When some Maryland consumers opened their monthly Verizon bills, they were in for a big shock ? overcharges ranging from $200 to several thousand dollars.
But officials at Verizon Communications Inc. ? the nation?s second-largest phone company ? say not to worry. These bills are a mistake and the problem has been taken care of.
The company confirmed this week that it overcharged about 11,000 consumers in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington. The incorrect charges were the result of a software programming error, according to company officials.
“Initially the problem started on the 17th of June and we first became aware of it on the 26th,” said Harry Mitchell, a Verizon spokesman for the mid-Atlantic region. “We put the fix in on June 29th. The error has been corrected.”
To resolve the problem, the company had to sort through the 5.3 million monthly bills for the region to determine which customers were affected.
“Verizon strives to provide very accurate billing,” Mitchell said. “When a problem like this arises, you identify the problem, fix it moving forward and work very hard to make it right by customers. That?s what we?re doing now and we do apologize for the inconvenience and confusion these customers might experience.”
Mitchell could not provide an exact figure of how many Maryland customers were affected, but said that the company is in the process of applying credits to the affectedaccounts and consumers should see a correction in their next bills.
For now, Mitchell said consumers do not need to call the phone company, but should instead pay the same amount they paid the previous month. The company also will not disconnect service for those customers who do not pay the amount on the incorrect bills.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
