Anyone getting billed for iPhone data minutes, Verizon refusing to refund?

[wsanders]

I got my first bill with my iPhone 4 data plan and I was billed for 300+ data minutes the first day I had the phone, which put me over my monthly minute limit since they were combined with voice minutes. I incurred $60 extra charges for that one day, but no other data minutes for the billing cycle.

On my first call (on a weekend), the rep refused to refund the charges , gave me some **bleep** about my old 400-min/mo America's Choice plan not being valid for an iPhone, and tried to upsell me to a plan with more minutes, which I don't need.

Is anyone else getting billed for data minutes?

Of course I am paying $30/mo for data plan as well.

[Navatia]

did you tether your device to your computer with out having the 20.00/month connect feature added to your account? this will cause data mins...

[wsanders]

Nope, no tethering. The data calls also originated from several, various locations I was in that day. It wasn't the first day I used the phone, IIRC.

[budone]

You are on a phone plan that is not compatible with the iPhone. You MUST have the $30/month unlimited data plan for that device. OLD MOU plans are not to be used. NO EXCEPTIONS.

Did you get the phone at a corporate store?

[wsanders]

Please reread my post. I do have a $30 mo data plan.

In addition, my wife has had a Blackberry for over a year, with the $30/mo data plan, and no problems.

It's obvious this is some one-day glitch in switching over my plan, and if I was allowed up activate an iPhone on the wrong plan, it's obviously not my fault. I also resent being subjected to an upsell every time I call VZ for support.

[crimedoggies]

What you describe is not possible.  You can have an America's Choice plan active with an iPhone and a data plan.   The data plan provides unlimited internet, email and web browsing on your iPhone.  There would not be a billing for minutes of use on your plan because the data package provides that service.  Did you download any apps, ringtones, etc that may have been billed as data?  There has to be another answer.

[dbbrass]

Data is measured by the megabyte not in minutes.  I would suspect that you exceeded your anytime minute allotment for phone conversations to people outside VZW's network of which they charge generally 45 cents a minute.  The $30.00 a month gets you unlimited data only.  Texting and voice are separate from this.   Your plan may or may not include unlimited texting and voice. Most people generally go with limited anytime minutes as the unlimited voice plan is considerably more expensive.   I apologize if this is not your situation, but based on the information that you provided and VZW indicating that you needed more anytime minutes, this seems to be the case.

[budone]

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wsanders wrote:

Please reread my post. I do have a $30 mo data plan.

In addition, my wife has had a Blackberry for over a year, with the $30/mo data plan, and no problems.

It's obvious this is some one-day glitch in switching over my plan, and if I was allowed up activate an iPhone on the wrong plan, it's obviously not my fault. I also resent being subjected to an upsell every time I call VZ for support.

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I apologize, I missed the last line. (Although that was not part of the original post. I see you edited the original post 9 minutes after I posted.)

But I don't think it is possible to even have the old America Choice plan with that phone. Did you use data on your old phone before getting the iPhone and data???

[wsanders]

(Apologies. I just edited the last line to read "$30 per mo for data plan" rather than "$30/mo for data.") (They should lock these posts once someone replies ... heh)

I am fairly sure I did not use any data on the old phone - it was an old Motorola that only had a WAP browser anyway, and would not let me go online unless I opted in on the phone for the old $5/mo "mobile web" feature for which minutes were not charged.

There was a complicated chain of events, the result of rep surfing until I finally got hold of someone who knew how to activate my phone via *611. I got the phone and was unable to activate it online since I have a G4 Mac, and my OS was not compatible with the latest version of iTunes. IIRC support fiddled with activating it on a subsequent call, but then we deactivated it and reverted back to my Motorola once it was obvious I could not sync it with my existing computer. After a few days of trying to decide whether to return the phone and trying to find a copy of Leopard for G4 Macs, I was able to get my hands on an Intel-based Mac, and then reactivated my phone.

A few days after that I got my hands on a copy of Leopard for my G4, and I've successfully upgraded my old Mac and it will sync with my phone. 

I've been through this intransigence with support before. I will just call back on Monday and rep surf until I get someone who seems interesed in solving my problem instead or trying upsell me to more minutes.

[Jax_Omen · Accepted solution]

Your story actually answers the question: the phone was (briefly) placed on the line, putting the data package on there, and data was used while they were fiddling. This would normally be fine, but then, in the same day, the phone was swapped back to a regular phone, with no data package.

VzW's billing system just looks at what feature was on the line at the end of the day and goes "oop, no data pack, billing data as minutes per the calling plan!". So any data used by the iPhone gets billed as minutes that day. Then, after you got it working, you have the data package so the issue doesn't reoccur.

Keep rep surfing, have them check the time of the call versus the time the iphone was on the line and the time the regular phone was put back on the line. I would bet cash money the data minutes were used during the time the iphone was on the line. Once they confirm that they shouldn't have any issue crediting the overage created by that as a billing error, if they do request their supervisor.