Verizon to Refund $90 Million for Data Fee Shenanigans

Posted 10/04/2010 at 5:07am | by Paul Lilly

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Verizon on Sunday announced it would be handing out as much as $90 million to 15 million current and past subscribers for unauthorized data fee charges.

"As we reviewed customer accounts, we discovered that over the past several years approximately 15 million customers who did not have data plans were billed for data sessions on their phones that they did not initiate," Verizon Wireless explains. "These customers would normally have been billed at the standard rate of $1.99 per megabyte for any data they chose to access from their phones. The majority of the data sessions involved minor data exchanges caused by software built into their phones; others involved accessing the web, which should not have incurred charges. We have addressed these issues to avoid unintended data charges in the future."

It took a little nudging from the FCC for Verizon to fork over the $90 million, which the wireless carrier claims comes out to $2 to $6 in most cases, though did admit that "some will receive larger credits or refunds."

"We're gratified to see Verizon agree to finally repay its customers," FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Michele Ellison said in a statement.