Verizon slyly overcharged and double-billed Beth Israel Medical Center by millions for years, the hospital claims, and has allegedly refused to refund the money.
The hospital should have known to ask for an exemption on certain data services, Verizon allegedly claimed—services Beth Israel didn’t want in the first place.
The utility said other refund requests were too old for them to pay out.
Blame it on the impossible-to-understand utility bills, Beth Israel said.
“Verizon attempts to prevent discovery of its overbillings by designing its bills in such a massive, complex, technical and obfuscatory way that its bills will not be understood by its customers,” according to court papers.
Beth Israel was over-charged by $1 million through long-distance rates that were 10 times the 3-cent-a-minute rate in its contract; billed $340,000 for data services it never used; and charged about $7 million for services it had already pre-paid, according to a suit the hospital filed against Verizon in Manhattan federal court last month.
The hospital wants its money back, along with $25 million in punitive damages.
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8 Responses
that what you get for not reading your bills and questioning them when they come in. More of the same poor business decisions for the continuum.
I always hated verizon, but now I know what conniving, skeeving robbers they really are. I hope Beth Israel wins this law suit and shuts verizon down for good!
What about when the hospital over charges????
I.e. $20 for a Tylenol.
What does the hospital have to say about THAT!!
as a Verizon customer I can attest to how bad Verizon’s bills are to try to understand. BTW, Verizon is not alone in this.
torahtotty:
Doesn’t sound like the Torah’s way to me, not halchicly nor hashkaficly. Verizon seems to be terribly and pathetically wrong here.
You have no right to overcharge someone, especially if you entered into an agreement at a contracted rate.
The only part that seems even somewhat like you stated is the data services they never used. But both the 10x overcharge and the charge for services it had already PRE-paid, should be immediately refunded with interest and an apology.
If I were in charge of BI’s telecom services, I would see if a cable rep could meet me ASAP to possibly switch the entire account over. This is not a $250/month account, and cable would be more than happy to take them.
Verizon has always been a bunch of arrogant thieves for ALL their services. I left them awhile ago and never looked back. I guess they are good for those that have money to burn and like their ancient technology compared to the other carriers.
I’ll tell you something about verizon, the exact same thing happened to me, I had them for two weeks, used twenty eight minutes, and they tried to take me for $ 700 + refusing to refund money they admitted I was owed for over 8 montages my credit card co.got involved. They are the lowest scum of the world.I hope the feds take them over and tmobile buys them out.
No. 2: Be careful what you wish for. If Verizon is shut down, your telecommunications carrier (assuming it is not Verizon) will face less competition and will be more inclined to raise your rates.