In October and November, 15 million Verizon customers will be notified of applied credits to their accounts due to mistaken past data charges. In most cases, these credits are in the US$2 to $6 range; some will receive larger credits or refunds, Verizon Wireless said in a statement yesterday. According to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, refunds for these "mystery fees" could amount to $50 million, said a CNN article.

The culprit of the $1.99 charge per megabyte of any data accessed from the phones? Software built into their phones, the company said. "The majority of the data sessions involved minor data exchanges caused by software built into the phones; others included accessing certain Web links, which should not have incurred charges. We have addressed these issues to avoid unintended data charges in the future," the statement said. E-mailed inquiries into what caused the problem in the first place and what has been done to rectify the situation were answered by Verizon media contact Thomas Pica as, "We will stand by our official statement for now."  

"The FCC, meanwhile, has been investigating the issue since January when it first got word of the erroneous fees from consumers, according to a statement released Sunday by Michele Ellison, the FCC's enforcement bureau chief," the CNN article said.

It's refreshing to see Verizon's transparency, especially as a victim of these erroneous charges that I have refused to pay over the past several months.