Data usage charges for receiving picture messages?

[nmchileman]

Hardly being a fanboy. It's arrogant and childish of you to suggest as such. If you've spent anytime reading any other posts I've made in this community you should know that I have just as much of a tumultuous relationship with VZW as any one else. I'm here to present the facts because there has been a great propagation of misinformation on VZW products and services from the company itself or from word of mouth. Working in the telecommunications industry for several years I've been privy to lots of official information and billing practices. Does MMS use megabytes? Officially, NO. Does it use the same connection as all other data usage? YES. But as previously stated for the purpose of billing MMS usage is tracked and not billed for megabytes. Is the billing system 100% accurate? No, of course not. Though I'd say about 95% of the time it is accurate and people don't get charged for megabytes. So that leaves about 5% for errors, give or take a few percent, and I'm being pessimistic here. 5% of 87.7 million customer's is potentially over 4 million customers that could be affected by billing issues, such as people getting charged for MMS usage. So yes, it happens, but it's not supposed to. I know that currently VZW does have a billing issue that impacted an extremely large amount of customers who had certain Mobile Web blocks in place and were still charged megabytes even though they were denied access because of the block. Several hundred thousand customers were affected and it does take time to determine all affected accounts and apply systematic credits.

I also know for a fact that customer service reps, along with tech support reps, do have the ability to view your data usage detail and determine what exactly used the megabyte. Whether it be browsing on the mobile web (wap), browsing the media center catalog (brew) or sending/receiving MMS (MMS). Whether or not customer service reps know they can do this, or choose to is entirely up to them and how much they choose to invest in their job. Sadly some people choose not to take pride in their job and choose not to invest the time to learn everything they can about the billing system they work with. This is apparent in any large company, it should be attributed to the person directly, and not the corporation. Large companies spend millions of dollars a year on training their employee's, but if the employee doesn't have pride in what they're doing then that money is largely wasted.

So does MMS use megabytes? NO. Does VZW knowingly, sneakily, nefariously charge you megabytes and not tell you? NO. Do billing system issues happen? A resounding YES.

{no personal comments please}

[lonegreywolf20]

{please keep it relevant} I said my peace and people will either agree with me or disagree, it's as simple as that.

[3AngryTeenagers]

I appreciate your knowledge of telecommuncations.  Unfortunately, I am not as technically savy and merely wish to find a simple solution to reinstate FREE picture messaging.  I have brought all my phones into the local verizon store and they verified I do NOT have games or other sources ulitizing data access.  What do you suggest I try next? 

[SuzyQ]

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3AngryTeenagers wrote:

I appreciate your knowledge of telecommuncations.  Unfortunately, I am not as technically savy and merely wish to find a simple solution to reinstate FREE picture messaging.  I have brought all my phones into the local verizon store and they verified I do NOT have games or other sources ulitizing data access.  What do you suggest I try next? 

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OK--Here are the steps I have taken and they seem to keep those stray data charges at bay MOST of the time--occaisionally one will slip through, and because I refuse to put the National Access Block on the phone(s), they refuse to take the charges off the phone(s).

I went into MyVerizon as the amin account holder, right hand side of the page, Self Service Options, then right hand side of the page,  Add and Delete Features.  I then went through each number and blocked Mobile Web, Application downloads, Premium SMS, and everything under Music and Tones.  If we do ever need to purchase anything, I will unblock temporarily, but so far it hasn't been an issue.  I also changed my shortcut keys so they don't go to Mobile Web.  Kids still do get an occaisional stray charge, but not often.

HTH,

[KathyDallas]

Most likely it is not from picture messages, but rather from this questionable prcatice Verizon has.  Many new phones come with icons that made it look like a game or application is already on the phone. But, if you click the icon, it connects to Get it Now.    Even if you disconnect as soon as you see that’s what it is doing, it doesn’t matter..you are still charged a minimum of $1.99 for “browsing”.

Very deceptive, and the reply I got from customer service was totally unsatisfactory.   To lure customers to click with an icon (that VZN put there as IF the app is already on your phone) and then charge for browsing” is entrapment, and a deceitful business practice.   I've learned that some TX customers are working on a complaint for the attorney general's office.  I'm going to send them copies of my complaint as well.  

[cnsd]

Same exact thing happened with our family...  we were NOT accessing the internet (don't you hate the arrogant statement "you must've been accessing the internet" ?)

Read on about REFUNDS:

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2009/08/verizon.html

Verizon offering refunds because of mystery 'data usage' charges By Kathie Kroll August 24, 2009, 6:33PM

CLEVELAND, Ohio --Verizon Wireless, the nation's largest cell phone company, may refund thousands or even millions of dollars to customers because of problematic "data usage" charges.

Verizon, with 84 million customers, also is making changes in staff training, internal procedures and customer service after a Plain Dealer column Aug. 15 revealed widespread billing problems.

The Money Matters column chronicled the writer's six-month ordeal with $1.99-per-month data charges and the possible causes given by Verizon's customer service workers. All, it turned out, were wrong or only partly true.

More than 400 Plain Dealer readers responded to the newspaper with complaints similar to the ones in the column. The readers collectively pay for more than 1,000 phone lines. In addition, calls to customer service and visits to Verizon stores increased noticeably after the column.

At a minimum, thousands of customers apparently have been charged $1.99 per month for Internet "data usage" even though they had not tried to go online. In some cases, customers were charged when their phones were off, the batteries were dead, the phone's Internet access was blocked or even when the phones didn't have the software to go online.

Verizon vows to work with every customer nationwide who complains about unknown data and text charges. The company is prepared to give customers refunds retroactively, which could amount to a few dollars or more than $100 per phone line, depending on the extent of the issue.

go to link above to learn more.