Company made a price mistake, and shipped my orders. They've now billed me at full price without authorization...(resolved, for now...)

Quote from RPGROB : $300-400? Yeah right. They probably lost no more than $25 from the cost of producing the products. An ethernet cable might sell for 10 dollars, but costs a quarter to make.

Yes, but the company doesn't reap that entire profit. The manufacturer takes a cut and anyone else in between.

Quote from Xygonn : Tell them to roll it up real tight and sit on it. If they cancel your service, you also are getting away with a free contract cancellation without paying an early cancellation fee. If your phone is AT&T you can get service on T-Mob. If it is Verizon you are in a bit more of a pickle.

Quote from thikthird : why is he in more of a pickle if it's verizon?

Quote from shhaggy : They'll blacklist the phone and he won't get any "benefit" from them canceling his service. He can fight that though. They can certainly void his contract but he purchased the phone, they can't brick it unless he's done something illegal, like not paying their bill. Taking advantage of their mistake is not illegal.

Quote from thikthird : ahh i was thinking more along the lines of switching to another provider, not in terms of keeping the phone available for use.

Quote from JackHandey : Nobody is asking the important questions... Like how long the OP has on his/her contract, whether or not they travel internationally a lot (hey, getting international options on a cell phone has certain mysterious criteria that the cell phone companies use to determine eligibility), and how often they use customer svc, make pmt arrangements or expect to make adjustments to their bill (not to mention if they live near a US boarder and may have to worry about accidental international roaming)... All of these things are important to know, prior to determining if someone is prudent in pissing off their cell phone carrier.

Official CDMA service providers...

Verizon Wireless (USA) - iPhone
Sprint (USA) - iPhone
C-Spire (USA) - iPhone
au (Japan)
SK Telecom (SK)
China Telecom (China) - coming soon

Quote from riznick : It's a lot of hassle for stores to dispute. Most of the time the CC companies side with the customers when the customers are indeed wrong. Every time we counter a dispute, it is because the customer lied to their CC company when filing a dispute. We lose like 90% of the counter disputes. If the CC company sides with you, the store has other options. That said, if they don't care to dispute, they probably wont bother with the other options.

Quote from moshassuk : Just got a letter from the CC company - looks like they ruled in my favor. I see credits on my CC statement now.

Quote from moshassuk : apparently the merchant has until mid-march to "counter-dispute", whatever that means. The CC company said that it happens very rarely, so hopefully I'm in the clear.

Looks like the mistake was red flagged by a local call center manager so they decided to call... Somebody was trying to cover their butt locally over there it seems... Otherwise $300-$400 worth isn't something they would pursue on a corporate level...

Congrats on getting the CC company to rule in your favor... They almost always side with the cardholder... Banks don't want to piss off paying customers...

Actually, I don't think it was the error at all that got flagged in their system. When they called me on the phone, not once did they reference an error or mistake of any sort. I'm pretty sure they called because the relatively high dollar amount of the order caught their attention. In fact, when I spoke to them, they asked me what I ordered and if the price sounded accurate. I verified what I ordered, but then said that actually, no, the price didn't sound accurate at all. That was it - they didn't ask me to verify the price I thought I should be paying or anything. Somehow, their system billed me the full price, but showed me a different one on my receipt. Of course, it's also possible that someone caught the error after the items shipped, and decided to charge the full price anyway without telling me.

Quote from NM 156 : Official CDMA service providers... Verizon Wireless (USA) - iPhone Sprint (USA) - iPhone C-Spire (USA) - iPhone au (Japan) SK Telecom (SK) China Telecom (China) - coming soon Looks like the mistake was red flagged by a local call center manager so they decided to call... Somebody was trying to cover their butt locally over there it seems... Otherwise $300-$400 worth isn't something they would pursue on a corporate level... Congrats on getting the CC company to rule in your favor... They almost always side with the cardholder... Banks don't want to piss off paying customers...

