The Men get Sneaky

The continuing battle of wits and dollars with the Men of Telecom

I am diligent about going to the Verizon store to pay my bill (since they will not take my credit card on-line, I will stop by the store next to a Starbucks and pay my bill there). So, I notice  a $ 5 late fee recently and decide to watch what happens this month.

My bill was generated on the 19th. I go in to the store on 24th and pay my bill. I get a paper copy of the bill a few days later and it is for $ 4.02 more than what the lady told me was due. I go into store again. Apparently there is a several day lag between the central billing and the data the store has access to. How convenient - so I pay what I am told by the store and central billing can still nail me for the $ 5 late fee?

I notice on latest bill a charge for a one minute call to Australia - $ 4.10. My wife calling her cousin. We have moved to a calling card from Tel3 which gives us great international rates - 3 to 5 c a minute most everywhere. Margaret must have had a slip and forgot to use it for this call. Usually they can talk for hours - thank god she did not this time. $ 4.10 a minute! What are the guys at Verizon smoking?

But guess what Verizon?. On my 2 lines, DSL, long distance my average spend with you for last 5 months has been $ 149. In 5 previous months it averaged $ 286. Thanks to Skype, Tel 3, feature rationalization I have cut your bill in half.

Keep up the sneaky charges and that average will keep dropping....may be even down to zero.