Consumer wins lawsuit over Verizon billing fraud and incorrect credit reporting of charge-off
A reader sent me this link, thanks!
A customer successfully sued Verizon after they double-billed him, ruined his credit, lied about not receiving his letters, and refused to fix their mistake.
Fat Wallet member PoodleMan says, “the lawsuit was surprisingly easy compared to the misery that I went through with Verizon prior to that point.”
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If you have a decent judge, it’s certainly MUCH easier to sue than to try to file complaint after complaint after complaint with regulators, the BBB, etc.
Of course there’s that qualifier, getting a judge who doesn’t believe that it is a “consumer’s job” to consume and pay bills regardless of the legitimacy of those bills. Many judges feel that the purpose of consumers is to make the corporations and their shareholders wealthy at the expense of consumers. Many judges are openly corrupt and more and more consumers get railroaded in Kangaroo courts.
Across the country, pro se litigants often have to appeal local court rulings, sometimes all the way to the state’s supreme court, to finally get justice. After I sued First Magnus last year, they got a $6,400 award for legal fees. I had sued in small claims, but then moved the case to the civil division when they refused to settle. I already knew I’d get railroaded in Kingman justice court (where justice is rarely found) and you can’t appeal a small claims decision. Justice of the Peace John Taylor not only dismissed my case, but even asked whether First Magnus would like their legal fees, they didn’t even have to request the fees.
First Magnus never filed a single motion prior to getting the judgment!
I had to deposit the $6,400 with the court for a supersedeas bond when I filed my appeal, because otherwise they could have ENFORCED this judgment while on appeal. That means cleaning out my bank accounts, putting a lien against my home, etc.
Just before Thanksgiving, I got the superior court decision to remand to justice court. I did NOT get my $6,400 back. It’s up to the justice court judge. He did NOT order that my money be returned to me. I’m going to file a motion for the return of my funds. And I give it 90% that judge Taylor will again dismiss my case and that I will again have to appeal an even more outrageous amount for legal fees. And maybe I’ll actually prevail in a few years, but there’s a good chance that the lying scumbags at First Magnus will be out of business by then.
There are no statistics about the number of consumers who get railroaded in American courts, I can only go by the e-mails from other consumer litigants and information posted in litigation lists. Obviously, very few consumers have the cash and knowledge to appeal. And the more I learn about the American legal system, the scarier it gets.
I don’t mean to take away from Poodleman’s victory over Verizon, I just want you all to know that just because you’re right doesn’t mean that you’ll prevail in an American court.
After a year of calls, certified letters, emails, and other attempts on my part to contact Verizon Wireless and after numerous calls from at least three different debt collection firms (on their end) and after having had my otherwise perfect credit reports reflect a charge-off for an account that had been paid on-time, I decided to sue Verizon. I did so and won about $700 and had them ordered to remove the derogatory information from my credit reports. I just got a call today asking where I would like my check mailed and am very happy to have stuck it to such an uncaring company. If anyone is interested, I can post more specific information. Prior to wasting my time, I thought that I would first probe for interest with this post.
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The skinny of it is that when I signed up for wireless internet (EVDO) service, I asked that the device be billed with my cell phone. There was apparently some issue whereby they asked to issue it with a different area code. I asked if it would affect billing. I was told that it would not. They ended up generating a brand new account for the device, which not only forces me to deal with two payments per month, but also increases the cost by 20 dollars each cycle, as there is a discount if the device is associated with an existing cell. I called and asked that it be switched back. I was told that the billing would be pro-rated and transferred over. I said if that was the case to cancel my automatic billpay for the EVDO device, as it should be zeroed out. I was told that it was zeroed out and that the auto billpay would be canceled. Lo and behold, I was billed twice for the same service: one with a (407) Orlando area code and one with a (617/781) Boston area code.
I called and tried to explain that it was already paid and offered receipts. No dice. Disconnected and transferred continuously. I responded to billing @ verizon.com with the details. No response. Sent certified letter via NetPost Post-e-Digital to ensure not only that something was sent, but also the contents of the letter. They claimed this was never received right up to the point that I brought a scan of the text with a signed letter from a company supervisor at Post-e-Digital.
Basically, the company’s claim was that I “overpaid my Florida account and underpaid my Massachusetts account”.
Not once did I receive an apology from them. Only the business day before court did they offer to do anything. Prior to that, they would not, on good faith, fix my credit reports. All this after having complained to the BBB, my state attorney general, etc.
I came to court with receipts from my bank showing payment had been made for over 1200 dollars for over a year, even into the current month! I also called Verizon beforehand, and did not mention this issue and simply asked them to send me a printout of payments received. They even had it listed as received! Still, they were unwilling to listen to me.
I spent a tremendous amount of time compiling paperwork, including the disputes filed with the credit bureaus and proof of debt collectors’ contact AFTER the lawsuit was filed.
If anyone wants more detail, let me know. For now, I must sleep.
~ Poodleman
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The bottom line is that getting the $700 probably cost Poodleman many thousands of dollars in time wasted to try to get Verizon to straighten out their billing and then to sue, not to mention the aggravation and stress.
How is this a victory?
Poodleman DOCUMENTED the Verizon billing fraud and he PUBLICIZED his lawsuit, and that’s what it takes to prevail against the corporate scum. If we had 200 of those suits next year (documented by consumer litigants who are not afraid to post their name and case #), maybe a competent lawyer could justify a “real” suit with a $7 million punitive damges award against Verizon, to be used for a consumer defense fund and to assist other pro se litigants.
THEN we’d see some changes to Verizon’s and the other corporate thugs’ billing and credit reporting practices.
Posted by Christine on 12/09/2006 at 01:10 PM
2003 Suit (appealed, Experian filed credit reports on PACER) • Verizon Wireless - billing fraud • (4) Comments • Permalink
Thanks for posting this. I will need to find my inner Poodleman to get a (FULLY PAID!!!) charge-off for a 3rd party account I signed for (WHICH WAS FRAUDULENTLY RENEWED BY VERIZON WITHUT MY CONSENT). What joy.
Have a similar problem with Orchard Bank. Paid the bastards by money order. They claim the bill
was not paid. Have PROOF OF MAILING receipt.
How about a look at your complaint as filed.
I am in pro per. What about suing for mail fraud
under private attorney general provisions. Comments welcome
Proof of mailing is NOT proof of payment. Before you do anything, get proof of payment (proof that Orchard cashed it) from whoever you bought the money order.
In the future, don’t use money orders to pay your bills. It’s not only the most expensive way to pay a bill, but also often hard to get proof of who cashed it and if you don’t have your receipt, you’re out of luck.
Well, I have billing problems with Verizon also, and I support you 100%. I’m considering more action against Verizon and your blog is very helpful. I wish you the best in your fight against them,
