Found this in my latest bill:
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Notice of Price Increase
Effective May 17, 2014, Verizon will apply an FDV Administrative
Charge of $0.99 per FiOS Digital Voice line. This monthly surcharge
helps defray account servicing costs associated with providing voice
services. This is a Verizon surcharge, not a tax or governmental fee.
Visit verizon.com for more information.
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Thought others might want to know in case you don't read your bill carefully.
Have Fun.
So does that mean even if you sign up for a bundle for 2 years at, say, $79.99 that Verizon can still tack on this administrative charge without having violated the agreement?
You betcha! It says so somewhere in the agreement
This is a simple breach of contract by Verizon. The purchase order specifies that the bill paid to Verizon will not change unless there were “changes made after the order, duration of promotional discounts, usage, balance, adjustments or installments.” None of these conditions apply to the so called "FDV Administrative Charge" that Verizon has unilaterally imposed.
read the fine print. Fees, taxes, etc not included.
Legitimate fees, not made up ones to circumvent bundle agreements.
My Verizon DSL just went up today a WHOPPING 10%. That is an outrageous increase.
Then there are the Verizon "surcharges" that make it nearly impossible to compare plans.
So of course I called and the offered me nothing to stay. You know what that means.
Not legitimate. ALL costs for digital voice service should be part of the bundle. Not made up fees.
Oh, and I just created a new -0.99 fee. If Verizon can decide it is not charging enough for FDV and create a new fee to cover the cost, I have decided that I am paying too much for FDV and created a new credit to reduce the cost.
I've been with FiOS for a few years now and with regard to service I'm not at all happy. Every few months I need to call them and sit on the phone for hours trying to get credit for things they overcharged me for.
Now they increase set-top box rentals, tack on this administrative fee. The agreement you sign is useless but for the termination fee.
The $0.99 surcharge has federal, state and local taxes and fees applied to it; on my bill the real increase netted to $1.21. My concern, however, is not with the amount, but with a regulated utility's ability to get around a contract price by labeling an increase as an "administrative charge."
I called their customer service line to discuss/complain. When I asked what would prevent Verizon from using this as a vehicle to increase prices by $10 or $15, assuming Time Warner/AT&T/DIrectTV raised their prices as well, he admitted that he was not aware of any restrictions. Neither am I.
I can't find anything in my contract with Verizon that lets them increase my price by instituting back-end increases. I'm pursuing with government regulators and encourage you all to do so as well. If this gets through, there will be more.
Please let me know how can we escalate to regulatory authority, means who should I write, their address, correct process, right department/authority. I think every month all govt taxes increase & verizon surcharge & fess too. How can that be always & so frequent?
Time to get VoIP!
FDV Administrative Fee... bogus. People should collectively respond by complaining about it.
@AngryInSA wrote:Time to get VoIP!
I wonder if its regional or what. So far no such fee or announcement on my bills.
Do not worry - it is coming - I have it on my bill for June
I "spoke" with two online reps today.
One claimed that I needed to contact the FCC to find out about this fee, and then disconnected.
The other told me that I had two options: pay the penalty for disconnecting my phoneline 12 months early or pay the $1.21 fee. The only thing I could find in the contract about fees says that we are responsible for paying all fees.
http://www.verizon.com/idc/groups/public/documents/adacct/fdv_terms_of_service.pdf
"Taxes and Other Charges. Verizon also may charge you for any applicable taxes, fees,
surcharges, account set-up fees or other charges made using the Service, unless you can
show with documentation satisfactory to us that you are exempt from these charges. We
will not provide advance notice of changes to taxes, surcharges and fees, except as
required by applicable law."
So, apparently they can charge *whatever they want* in the way of fees and we have no recourse.
Complaint submitted to the FCC:
Verizon added a 0.99 monthly fee (called FDV) for digital voice services. The fee increases the cost of digital voice services, and was obviously used to circumvent contractual agreements. It increases the cost of voice services, even though on a technicality it is not a direct increase in the cost of what Verizon categorizes as its "bundle." If the FCC allows Verizon to implement this fee, it is allowing Verizon to increase the overall cost of voice services for its customers at will and without limit. The FCC would also be allowing Verizon to violate two-year agreements for the cost of services that were signed in good faith that the cost for said services would not increase.
Absolutely, Verizon is using this bogus charge to circumvent their 2 year contracts with customers who fell for their "guaranteed" 2 year price agreements. I pay $97.49 per month for mine ( just one year to go and I'm dumping this dishonest company) while they've since offered deals as recently as last week as low as $79.99/month for the same triple play bundle, with the exact same services I have now. I called to complain and the rep said the new charge was for added accounting costs for administering my phone service. I then stated that it seems ridiculous that they can offer the same bundle to new customers for $18.00 less than I pay now and cry that they need to add this new charge to cover costs .When I asked about the price guarantee she said well if I looked at my invoice, they still bill me the same amount for the bundle! This added charge is under a different heading! I'm billed $1.98, $.99 for the phone in the bundle and $.99 for a separate line.
Notice of Price Decrease
Effective May 17, 2014, JP8899 will apply a Poor Customer Service
Credit of -$29.99 per FiOS Digital Voice line. This monthly credit
helps cover the cost of billable hours wasted dealing with Verizon-created
service problems and Verizon-created billing issues. It also helps defray
costs associated with Verizon violating two-year service agreements.
My complaint to the PA PUC must have been rushed through. My home phone was ringing within 48 hours. It was a woman claiming to be from "the president's office at Verizon." She was adamant: the fee will stick and they will not waive the early-termination fee if I decide to drop my 2-year agreement. She insisted this was the corporate respone to any of the 10 million Fios customers who may complain. She insisted that there was no one higher up who would discuss this with me, that she was authorized to negotiate with customers but would not do so in this case. I guess she's "Mrs. Verizon."
So, I will not withdraw my complaint with the PA PUC, nor with the FCC. I refuse to pay the administrative fee while it's in dispute.
I contacted Verizon customer service to complain about the new FDV administration charge. I was told it was a "passthrough" fee imposed by the FCC, and Verizon was not charging it, they were only "passing it along".
I explained an FCC fee should have shown up under the "Government Fees" heading, not under "Verizon Fees", but she insisted it was an FCC fee imposed fee. She even read the fee description from her "official" literature, and sure enough the literature claimed it was an FCC fee. I should have requested an email copy of it.
Start a new topic or ask questions in the open forum.
