Verizon Wireless to pay up to $90 million in refunds
04 Oct 2010
Verizon Wireless will pay up to $90 million in refunds to around 15 million cellphone customers who had been wrongly charged for data sessions or internet use, the company said yesterday.
The refunds, ranging from $30 million to $90 million would be one of the largest customer refunds by a telecommunications company, Verizon Wireless said in a statement.
Verizon said it had held talks with the Federal Communications Commission about complaints of unauthorised charges and in response to questions about a possible settlement of an FCC investigation into the issue.
The company said the customers would receive credits from $2 to $6 on their October or November bills while former customers would receive refund cheques.
The refunds would be paid to customers that had no data access plans but had been charged regardless for one or more charges of $1.99 due to data exchanges initiated by software built into their phones, or because of charges for inadvertent use of internet on the phones.
The FCC is likely to impose a penalty on Verizon for its failure to notify customers of the problem, which has been occurring since at least 2007, according to people close to the talks.
