An Oregon Man and his girlfriend opened a Verizon Wireless account, which they used for one month of service. Nine months and numerous outrageous billing errors later, the man's bill from Verizon was over $2 million.
Everyone has had a dispute with their service provider at one time or another over erroneous billing charges. Whether it's for an overage we weren't notified about, a late fee for a bill we paid on time or just a computer error adding extra dollars to what we owe, it can be extremely frustrating attempting to correct the error with the company that made it.
Imagine how Ken Slusher must feel, then. After nine months of attempting to sort out a Verizon Wireless bill on service, which he used for only one month, he was shocked to hear the automated system announce that he owed $2,156,593.64.
It all began almost a year ago, when Slusher and his girlfriend bought two phones, only to quickly be billed over $1,000 for current and prior service, of which there was none. Slusher decided to throw in the towel, disconnect service with the company and return the phones.
He thought it was all over with but then started receiving notices from collection agencies asking for upwards of $2,000. Though he tried resolving it with Verizon Wireless customer service, the issue continued. When Slusher called recently to see the current status of his bill, the automated system claimed he was on the hook for $2,156,593.64, The amount was confirmed by a news reporter who listened in.
Slusher was most concerned because the issue was affecting his credit while he was expecting to close on a house shortly.
"If I don't get this straightened out in the next 24 hours, I can almost guarantee I'll lose this house," he worried.
Soon after the comedy of errors by Verizon Wireless was first reported on the local Oregon news, the company issued a statement that they had finally fixed the matter: "We have apologized to an Oregon customer for a programming error in an automated voice response system. The error caused him to receive an incorrect voice message that he owed $2 million on his bill. We are correcting the error now and have resolved the issue to his satisfaction."
