I am making myself a promise this year to read more closely….the bills I receive and the charges they expect me to pay.  I am constantly keeping I mind that the contract I make with these companies really has nothing to do with whatever they want to charge my household.

So today we are reading the small print received in my Verizon bill for Jan/Feb.  Please note the reasons and excuses for this additional charges…stated in a very grade school level language.

 

“Explanation of Surcharges”

Surcharges include (i) a Regulatory Charge (which helps defray various government charges we pay including government number administration and license fees): (ii) a Federal Universal Service Charge (and, if applicable, a State Universal Service Charge) to recover charges imposed on us by the government to support universal service; and (iii) an Administrative Charge, which helps defray certain expenses we incur, including; charges, we, or our agents, pay local telephone companies for delivering calls from our customers to their customers; fees and assessments on our network facilities and services; property taxes; and the costs we incur responding to regulatory obligations. PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE ARE VERIZON WIRELESS CHARGES, OT TAXES.  THESE CHARGES AND WHAT’S INCLUDED, ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE FROM TIME TO TIME.”

 

This is an important read…as boring as it is….because they can do it but we can’t!  Sometime when you have had too much coffee and it is 1:30AM…begin to think of all the regulatory and surcharges we could incur in our household, and day to day expenditures…..and the fun we might have (as well as the money we might make) if we were allowed to do the same as service companies do…..

In all seriousness, please get your bill in the mail on a piece of paper called statement. This is absolutely the only way you can read the large print and the small  print and examine how your bills undulated with misc. charges the previous months.

Yes they want you to pay online and check your statement on-line, but we all know that after a while, we just go to the bottom…look at the statement and write the check or make the deposit.  Get the paper….keep it for a year and look over the past month and the current month when it comes to billing, usage, and misc. charges.

Verizon is today’s “small print’ blog, only because I received it and wrote the check.  Wait till you see ATT/Direct….or even better, call 5 times for 5 different quotes and see what you get.  Also they love to give you ‘free’ things you are totally unaware of and then remove them and charge you for having them  after the specified time they gave them to you are no longer free.   When I ask my friends about their TV cable/satellite service …they look at me, moan, roll their eyes and say Direct.  We end the conversation by saying we can hardly wait for buying the channels we want, receiving a fair price for the service, and end the array of channels showing us how “Dr. Ho Relieves Back Pain”.

Later peeps