Complaint Review: ESBI Verizon Total Protection Plus - Internet

My husband called regarding the same $14.95 that you spoke of to complain that we did not request any fax service on our home phone.  CenturyLink our provider (purchased from Sprint) told him the same thing call ESBI.  After a 54 minute and 26 second wait on hold in their call cue where "the wait is usually less than one minute" I called CenturyLink back.  I told them the problem and the guy on the phone knew EXACTLY what I was talking about.  He credited my bill for $45 (3 months) with no arguement then called ESBI himself.  I then told him that had he not been able to help me I was calling to disconnect my service, he agreed that this would have gotten the charges stopped at the very least.  I was will to forego the old charges I had already paid as I should have paid closer attention to my bill BUT I was not willing to incur any further charges for a service I did not want.  Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, CenturyLink may not be able to get your money back from ESBI but they can sure stop charging you from the point you call.  Here is the number that the phone company rep gave me as a better number to call during the week  888-480-8724.  Good luck with getting it stopped.

When a company has this many similar complaints, Verizon should not just assume that the charges are legitimate.  If it this easy for unscrupulous companies to access accounts and steal money from Verizon customers, then Verizon is morally and ethically obligated to implement some mechanism to protect those same customers.  For Verizon to sit on its hands and look the other way is unacceptable.

In March of 2008 BSG settled a case with the FCC in which it was charged for placing unauthorized charges on consumers on behalf of Nationwide Connections Inc.  The court barred BSG from billing or submitting telecommunications charges for billing on a consumers telephone bill, unless such charge has been expressly authorized.  Additionally the court required BSG take all necessary steps before billing on behalf of clients to ensure it did not engage in the unauthorized billing of telecommunications charges.  Yet it has consistently been in violation of these requirements, it certainly was in my case!  

http://www.bsgclearing.com/index.php/about/executive_management_team/

Culpability rests either with BSG or its third party clients.   Perhaps Ms. Cubeta, BSG's General Counsel, can assist us in obtaining the relevant electronic records and communications information related to these supposed orders for services.  BSG is billing consumers in advance of obtaining our express consent in violation of a 2008 court order. It has responsibility to provide answers.  

Gregory Carter, CEO

San Antonio, Texas 78229

Dawn,

In March of 2008 BSG settled a case with the FCC in which it was charged for placing unauthorized charges on consumers on behalf of Nationwide Connections Inc.  The court barred BSG from billing or submitting telecommunications charges for billing on a consumers telephone bill, unless such charge has been expressly authorized.  Additionally the court required BSG take all necessary steps before billing on behalf of clients to ensure it did not engage in the unauthorized billing of telecommunications charges.  Yet it has consistently been in violation of these requirements, it certainly was in my case!  

http://www.bsgclearing.com/index.php/about/executive_management_team/

Culpability rests either with BSG or its third party clients.   Perhaps Ms. Cubeta, BSG's General Counsel, can assist us in obtaining the relevant electronic records and communications information related to these supposed orders for services.  BSG is billing consumers in advance of obtaining our express consent in violation of a 2008 court order. It has responsibility to provide answers.  

Gregory Carter, CEO

San Antonio, Texas 78229

I am a Verizon employee and talk to customers every day. This subject comes up frequently. Please understand that VERIZON is NOT doing anything underhanded, nor are we trying to 'rip you off'. Let me explain. Verizon has a contract with MANY, smaller, communications-type companies to do their billing for them. This is all legitimate, done with the FCC's full knowledge, and is intended to make things easier for the consumer. (so you will get one single bill for all of your communications services) These smaller companies contact Verizon when a customer has ordered a service from them, and tells Verizon how much that customer owes for that service. Verizon then bills the customer and pays the company what they are owed. Verizon has to assume that all of these charges are legitimate (usually they ARE legitimate charges for services ordered either accidentally by not reading fine print or by someone else in the household) Occasionally customers call and question us about the charge and we have to refer them to the specific company because we only bill what they tell us to bill. We do not have any info about who ordered the service, or when or how it was ordered. When the customer calls the company, if the charge indeed is an error (or the customer cancels the service), then that company will contact us and credit the customer's bill, plus they will stop any further charges. This is the best way to get the problem solved. However, if a customer has tried repeatedly to get the situation resolved by calling that company and has not been successful, then (and only then) Verizon can do a 'recourse adjustment' to send the charges back to the company. This is a last resort because it will not stop future charges from being sent to us. When the company gets the charges sent back to them from Verizon, they will contact the customer to ask why, and/or they will start billing you separately (because you haven't told them you want to cancel it) Bottom line, Verizon is NOT 'ripping anyone off'. Everything Verizon does (not Verizon wireless, mind you, I'm talking Verizon landline) is watched under a microscope by the FCC because of all the laws and regulations that telecommunications companies have to abide by.

I was contacted by Total Protection Plus, which I still don't know exactly what this company does, and they told me they would credit my phone bill for 4 months that I have been billed. As of yet, I have not received any credit. I'll update if I do. The link you left for the FTC complaint above has been removed and I couldn't view it.

As it apears they have been reprimanded once already for doing this. http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/cramalrt.htm