Call Kurtis: Not My Texts!
GRASS VALLEY (CBS13) -- She was charged more than a grand for text messages she says she never used. When a grass valley woman couldn't get her money back, it was time to call Kurtis.
When you get a new number, somebody may have had it before you.
And this is what happens when that person before you, signed up for services, that weren't canceled when they gave up the line.
When you live with a view like this, you sometimes give up the luxuries of city life, like reliable internet service.
"A satellite is very unstable, and before that, we had dial-up so I couldn't do any internet banking," says Diane Stangland, a Grass Valley resident.
A year ago, Diane signed up Verizon wifi Internet services for $59.99 a month. The service comes through this little black device.
"I use it on my iPad, laptop and hard drive or desktop," says Diane.
When you sign up, Verizon also assigns you a phone number, even though you don't technically have a phone with the internet service.
For seven months, her monthly wifi bills were well above that $59.99. In fact, the cheapest month was $160. The highest month was $300.
At first, she thought she was just using the web a lot, but in June, she called Verizon just to make sure.
"Looks like there's another customer using this number and he's affiliated with ESPN," says Diane.
Turns out, the person who had that phone number before her, signed up for ESPN text messages. And even though she didn't have a phone, she was charged for each of those texts, which added up to more than a $1,000.
"I was very upset, astonished," says Diane.
Diane says Verizon would only credit her back three months. After 10 more calls and a demand letter, Verizon agreed to refund half but she felt she deserved all of it.
"That's only fair, why would I be paying for somebody else's services?" asked Diane.
We reached out to Verizon, which refused to give specifics, but they apologized to Diane, called this a "unique problem" and agreed to credit Diane the remaining $615.20 she overpaid.
"Great. Great. I can move onto the next project," says Diane.
So how can you keep this from happening to you? It's tough. You have no control over who had your number before, and what they did with it. Keep an eye on that bill. If you see charges for services you're not getting, challenge them.
As for Verizon only crediting back charges for three months, they say that shouldn't have happened here and they'll coach their workers to better handle these situations.
