Bruce Kushnick, Chairman, 212-777-5418, bruce@teletruth.org

Tom Allibone, Director, Auditing Division, 609-397-2257, audits@teletruth.org

TeleTruth-Verizon Web site, http://www.teletruth.org/auditbills.html

FOR IMMEDATE RELEASE --- November 19th, 2002

New York -- TeleTruth, an independent customer alliance, announced today a "Send Us Your Phone Bill" campaign in the Verizon territory to help business and residential customers recover overcharges on their Verizon telephone bills.

"TeleTruth’s first campaign focused on Verizon New Jersey. We found that approximately 50 percent of small business customer phone bills are incorrect due to faulty billing data and to practices and systems that fail to catch such errors," said Tom Allibone, Director of TeleTruth's Auditing Division, and president of New Jersey based LTC Consulting. "So far TeleTruth has found over $20,000 in potential refunds for the New Jersey group and have filed on behalf of the customers to get their money back."

We want to stress that we are talking about your local phone bill, not a long distance bill from AT&T, MCI or Sprint. --- This is about Verizon, your local phone monopoly.

"Verizon New Jersey keeps telling everybody that their billing systems (OSS) have "Zero defects – a 100-percent" accuracy. We proved that statement to be totally false. The mistakes affect both residential and business customers. Bruce Kushnick, Chairman of TeleTruth and Executive Director of New Networks Institute states "What’s worse, the errors are rarely in the favor of the customer. If they were simple errors you’d expect that half of the bills would be charged too much. But that’s just not the case".

And what are the main problems with phone bills? Just about everything.

First, Verizon New Jersey phone bills are in violation of the FCC’s Truth-In- Billing rules which require each phone bill be accompanied by clear and non-misleading descriptions for every charge.

"The phone bills are unreadable. Everyone knows that. But the real problem in New Jersey is that Verizon is also violating the FCC’s guidelines. TeleTruth has filed a Complaint with the FCC on this topic" states Allibone.

In the case of the monthly charges, there are five main areas where Verizon has overcharged customers.

1) Services You Canceled Still Being Charged – Phone bills can include phone lines that you canceled years ago.

• Example - A small business customer was charged for a line to a garage that had been torn down and was converted into a parking lot. The customer was overcharged for six years.

2) Paying for Services You Didn’t Order - About 35% of all customers are paying for a charge called "inside wire maintenance" and optional services such as the local package, caller-id, call forwarding and three way calling. In many cases, the service was never authorized and you are still paying for it. This could go on for a decade or more.

• Example - A senior citizen had two basic phone lines with the optional voice mail feature on the main number and TeleTruth discovered that he was paying for the local package.

3) Double Billing – Paying twice for the same service.

• Example - A small business continued to be charged for an alarm service to the local police after he switched to a private alarm monitoring service. The old alarm service was discontinued for at least six years after the local police department discontinued monitoring alarms.

4) Tariff Violations -Local services are governed by the state public utility commission. Rates are established by tariffs. TeleTruth has discovered that Verizon is charging more than the state tariff allows.

• Example - A small business was overcharged for a connection to their answering service. Interestingly, the customer had changed their service to another answering service, which created a second billing error.

5) Hidden Charges – In many states, the phone bill is hiding charges in "local service" or "basic service"

• Example - Every customer in New Jersey must examine the special phone bill issued every three months, otherwise, you will never know what has been included in your service. It is very common that "local service" includes a number of hidden charges on your bill that shouldn’t be there.

"TeleTruth expects to get back $100,000 for customers in this campaign, and prove once and for all that the Bells’ networks are making mistakes that cost customers money" states Allibone.

For more information contact Tom Allibone, 609-397-2257, audits@teletruth.org

Bruce Kushnick, 212-777-5418, bruce@teletruth.org or visit the TeleTruth-You’re Owed Money Web site

http://www.teletruth.org/auditbills.html

How the campaign works:

Verizon customers throughout the Northeast who participate in the "campaign" can have a free phonebill analysis, and may be entitled to refunds. This phone auditing service operates in partnership with LTC Consulting, (see instructions below for joining the campaign). More information about how to join the Verizon campaign and about the new TeleTruth customer alliance is found on the following web pages:

http://www.teletruth.org/auditbills.html

This campaign is only for Verizon customers in the Northeast (the original NYNEX and Bell Atlantic states). Questions concerning the TeleTruth "Send Us Your Phone Bill" campaign can be directed to Tom Allibone 609-397-2257. For more information about TeleTruth contact Bruce Kushnick 212-777-5418. Or visit the main TeleTruth site at http://www.teletruth.org

TeleTruth is an independent customer alliance focusing on broadband and telecom issues. We are not a telephone company. For more about TeleTruth visit:

http://www.teletruth.org

How It Works: This is a FREE review. Verizon customers should submit one complete copy of their monthly local service phone bill. (Make sure you paid it first.) TeleTruth’s policy is to thoroughly protect the privacy rights of customers who submit phone bills in order to participate in the program.

Customers should mail their phone bills to:

Tom Allibone, TeleTruth New Jersey

P.O. Box 480, Ringoes, N.J. 08551

It is important that consumers send us their original phone bills. The bills will not be returned unless you provide a self addressed stamped envelope. Do not send your long distance phone bill, unless it is part of your Verizon bill.

We will need the full name of the person responsible for the bill. For residential consumers, we will need a daytime reach number, the best time to call you and your email address if you have access to the Internet. For small businesses, we will need the actual name of the company (as printed on the phone bill), a primary person who can act on your behalf, a reach number, fax number and email address if you have access to the internet.

If TeleTruth finds billing errors on the customer's phone bill, the customer will be contacted and the bill will be provided to the FCC as evidence. In addition, TeleTruth will work on the customer's behalf to secure a refund if the customer agrees.

Account information will not be shared with any outside party, (except the FCC) without written notification. If TeleTruth performs an audit of a customer phone bill, the customer will be required to sign a "Letter of Agency" and an "Auditing Agreement" authorizing our auditors to request additional billing records and negotiate a settlement. There is absolutely no charge for the customer to participate in the "send us your phone bill" campaign. Fees are only applicable if TeleTruth successfully negotiates a refund/credit or reduces the customer monthly service charges.

If TeleTruth recommends that a phone bill be audited, LTC Consulting will conduct the audit on behalf of TeleTruth. LTC Consulting is recognized as one of the top auditing firms in the country and has helped consumers secure over $20 million in refunds. Questions concerning the TeleTruth "Send Us Your Phone Bill" campaign can be directed to Tom Allibone 609-397-2257 or call toll free at: 866-390-9237.