Sprint will not activate non-Sprint branded phones (unless they have recently changed their policy).

update -

So VZW has decided to directly bill my phone account for the amounts credited by my CC company. Nice. What a pain in the ass - now I gotta ask family for all the stuff back so I can mail everything back so I can be done with this headache.

just called them up to ask what's up. they said that because it's been over 2 months since the order was placed, i can't return any of it and I just have to pay whatever they said on the bill. What BS...

Quote from moshassuk : just called them up to ask what's up. they said that because it's been over 2 months since the order was placed, i can't return any of it and I just have to pay whatever they said on the bill. What BS...

contact the corporate offices, explain whatever mistake was made on VZW's end...document everything, who, what, when.etc....Be nice, don't yell, know what you're talking about, don't stutter, etc. And inform them you'll be contacting the BBB and State's Attorney General. Contact a local Law School that provides free advice from the student/teacher dept. VZW effed up, not you. And they just need to eat it.

Quote from moshassuk : update - So VZW has decided to directly bill my phone account for the amounts credited by my CC company. Nice. What a pain in the ass - now I gotta ask family for all the stuff back so I can mail everything back so I can be done with this headache.

That's illegal. Sue them.

Quote from procop : That's illegal. Sue them.

easier said than done...

Quote from moshassuk : update - So VZW has decided to directly bill my phone account for the amounts credited by my CC company. Nice. What a pain in the ass - now I gotta ask family for all the stuff back so I can mail everything back so I can be done with this headache.

Quote from moshassuk : just called them up to ask what's up. they said that because it's been over 2 months since the order was placed, i can't return any of it and I just have to pay whatever they said on the bill. What BS...

Quote from moshassuk : easier said than done...

You're the one who knew it was wrong in the first place. You brought this on yourself.

There ain't no such thing as a free lunch, and you knew it.

Man up, take your lumps and move on.

Quote from moshassuk : Over the weekend, I placed a few orders for what I knew was an obvious price mistake - several Apple accessories (lightning cables, adapters) discounted down to $0 - thinking that the order would be canceled. To my surprise - it worked - I received several packages today containing exactly what I had ordered, and amounting to a total of around $300-$400. Today, I received a call from the company. I was busy and didn't answer, but they left a message asking me to call them back. Moral ethics aside - on what grounds does the company have to ask for the items back? What rules are in place to protect me in these situations? I know that keeping the stuff is morally wrong - I didn't hack their systems and change their pricing - but I sure would love to be able to keep the items (I actually needed to everything too, and was planning to give some away to family if it shipped).

IMO, both sides are in the wrong here. Mistakes happen, but Verizon didn't handle the the situation they caused adequately. Both sides failed to do what is right.

I find that contacting the BBB works great in these types of situations.

Quote from moshassuk : easier said than done...

It's a fraudulent charge on a cellphone bill. Seriously, take them to the small claims... also there is a bonus - they'll probably cancel your contract.

Quote from procop : That's illegal. Sue them.

I'd say highly illegal, but at worst they might just get fined. But they're Verizon, wtf do they care.

If they won't let you return the stuff I say stick it to them and refuse to pay the portion of your phone bill that they are trying to stiff you for. Worst case they drop you as a customer and you find a new carrier and then they start sending bill collectors after you. Then they'll send it to your credit report and then you'll be trying to get that expunged for years. On the bright side if you snag the debt at the bill collectors end before it gets reported to the credit agency you can probably get away with paying way less.

But if I were in your shoes I would scream bloody murder before letting that happen. I'd start with a BBB report, but I know they won't care. I'd also do an FTC report, see if that gets you anywhere. At the end of the day though you might have to take them to court.

PS: Please keep us updated!

Quote from nobama : You're the one who knew it was wrong in the first place. You brought this on yourself. There ain't no such thing as a free lunch, and you knew it. Man up, take your lumps and move on.

"Morally" wrong doesn't allow the other party to be "legally" wrong.