 7:18 a.m., she's assessed with 1.13 gigs of data usage., and we get a notification of another overage.  2 minutes later at 7:20 she assessed another .65 gigs (still with patient) of usage, and we are sent another notification of overage, and at 7:21, she's assessed another .19 gigs.  So if you start with data used since 5:46 a.m. on Tuesday morning, my daughter used in 1 1/2 hours 1.97 of gigs.  This would have had to be done while she's listening to music on the gym's wifi, driving home, taking a shower, getting dressed, driving the 10 minutes to work, then actively doing therapy on a patient, all while apps are closed and measures are being taken to conserve data usage.  It's not believable to anyone.  She could not and did not burn up that much data in that amount of time.  Of course, Verizon would know at the exact time she was on her phone to log into the work wifi (I bet if we check the records it was around 7:18 a.m.)and then she texts me at 7:21 (after the 2 notifications to say she's at work, and had only been driving just prior to that).  Again, Verizon knows that she's on her phone at 7:21 a.m. so more data pushed. 

You can say you can assure me that there is no way for your network to add data usage to a line.  I am not sure how you can say that with 100% faith unless you really know the ends and outs of Verizon, and I really doubt that the CEO or higher "ups" respond to these type of messages.  I, however, can say with 100% certainly that we didn't use the data as alleged.  I am not purporting to say that  we didn't use "some" of it, for example, on Sunday the 15th at 12:24 p.m. my daughter was using Facebook to reply to well wishers for her birthday, and was assessed usage of .46.  I am saying there's no possible way she used nearly half a gig just to respond to FB messages, as she was with friends and not on her phone for that long to respond to the messages, and she was at home prior to that and on wifi.  Therefore, I cannot say what usage she accurately did have using FB at that time. 

I think it's pretty clear that i have accurate information.  It came from your website.  And for you to say that my 7:20 session could have started at 1:20 is inaccurate as I have stated she was billed at 7:18--only 2 minutes passed during that time frame--but nice try.  But maybe you can't see this data usage, because the customer service rep conveniently couldn't see it when i was trying to discuss the issue with her.  SHE DIDN'T WANT TO SEE IT!  Also, it's been some time, but I have previously called about an overage, and the nice customer service representative was able to tell me what exactly was  transpiring on my phone that caused the data to spike.  While she couldn't tell me what my daughter was downloading, she was able to tell me that she was downloading.  And then when i asked my daughter about it, she did recall doing that...problem solved.  This time, no such help, couldn't see my data usage, couldn't tell me what was going on at the time of the spike, no assistance whatsoever--pretty convenient.  I don't believe it because somehow verizon can categorize my usage into categories, so it has to be known what the user is doing in order to categorize the activity.  Plus if I was able to get the information a few years ago, certainly technology has improved since then.  It's just not believable that not one person there can tell me what the activity was.  Further, when you check our data usage on our phones, there's not any substantial use of downloads, gaming, etc.  For my husband's phone 76% of his usage is for web & apps.  For my daughter's phone, 74% of her usage is web apps and social media/networking.  Further if you look at our overall usage for the past 1.5 years our average usage is 8.91 gigs a month.  We did have 3 summer months of overage.  I contributed to that to multiple vacations and usages, but I now wonder how much of that data was phony too.  If you remove those 3 months our average is 8.31.  This month our usage is 14.90 with 6.95  gigs occurring between Friday January 13th 6:26 a.m. -January 17th 7:21 a.m.  --A MERE 4 DAYS and 3 of those days we were on data usage alert and restraining from using our phones.  No one in their right mind can believe that much usage has occurred.  If you remove the 6.95 gigs of phony usage, that would put our usage at 7.95 gigs.  Considering we have had our cellular data turned off for the past 3 days (waiting for the end of our cycle and not wanting Verizon to push more data on us) and prior to that was conserving data due to the usage alert,  our usage is right in line with our average.  So it appears that WE ARE MONITORING USAGE and that's why we know we are not using it. 

Don't worry though. I am looking into alternative options.   I am not  going to continue to allow Verizon to push unused data on my family in attempt to get us to switch to an unlimited, more expensive plan.  Xfinity is $30 a month unlimited data per line, and the beauty of it all is that they use verizon towers.  They also have plans for just gigs too.  A 10 gb group plan is $60 a month--much cheaper than what we are paying now, and we don't have to worry about getting charged exorbitant data usage just for sending a Venmo, using Facebook, sending a text, or listening to music--most of which activities occurred during known wifi usage .  It's ridiculous and unsettling.

