Verizon charging rental fee on purchased router

[FrustratedC]

We have returned our rented router to Verizon in 2018 and purchased a router on ebay. Since then Verizon keeps charging us $12 each month as a rental fee for the router we purchased. By now we have been charged about $400 and spent countless hours on the phone trying to dispute these charges.

The justification is that the router shows up in the system as a "rental router". However, in my view there is no legal basis at all for the rental charges, because there is not rental contract between us and Verizon for the router that we purchased. If the router was stolen by the person who sold the router to us there is still no legal basis for charging us a rental fee, because we have no rental contract with Verizon for this router. In that case Verizon must go after the person who stole the router from them.

This appears to be a common issue. For instance:

1. https://forums.verizon.com/t5/My-Verizon-Account/FIOS-illegally-trying-to-charge-rental-fee-on-Purch... 

2. https://www.reddit.com/r/Fios/comments/adzn1f/i_keep_being_charged_for_purchased_router/ 

3. https://www.reddit.com/r/Fios/comments/c9bc45/bought_fios_modem_on_ebay_verizon_claims_its/ 

[kh-gary]

Hi FrustratedC,

Your issue has been escalated to a Verizon agent. Please check your Private Messenger inbox for a message from a Verizon support agent. You can find your inbox by clicking on your username at the top right corner of this page and then clicking the envelope icon that appears at the top of the menu. Response times may vary and may be delayed at this time. Please continue to check your Inbox for a reply from a Verizon agent. Please direct all correspondence concerning your issue to the agents who will be assisting you privately.