Cram de la Cram

I received an unexpected gift from the folks at Verizon, yesterday - a $14.46 third-party charge for voicemail services provided by ESBI’s Solo Communications. Funny thing was, as I explained to Carlton the Verizon customer service rep, I had never heard of these people, nor signed up for their services. I mean, last time I checked, Verizon’s voicemail service cost $5 per month. If I was in the market for vmail, which I’m not, I think that’s the way I’d go. Anyway, Carlton said that he couldn’t help me – I’d have to take it up with ESBI.

So, I called ESBI. Eventually, I got hooked up with Zack. Zack’s story was that someone signed me up for the service online back in August. They knew my phone number, which is in the phone book, my email address, which is plastered all over the internet, and my address. They didn’t know my given first name, however, so they signed me up with my nickname, Ace. That’s all it took. If this is the case, and I’m far from convinced of that – I picture a team of marauders at ESBI who spend their entire day cramming – a simple email confirmation would go a long way toward preventing this kind of mischief. But, no email confirmation was required.

I wanted to report this to the Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum but a tour of his site convinced me that he wasn’t interested in hearing any complaints by me about cramming or anything else. I suspect that ESBI contributed to his last campaign.

In the end, Zack agreed to close my account and to refund within two billing cycles my $14.46. That means that first I have to pay the fraudulent charges to Verizon, then wait a few months to be reimbursed. As my old man used to say, “What a way to run a railroad.”

Misery loves company. This issue was also reported at Rip-off Report.