I recently signed up for FIOS triple-play, including the 300 minute international call plan.
I just got my first invoice, and was I surprised to find I am being charged per minute for every international call over 20 minutes!
E.g. call is 31 minutes, 20 minutes comes out of 300 minute plan, 11 minutes are charged per minute.
I just re-read the terms of service and can't find anything about calls being restricted to 20 minutes.
Is this really right?
Can anybody point me to the terms that describe this "ripoff" feature?
P.
One more gotcha in the plan. I'll check my TOS ASAP. ARRGGG!
Did they get you for the regular LD rates (~$4.00/min) or the rate when you go over the 300 minutes? What country?
Here is an example of a 27 minute call to South Africa:
Date Time Number Called Place Called Type Rate Minutes Amount Group
5/10 09:23AM xxx So Africa Direct Night 20.00 .00 --
Above call continued in
5/10 09:43AM xxx So Africa Direct Econ 7.00 2.52
The 7 minutes at $2.52 is 36c per minute, and that matches the advertised rate when you exceed the 300 minute allotment:
See here:
I haven't had time tocal Verizon blling yet.
P.
I did have one call to Panama for 23 minutes, and was billed 0.00, so apparently depending on what country you call, you may get "Premimum Services" charges described very, very, briefly on the page listing the international rates. It looks like a call to South Africa is "Premium" after 20 minutes.
From the second link you posted:
"Many foreign telecommunications companies impose substantial fees on Verizon Long Distance to complete international calls for services they designate as premium. Premium services can include: international calls that terminate to wireless phones, pagers, ..."
That is suitably vague to let them charge whatever they want.
I wonder if the minutes over 20 count toward the 300. Hmmm...
I got around to calling billing, actually I used the web chat feature, very convenient.
Neither the agent nor the supervisor had an explanation of why I was billed for the remainder after the 20 minutes.
They speculate that I was on day two after I started service, and that the system may have pro-rated my 300 minutes to 10 minutes per day, and cut me off after 2 days of accrued minutes.
If this is true, it is clearly a mistake in the billing system, for I am supposed to pay in advance, and as such should have my minutes available for use any time during the month.
The additional charge was refunded, and they asked me to check my bill again next month.
Let's hope I don't get overcharged again.
P.
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