LEES SUMMIT, MO -- Make no mistake about it -- teens love to text! All that texting and a mistake by the cell phone provider left a metro family scrambling to cover the bill.
This family took all the right steps to protect themselves before traveling to India for three weeks this summer. When they got back to the States, they got a huge cell phone bill.
It all began when Kalyan Jana called Verizon to turn off the text message feature on all of his family's cell phones.
Verizon told him there wouldn't be any additional charges for texting while he was overseas.
The company even confirmed it in an e-mail saying, "As I mentioned on the phone, you have the Nationwide Select FamilyShare 700 Plan. All of our Nationwide Select Plans include the unlimited text, pictures, and video messaging and you will not be billed anything extra while you are traveling out of the country. These are part of your Select price plan. Therefore, it is not required that we remove this feature at this time."
But when Jana got his bill, he was charged $1,200!
He called Verizon, but says the the company wouldn't take off the texting charges. So, he contacted Call For Action.
"I was short of hiring a lawyer because they weren't going to listen to me, but because of Call For Action's intervention, I got a fair deal," Jana said.
Verizon told Jana a communication error was to blame.
In a statement, Verizon thanked us for bringing this to their attention.
They say the issue has been resolved directly with Jana. It's a call for help that Jana says saved him about $1,000.
If you have a problem, our Call For Action volunteers are here to help Tuesday through Thursday from 10-2. You can also
fill out a complaint online 24 hours a day.
