Verizon's Caller ID Plan Cheats Customers, Class Action Says

Verizon subscribers who sign up for caller ID are not getting what they paid for because the service does not provide identifying information for callers outside the company's network, a proposed class-action lawsuit alleges.

Customers who pay for the service are only getting "half a loaf," lead plaintiff John Allen says.

Allen's complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, says hundreds of thousands of subscribers have signed up for the service that Verizon promotes as a way to manage and track incoming calls.

However, the company does not disclose that the service does not provide information on incoming calls from outside its network, the complaint says.

Verizon's network does not cover 22 states, it adds.

According to the complaint, Verizon easily could obtain the identifying information for a minimal fee.

The company's "bait and switch" tactic is raking in several million dollars a month from subscribers who sign up for Caller ID but do not receive the service they were promised, Allen says.

Verizon's conduct constitutes an "unjust or unreasonable" practice under the Communications Act of 1934, according to the suit.

The complaint alleges unjust enrichment and breach of contract.

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Allen is represented by Joseph G. Dicks and Linda G. Workman of Dicks & Workman in San Diego.