So unless you can review my data log, and tell me specifically what was occurring (such as gaming, downloading, videoing, webbing, whatever) on the phone during the data spikes, no excuse you provide is going to be a logical explanation.  Verizon's lack of transparency only confirms what I know to be fact.  They continue to steal my data for the purpose of forcing me into an unlimited plan. 

[Mlojoe]

Same experience here! 

[djiddon]

This is a follow up to my earlier post. The same day I found out that Verizon was stealing my data at regular six hour intervals and then charging me for "overage," I filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission. I spent an hour and forty minutes last Saturday on chat with Verizon customer "service" to request a report of the last two years of my data usage to support my complaint against Verizon Wireless with the FCC. Unsurprisingly, I was told this wasn't possible by both the agent and supervisor I spoke to, however, the agent asked me repeatedly why I wanted this information. Finally, she offered that if I wanted it for legal reasons, my lawyer would have to contact Verizon's legal department. So it IS possible, they just don't want customers to have the information. The supervisor submitted "a request to internal team so your concern will be investigated." When I asked what that means, he didn't reply, nor did he reply to my request for contact information for the Legal Department. When I continued to ask for the information, he started to take my questions personally and became sarcastic. He finally gave me the number for Verizon Headquarters, an 800 number. The "investigation" will take up to two weeks. Pretty shabby for a communications company, I think, especially when I can almost guarantee the answer will be "it's not possible." Anyway, I'm writing now because the FCC accepted my complaint and Verizon has 30 days to respond. I will let you know when I get a response from the "investigation" (I'm not holding my breath) and the response to my complaint from Verizon - let's hope Verizon will suddenly get a conscience, stop abusing and stealing from customers, and pay me back the money they have stolen by cramming my bill with fraudulent charges.  Fingers crossed! I have to say I'm surprised  more Verizon customers are not up in arms over this. I know I'm not the only one they are doing it to (if you look hard enough, there have been stories just like mine for YEARS). Is it just that most have been bullied into unlimited? I urge anyone not on an unlimited plan and who is routinely begin charged overage  to check your data usage. You can download a report of data usage for the last three months, that shows it by the day and hour. It would be nice to have some group momentum to get this practice STOPPED and get our stolen money BACK.

[dpstruewing]

I too will file a complaint with the FCC

[vzw_customer_support]

 I would love to help on how you can view your usage and see where your data is going. I have sent you a private message. 

-Amber

[dpstruewing]

I have viewed my usage, tried to discuss it with Shacola yesterday who claimed she couldn't see what I was talking about.  I can see where my data is going..."Web services and social networking"  for my husband it was "communication and devices" nothing that would consume 2.47 gigs in 22 minutes.  Spent 51 minutes on the phone yesterday with Shacola and got nowhere.  One gig if you are just looking on the internet should last at least 24 hours.  You have charged us 6.49 gigs in the last 5 days.  We are not gaming, not videoing, nothing.  YOU look at my data and read my post and figure out what I am talking about. 

[vzw_customer_support]

A good understanding of your data usage is critical; Social Network is everything related to Social Media. To clarify, what's the Make/Model of your device? You can share a screenshot/image of the most used apps and how much data each application uses. 

-Evelyn

[dpstruewing]

I have a good understand of my family's data usage, and I have a good understanding of what social networking means.  My husband has 0 social networking on his phone....zero, nada, nothing, none, no apps-no footprint nowhere.  As far as my daughter, she and i both of a good understanding of her social networking and limiting thereof.  And social networking does not cause one to rapidly use data in the manner I have described.  And what are you wanting to clarify with my device?  And we have all reviewed our cellular data uses on our phones, and nothing correlates to the data usage Verizon again boosting that we are not using the data.

[vzw_customer_support]

We are glad you reached out about this, and we want to help! We are sending a Private Message.

*Shavonna

[tjy84]

Hi @dpstruewing ! Can you give an update on where this is at? I'm facing months of similar challenges -- "anonymous" charges every 6 hours on both my and my husband's phones -- and some of the times would be when we were asleep at home, snug with our household wireless internet -- and when I just tried to speak to someone about it, I got the runaround for FOUR hours, and some portions of our chat exchange were deleted and then I kept getting disconnected. I would love to know where you are at in combating this, and how I can do the same. Very new to this. 

