Some Verizon customers find $1.99 bill errors

CLEVELAND (AP) — The nation’s largest wireless carrier says it will pay refunds to customers erroneously charged $1.99 per month for Internet data services they didn’t use.

Officials with Verizon Communications Inc. don’t know how widespread the problem is but say they believe it’s nationwide.

After a columnist wrote about a six-month ordeal fighting the charges, more than 400 readers of The Plain Dealer newspaper in Cleveland responded with similar complaints about being billed for “data usage.”

Four Verizon executives were at the paper’s offices for more than 90 minutes Monday. Roger Tang, the company’s regional president for Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, said Verizon is investigating every complaint, because it doesn’t want to “zing” customers on their bills.