Verizon Charges Couple Over $2.1 Million For Just One Month of Service

A couple from Damascus, Oregon, was expected to pay a $2 million outstanding phone bill on a Verizon plan that was canceled after only a month of being opened.

Ken Slusher and his girlfriend opened the account with Verizon last November and also purchased two phones, according to KUTV.

It was all very normal up until the first bill arrived, which was supposed to be $120 but showed they owed $698 instead. The stranger part was that the bill said they had a previous balance of $451, which was technically impossible because it was their first bill.

Slusher ended up canceling the account due to the number discrepancies that month. He and his girlfriend returned their phones and they thought that was the end of it.

However, after a few months went by, the Oregon-based couple started getting notifications from collection agencies saying that they owed upwards of $2,000.

Slusher ended up having to call Verizon customer service several times, which was inevitably futile despite the fact that Verizon admitted they had made a mistake on their end. Slusher said:

“The number of errors and the comedy of which they happened is astounding to me.”

On Tuesday, Slusher sat down with FOX 12 reporter Jamie Wilson to call his old Verizon account number to check the outstanding balance. The voice recording said:

“Your total amount due is $2,156,593.64.”

Slusher recently wire transferred a down payment for a new house he wants to buy with his girlfriend. He said his kids are extremely excited to move into the new house but that after his mortgage company was notified of his outrageous Verizon debt, the owners are refusing to sell him the house until it is sorted out. Slusher said:

“If I don’t get this straightened out in the next 24 hours, I can almost guarantee I’ll lose this house.”

After many days of attempted contact, Verizon finally issued a statement to FOX 12 saying:

“We have apologized to an Oregon customer for a programming error in an automated voice response system. The error caused him to receive an incorrect voice message that he owed $2 million on his bill. We are correcting the error now and have resolved the issue to his satisfaction.”

While the matter at hand has been resolved, Slusher and his girlfriend said:

“It’s been very stressful to say the least.”

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