[vzw_customer_support]

We know how important it is to manage your account, and we are always here to help. To better assist you, we will be sending you a private note.~Freddy

[Mlojoe]

Yes! Thank you for doing that! They stole over $100 in fake data charges from me too. 

[dpstruewing]

Same thing has been happening to me.  We are on an old plan, and have gotten the same pushes to switch plans.  At this time, we do not need an unlimited plan.  I have even paid overage charges before (and some occasions even wondered how the overage happened, but non the less paid the charge(s).  On Friday, January 13th at 11:57 p.m.  we all received notification that we only had 10% of our usage available.  Which for us means we have 1 gig left to last 7 days.  On our plan is myself, my husband and our 28 year old daughter.  We are all responsible adults and can have self control when it comes to limiting data.  Well I guess our self-control was our downfall, because on Monday morning, January 16, 2023) after surviving the weekend without going over our data, at 9:36 a.m. we get a notification that we had gone over and was being charged the $15.00.  8 minutes later at 9:44 a.m., we get another message saying the same thing--being charged $15 for overage.  At that time both my husband and daughter text me to tell me that they are not doing anything, but my husband said he sent a text at 9:39.  At 9:56 we get another overage message saying we are now being charged $30.  Unfortunately, I had a super busy day at work, so I was unable to check to see what was going on.  Fast forward to to Tuesday morning, and I get 3 messages at 7:21 a.m. from my daughter, asking what is going on because she had been at home on wifi (but she wasn't even using her phone), left her house to go work, got on the secure WIFI at work, and now we got two more notices that we were over once again.  I should also note that those same 3 messages from her arrived again at 7:26.  She even said she had all her apps closed because we had been trying to preserve since Friday.  So at 7:18 on Tuesday, we got a notification that we were being charged $45, and then 2 minutes later at 7:20 a.m. we were being charged for 4 gb at $60.00. At this point, I begin to start researching our data usage so I can call verizon, because I am certain there is some mistake.  So let's start with what I found beginning on Friday, January 13th, 2023: 

      Remember I said we received notification of 10% left at 11:57 p.m. Friday night (about midnight).  Prior to that my daughter was charged with usage at 12:27 a.m.--0;  6:26 a.m. --.14;  12:26 p.m.--1.05, and at 6:26 p.m. .35.  These are all bogus usages.  So from the period of 12:27-6:26 a.m. while my daughter was sleeping and at home on her WIFI, she used .14 of data--no she didn't--there's no way possible; and then at 12:26 p.m. while working as a therapist at a hospital with a secure WIFI-that she must log on to (and there are records of), she was charged with 1.05 gigs of usage--impossible and didn't happen, and then at 6:26 p.m., she was charged with using .35 gigs.  And ironically after recalling her activities on Friday night, she remembers being in the presence of a friend and she used VENMO to send money to her friend at guess what time:  yep exactly 6:26 p.m.  NO WAY does it use .35 gigs to send money through VENMO.  I researched my Venmo activity, and it appears that I only use .01 data when using it, if that.  So it appears that Verizon was trying to push us closer to our limit of 10 GB by charging my daughter with using 1.54 gigs of data when she didn't and has evidence of the same. 

Then on Monday, after we didn't go over all weekend as Verizon expected us to, the game had to continue.  However this time it was my husband's phone.  My husband only uses his phone to text and talk, and even then he hardly responds to texts.  He may occasionally look at the weather or something at Menards or Lowes, but that's it.  His "extraordinary" data usage began at 4:48 am with .27 gigs, 9:38--.57 gigs, 9:44--.47 gigs, 9:47--.15 gigs, 9:48--.42 gigs, 9:55--.14 gigs, 9:56--.58 gigs, and 10:00 .14  gigs.  First of all at 4:48 a.m. my husband was sleeping (we stayed up late to watch football game) and his phone is connected to WIFI, so it's impossible to use that data at that time of the night.  And then to think that he actually used 2.47 of gigs in a 22 minute time span.  IT DIDN'T HAPPEN.  He did send a text at 9:39 a.m. (which ironically is not showing up on the message log).  There is no way he used that much data when all he did was text.  He does construction and was in the middle of installing a ceiling when all of this occurred. 

