RICHMOND — The State Corporation Commission (SCC) has accepted the terms of a settlement resulting from its investigation of Verizon directory errors in Virginia. Customers affected by directory errors and omissions in the past three years have until May 14, 2007, to submit a claim with the SCC’s Division of Communications.

The settlement compensates anyone who has experienced past directory errors and omissions and provides necessary incentives to improve the quality of future Verizon directories. Verizon states it has invested $8 million to resolve its directory error problems.

Under the terms of the settlement, Verizon is making $2 million available to compensate individuals and businesses that experienced service affecting directory errors and omissions. This includes those listed in Verizon directories even though they may receive local phone service from companies other than Verizon.

The years involved are 2004, 2005, 2006, and in any 2007 directory published prior to implementation of a new Verizon procedure to credit its customers when such errors occur. A service affecting directory error includes:

• The complete omission in the directory of a listing that was published in the telephone company records.
• The publication of a listing that was either non-listed, non-published, or no longer in the telephone company records.
• The reversal of a customer's first/last name.
• The misspelling of the listed name, incorrect telephone number, or any other error so as to make it unlikely that a user of a printed book could locate the correct number for the listing, including, but not limited to, the appearance of a listing under the appropriate yellow pages captioned heading.

Yellow page classified advertising is not regulated by the Commission and errors or omissions affecting such commercial contracts are not eligible for compensation.

Customers who potentially qualify for compensation are encouraged to use the SCC web site to complete or print a claim form and submit it to the SCC’s Division of Communications. The web site is www.scc.virginia.gov/puc/.

The division will review each claim and determine the amount to be paid by Verizon to the customer. The review process begins upon receipt. It is expected that payments will not be made until sometime this fall.

All business customers who qualify for payment will receive an equal amount per directory in which the error occurred. All residential customers will also receive an equal amount, which will be less than that received by business customers. Maximum limits have been proposed, but the actual payment amount will be determined by the number of eligible claims.

The settlement approved by the Commission also means that Verizon could face up to $4 million in future payments if listings in directories distributed throughout its Virginia service territories do not improve over the next three years. The settlement establishes a 99 percent accuracy rate.

In addition to facing payments for future errors, Verizon will amend its tariffs to allow for automatic credits of local exchange service charges to Verizon customers. A business listing error or omission will receive a 12-month credit. A six-month credit will be available for a residential listing mistake.

Customers will soon have a convenient way to contact Verizon directly to preview their directory listings prior to publication. Verizon must also establish a separate toll-free hotline and e-mail address exclusively for complaints and inquiries related to directory listings.

Verizon publishes 39 directories in Virginia containing approximately 2.7 million residential listings and over 500,000 business, professional, and government listings. These directories also include listings for other telephone companies providing service in Virginia.

###

Case number: PUC-2005-00007

Procedure for Filing a Claim

• Obtain an official claim form. Three options:
  • On-line form at: www.scc.virginia.gov/puc/
  • Print or download form from same web site.
  • Request form by writing to the Division of Communications.
• Complete all information requested on the form.
• Submit form to SCC’s Division of Communications. Three options:
  • Electronic submission of the on-line form.
  • Attach form to an E-mail to: PUCclaims@scc.virginia.gov
  • Mail the form to P.O. Box 1197, Richmond, VA 23218
• All claims must be received by May 14, 2007.