A class action lawsuit is being filed against Verizon, claiming that the mobile phone carrier checks customer credit reports without consent. Plaintiffs Scott Mathews claims he has never requested for Verizon services or opened a Verizon account and does not have an existing account with the company. Mathews states that he used a friend’s Verizon account to apply for a new credit card. Verizon allegedly checks his credit report at the same time, and he was not aware of this.
Verizon Communications Network Services’ CEO John Donovan has denied any such activity by his company. He claims that such activity only happens in less than 1% of cases. The company’s website also states that such monitoring is only done when the customer’s bill has a high amount of non-usage charges, or when the account holder fails to pay the monthly bill. According to the lawsuit, approximately twenty class members have experienced this alleged monitoring and the monitoring was done without consent. The case is being handled by plaintiffs’ attorney Michael Chieso of Baltimore.
According to the complaint, Verizon sends bulk e-mails regarding billing errors, late fees, over-billing and penalties. The e-mail content contains detailed statements, some of which are inaccurate. The lawsuit states that a large majority of Verizon customers do not receive these messages. A class action lawsuit was filed against Verizon by three class members. The complaint further states that the bulk e-mails sent from Verizon to the plaintiffs contains numerous untrue statements.
The Verizon class action settlement further states that the plaintiffs are required to notify the defendant that they object to the validity of Verizon’s billing and monitoring practices. If the defendant does not abide by the order, Verizon is obliged to suspend usage of the accounts until and unless the complaint is lifted. This means that if the settlement has been reached, Verizon would be forced to allow customers to use their accounts once more without violating the order.
The Verizon class action lawsuit further claims that Verizon did not inform the customers that they had a right to seek a new phone bill as a result of the violations. The order also states that Verizon has failed to provide evidence that it actually sent the wrong billing statement to the customers or that they were not aware that they had violated the terms of the settlement. Another violation pertains to the fact that Verizon did not tell the customers that they could stop the violations once they were enrolled. This means that the company did not instruct the class members to stop the illegal actions. There is also a violation for Verizon when they only notified the court that the case was being handled.
The Class Action lawsuit against Verizon was filed by plaintiffs who claim that Verizon discriminates against members based on gender, age and location. The Verizon Class Action lawsuit settles cell billing class action suit after Verizon was found to have implemented unlawful discrimination. Verizon was found to have in violation of the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (PCPA) when they changed their terms of services in violation of the law. Verizon has also been found to have in violation of the state’s anti-smoking laws when they tried to ban the sale of cigarettes using a “No Smoking” program.