SO I call Verizon.  Of course, this is not something that you can translate over a chat session.  So after Shacola introduces herself, the first thing she says...Would you like to change your plan?  I am like NO, I am fine with my plan, my problem is with your reporting of data usage.  So after explaining what was going on, we went around the Mulberry bush probably 20 times with well your daughter is using 10 gb of data...I know that, but again the unexplained usage--her answer was basically my daughter is lying about her usage.  My daughter is not a teenager, she's a responsible adult, and I discussed EVERYTHING about what she was doing prior to call--so try again.  And if it was just my daughter, then I might think something was going on with her phone, but when my husband is being charged usage when I KNOW for a fact that he 's not using it--that's where I know the data usage is bogus.  Then after 30 minutes of so going round and round and not getting any answers, just puff of "something must be running in the background", "daughter and husband are lying", "did she download stuff while she was driving to work, look at a map" (yeah seriously, it's a 10-15 minute drive, and she's been working at the same place for a couple of years".  She just stuck to the script.  Finally, I say I am not paying for the overage.  I am calling because I am trying to figure out what's going on as it appears your data gauge is malfunctioning.   At that point, she put me on hold.  After a bit she comes back and says "support" says that even if you are on WIFI, you need to turn off your cellular data to make sure there are no breakthough data usage.  Oh really, what a bunch of bologna.  While I know wifi can "short" out, but what a bogus excuse.  And I thought I was talking to support, so who was this lady I was talking to?  After discussion about me not being crazy, that I know what I am talking about, that I don't mind paying for usage if I indeed do use the data, she put me on hold once again.  After about 10 minutes, she comes back and says "ma'am we can offer you a 25% discount on the overage"  I was like I don't want your discount, I want to know what's going on (not to mention the discount is just 1 gig of data at this point and at that point we were at 4.89 of overage with 4 days to go.  My disgust got the better of me, and I hung up on her.  My family took every step necessary to conserve data usage, but when our efforts were successful in preventing, Verizon stole our data and/or pushed bogus data usage amounting to 6.49 gigs in just in 5 days.  Now, we are all paranoid about even touching our phones, because it seems a simple text or Venmo transaction causes extraordinary data usage.  I plan to call Verizon again after this cycle is finished to  attempt to resolve the issue.   If they are doing this to both of us, I am sure there are others.  

[nhellbaum]

I just got off the phone with the EXACT same issue. Miraculously going over on data, my wife’s phone is literally using 10x the data mine is and they could not answer why.

”Data usage” is one of the most fraudulent practice occurring in business right now and I would like to build a legal case against Verizon to address this. Is FCC the way to go?

[exposevz]

I had 4 calls into Verizon about the same issue and what a waste of time given the response from the very last so-called "leader" of the department. I took the trouble to compare the spreadsheet from the data log on the Verizon website with the reported total usage, and they were 100% apart. The first agent explained there could be a delay in the data log and told me to wait a few days, which I did, but the difference persisted (in the meantime I had already turned off cellular on all lines to precisely track usage). The second agent was sympathetic and said there could be a system glitch and asked for a day to investigate and call back the next day. Of course she didn't call back. The third agent just kept giving generic excuses of how data could be consumed as if the customer is an illierate and pushed for the unlimited plan (every single agent did). I asked for his supervisor,  and after several delays, I finally got to speak with her and she explained that the two numbers should match if we waited till the end of the cycle when Verizon bills, but she promised to have the technical department look into the discrepancies and call back. Again nothing. In my final call, the so-called leader simply denied any wrongdoing and claimed that Verizon bills according to the total usage at the end of the cycle, regardless of what the data log says because the latter is just an estimate. The disclaimer is in the asterisk below the data log section (so is the data usage by the way but that doesn't prevent Verizon from billing according to the total data usage). So Verizon is free to use any number as it sees fit (i.e., beneficial to Verizon's books) without having to substantiate it despite my repeated demand to provide detailed data. This is ironic given the total data usage and data log matched in the previous cycles (which the leader characterized as a "coincidence"). On top of all this this leader had insulted the customer's intelligence by claiming that data consumption is pervasive and won't show up in the data log for example the VOIT call I made with my landline to Verizon. Never mind my VOIT line does not use Verizon service.

Needless to say I've had enough and I lost no time to file a detailed complaint with the FCC with a number of screenshots of data usage from when we received the 50% usage alert to the following hours. The reported usage jumped from 50% to 93% when the data log shows less than 5% increase. All Verizon customers who're still on the limited data plans should really pay attention to their bills.