Stephanie Moore sent a message to Lowell McAdam that said:
We have been Verizon customers for years. .We have 2 cell phones and a land line with a travel box that we use in Florida.
We drop off our boxes in Florence, Kentucky as we are leaving for Florida in December and pick them up at the Springdale Avenue office in Cincinnati, Ohio every 4-5 months. We have been very happy with Verizon service.
However, I have a serious complaint. We picked up the boxes at the Sprindale office on May 28,2020. I called several days later to inquire if the new customer charge was correct for new customers. After a long talk with the representative, she told me that HBO had been automatically added to the bill and that it was free for the first three months. I was shocked that a channel had been added without our permission. They said that they always automatically add HBO to all new customers since it is free for the first three months. Then after 3 months there is a monthly charge that is automatically added to the bill. I told them that is fraud and that I would report it to the CEO of Verizon. Customers would just pay the bill in 4 months thinking that Verizon had raised their rates and not be aware that it was for the HBO channel ((that they never use or did not give permission to add it on ) that the bill was a Verizon increase of their monthly charge. I told them that I did not want HBO at all and to take it off of the statement. We just received a bill and they took HBO off of the monthly charge. Evidently, right after my call to them a few days ago.
This email is to inform you of this incident and hope fully you will investigate their procedure of adding HBO automatically to new customers. No wonder many people are dropping Verizon and going to another provider that is cheaper for the same data and use of the cell phone.
In addition there are some hidden charges on the bill.
They explained that the bill includes taxes, broad cast fee ,secure connection boxes to cable, and the cable boxes. These added items are not seen on the bill so the customer is not aware of the add ons I would think the charge for cable $44.95 would include the additional fee of $13.98 for the use of the cable box. These hidden prices are a charge that the customer is not aware of. The bill should show the break down of each charge. I am disappointed in Verizon and may change to another provider and drop my land line.