Number Porting Fee

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

King Kub - 21 Jan 2005 03:40 GMT

has anyone else been hit with $25 per line fee for "Number Porting Fee"? We
switched our phones over to Verizon due to coverage issues and getting tired
of Nextel Partners continually increasing fees, etc. On the final bill, we
were hit with $25 per line for a total of $75, of course taxes were added.

We were never informed at any time that we would be charged this fee.
Customer Care was no help. My contention is that you cannot be charged a
fee if you are never informed. CC instructed me to contact the FCC website
where it does state that the carrier you are porting from 'may' charge a fee
but the carrier porting to may reimburse. When I called Verizon, they told
me they never heard of this fee and they don't charge a customer to port
elsewhere.

Is this a nice kick in the butt as you leave Nextel Partners, are they
justified in charging this fee, and can a carrier charge you for something
if you never are informed of it?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Reply to this Message

Stanley Reynolds - 22 Jan 2005 20:30 GMT

> has anyone else been hit with $25 per line fee for "Number Porting Fee"? We
> switched our phones over to Verizon due to coverage issues and getting tired
> of Nextel Partners continually increasing fees, etc. On the final bill, we
> were hit with $25 per line for a total of $75, of course taxes were added.

Other carriers have charged all their customers a fee to pay for the porting
even if they didn't port. This fee sounds like a better choice people who
use the port pay for it. Guess you could have changed carriers and not
ported your number which was Netel's number before the gov mandate and saved
the port fee. Many brokerage firms charge a fee when you transfer your
account $100 to $25 per account and some will credit the fee but not always.
The taxman always gets his money to pay for goverment mandates, why should
Nextel and it's customers pay so you can move your number ?

Reply to this Message

King Kub - 23 Jan 2005 19:54 GMT

do the brokerage firms notify you that there will be a charge?

the Verizon rep said they don't charge a porting fee. I know that Nextel
has recouped any govt imposed fee from me, I had 3 $40 plans that end up
costing me $185 every month because of the fees and taxes Nextel charges.

>> has anyone else been hit with $25 per line fee for "Number Porting Fee"?
> We
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> The taxman always gets his money to pay for goverment mandates, why should
> Nextel and it's customers pay so you can move your number ?

Reply to this Message

Scott Stephenson - 23 Jan 2005 20:56 GMT

> do the brokerage firms notify you that there will be a charge?
>
> the Verizon rep said they don't charge a porting fee. I know that Nextel
> has recouped any govt imposed fee from me, I had 3 $40 plans that end up
> costing me $185 every month because of the fees and taxes Nextel charges.

I'm going to guess that there wa s little more than fees and taxes taking
the bill to $185. Nobody is going to believe a 54% surcharge on your bill.

Reply to this Message

King Kub - 26 Jan 2005 10:40 GMT

you are corect, I misstated the monthly total. (3) $40 plans, add in
voicemail at $2.99 (which started at $.99 last year, and was increased
twice), caller id at $2.99 (ditto with increases), call detail fees, taxes,
gov't fees, etc. and the total comes to $165, provided I don't go over my
minutes....

back to the original point, which was "Can a company charge you a fee if you
are not notified?"

>> do the brokerage firms notify you that there will be a charge?
>>
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> the bill to $185. Nobody is going to believe a 54% surcharge on your
> bill.

Reply to this Message

Scott Stephenson - 27 Jan 2005 01:31 GMT

> you are corect, I misstated the monthly total. (3) $40 plans, add in
> voicemail at $2.99 (which started at $.99 last year, and was increased
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> back to the original point, which was "Can a company charge you a fee if you
> are not notified?"

The short answer would probably be, "No." But, are you sure that you
weren't notified? Have you gone through all of your bills to see if there
was a message indicating that starting xx/xx/xxxx a porting fee would be
charged? Checked your Service Agreement to see if is mentioned there? I
would guess that they probably did communicate it to you in some manner at
some time- while we all hate the big companies and think that they are
clueless about everything, you can bet that they measured all liabilities
and determined what the minimum required to stay on the right side of the
law was.

Reply to this Message

King Kub - 27 Jan 2005 13:08 GMT

I checked every bill that I ever got from them, no mention of this. I also
checked the service agreement, again no mention. I called national customer
care and they stayed their ground, so I stopped in the local office, plead
my case and they had the charges removed at their level because they could
not find any documentation that I was notified. One thing they did say was
that the most recent service agreement does spell this fee out, but the one
I signed in Dec of 2003 did not.

>> you are corect, I misstated the monthly total. (3) $40 plans, add in
>> voicemail at $2.99 (which started at $.99 last year, and was increased
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
> and determined what the minimum required to stay on the right side of the
> law was.

Reply to this Message