I realize that Americans tend to pay more for their cellphones monthly than the rest of the world, but this is a bit much. An Oregon couple walked into a Verizon store last November and set themselves up with a pair of phones and a family service plan. But they canceled their contract after their very first bill showed a “previous balance” of $451.14. The grand total for their activation and this mysterious unpaid bill came to $698.
They thought that was way too mysterious, and returned both of their phones to a Verizon store in January, after receiving a second bill for just $9. They kept getting bills for increasing amounts even though Verizon customer service assured them it was a mistake and it was being fixed. So they ignored the collection agencies and payment due letters, until this week.
As of this posting, with fees, the total they supposedly owe is now $2,156,593.64. Two million dollars. In nine months.
The reason this is more of a problem than a laugh is that it’s ruining their credit, and they’re trying to buy a home.
“If I don’t get this straightened out in the next 24 hours, I can almost guarantee I’ll lose this house,” Dan Slusher told FOX12 Oregon.
You can hear the automated Verizon bot telling him the total around the 45-second mark:
Verizon says it’s an error in the automated voice system and they’ve cleared it up. In a statement to FOX12, they said:
We have apologized to an Oregon customer for a programming error in an automated voice-response system. The error caused him to receive an incorrect voice message that he owed $2 million on his bill. We are correcting the error now and have resolved the issue to his satisfaction.
Two million dollars for a month of cellphone service is a hell of a rate, Verizon.
(Via FOX12 Oregon)