20030805Report.pdf

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August 5, 2003
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17933 N.w. Evergreen Pkwy
PO. Box 1100
Beaverton, OR 97076
Jean Jewell
Commission Secretary
Idaho Public Utilities Commission
472 W. Washington
Boise, Idaho
RE: VZN-01-
Dear Ms. Jewell
The Idaho Commission granted Verizon a waiver from the Commission s partial payment
application rules in Docket VZN-01-8. Order 28857 directs Verizon to advise the
Commission on its progress towards meeting the requirements of the rules (IDAPA
31.41.01 306.06 and 312.03) no later than September 19, 2003.
Verizon had advised Staff in 200 I that the company was in the process of reviewing its
billing system and may decide to upgrade the billing system as a result of the GTElBell
Atlantic Merger. As a result of the downturn in the telecommunications industry, the
Company has put any major system modifications on hold.
Verizon estimates that it would cost the company in excess of $2 Million to modify the
current billing system to allow the company to manually apply partial payments to
specific services or billing buckets as directed by the customer. Many systems and
processes would need to be adjusted. A detailed description of needed system changes
was provided to Staff in April.
In order to avoid customer complaints and to meet the spirit of the rule, which is to
protect local service, Verizon changed its payment allocation method to Option 7
effective May 1 , 2003. Payments are now allocated to past-due basic and current basic
before moving to the other service buckets instead of the old Option 6 that allocated
payments to past due basic and didn't pick up current basic until all past due buckets
were paid.
In addition, Verizon complies with IPUC Customer Relations rules 205 and 401(2) that
require the company to remove disputed charges from a customer s bill within two billing
cycles. This will further protect basic service for disputed charges.
To the company s knowledge, there have been no new complaints that can be directly
attributed to Verizon not being able to manually direct partial payments per the
customer s request. The Company has been able to resolve any customer issues by
changing the payment allocation method, recoursing or crediting unauthorized charges
and extending payment arrangements when necessary.
Verizon respectfully requests that the waiver continue to remain in place for an indefinite
period oftime. Should the Company undertake a major upgrade of the billing system that
could incorporate the systems changes necessary to be in compliance with the Idaho
Commission s partial payment rules, the Company will notify Staff and the Commission.
Please feel free to contact me at [phone] if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Authorized Representative for
Verizon Northwest Inc.
c: Beverly Barker
Director - IPUC Consumer Assistance