Also just picked up on this charge on my April 1, 2008 bill.  Never heard of them; calling verizon to report.

Received a Verizon bill and there are two charges of $29.95 from Monkry Productions which we have never made those calls.

I LOVE VONTAGE

If you were charged on your local phone bill for third party services and subscriptions (i.e., voicemail, email, Internet access, web hosting, caller-id and other premium services, etc.) that you never authorized, share your story with other consumers:

http://classactionconnect.com/consumer-compla ... e-bill-charges/

You can also contact class action lawyers who are investigating unauthorized telephone bill charges:

http://www.classactionconnect.com/?q=node/733

I've had the same problem and caught it in March. It's already August and Verizon has still not taken the amount out of my phone bill. The problem is that because I've had this happen to me before, I've already an existing lock on my account, yet this bogus charge still showed up. NEVER sign up for automatic payment with Verizon. I suspect they are also in on this scam.
Because of this, I had switched to Vonage for a while only to have had my credit card information stolen by the Vonage in the Philippines which made me have to go back to Verizon for now. I'm waiting to see what provider I can switch to.

I noticed today that a false charge for $29.95 plus tax of 1.50 was billed on Feb. 25th to my Verizon business line "on behalf of Monkry Productions".  I called the customer service number for Verizon and ID 2018 said I would receive a credit on my phone bill.  No one made this call from my premises.

i noticed this charge on last month's bill, and called verizon billing.
they told me they would remove it, so i paid the bill with $31.45 less.
i get my next bill and it still shows i owe $31.45 from previous bill.
called verizon billing again, this time, they told me they cannot refund money directly, but to call integretel at 800-736-7500, which is billing company. called integretel and they said they would block the number and refund the money, but it would take 1-2 billing cycles.
this is totally bogus.
verizon is handling this very poorly.
obviously this is some sort of a scam, and verizon is not claiming any responsibility.
i am going to call verizon again if they do not remove by next cycle.

I just noticed the same exact $31.45 charge on my Verizon bill for my business. Call was "made" on Feb 11th at 8:46 am when our office is not even open! I called "the billing resource" and they claim they will credit me the charge, however I had to give them my name and phone number. I hope that I don't get placed on the call lists now for all their other scam companies!  URGHHH!

Same Story and called Verizon. They said they knew all about it.
Why don't they look through their records and refund everyone with the same charge?
Also my call was from a DEAD disconnected line, I am holding the number
but the line is dead and has not made/received a call in over a year.
( this is why there is no caller ID )
This has nothing to do with actual call but is simply a billing process.
I wonder what would happen if they billed for 6000 minutes rather than 3 since by bill is direct pay? Would they simply suck $6000 from my bank account?

yup, got billed $31.45 (29.95 + 1.50 tax) on 2/26/08 for a 9:28A call.  *sswipes.  They probably billed a whole bunch of people hoping people won't notice and pay the extra money.

Same story. got a charge for a 3 minute phone call at 8:36 am on March 11 for $29.95 + tax billed by Monkry Productions. My office is closed at that time. Gonna call Verizon now. Wish me luck.

We were also billed $29.95 + tax on March 5, 2008. Our bill said we called 212-550-1915. I googled the number and found this page, which was very helpful! Called Verizon. They are very aware of the problem and immediately deleted the charge and put a free block on our lines. Thanks, everyone!

Same BS from Verizon.
They actually gave me a sales pitch for Monkry productions.
All the services they provide and etc.
Never made any call to 212.550.1915.
I asked for a record of the call and to block that number.

They will deduct the monthly charge immediately but may take 2 months to get rid of it. Totally BS as they wont'r efund the 1.50 'Entertainment Tax'.

Do not call "The Billing Resource". - 800.736.7500 - DO NOT. Call Verizon customer service directly. Call their billing number @ 212.890.1400

I also received the charge of 29.95 plus entertainment tax of 1.50 =31.45 on my verizon bill saying the call was made on March 3rd from Monkry Productions.  I phone Verizon and they were extremely nice and took off all charges and also added the 900# block to our account.

I just got one for 29.95 too. I never made the call.
From the posts above it seems like there's no one willing to tackle this issue. This is too amazing. I think we need to file a class law suit, for the confusion and trouble it caused us, and for all the time and energy we spent calling Verizon about it.

Same story as the others. Got a bill with $31.45 charges for a "alleged" phono call on 3/3 to Monrky Productions. Called Verizon and they agreed to take the charges off and block the number from future calls. My question is: how do they get our numbers to charge these calls? and what happens to Monkry Productions when so many people filed complaints and there is no reasonable doubts about their Monrky business.
NC
New York, NY

I just got off the phone with Verizon over this $32 charge....RIDICULOUS!

i just called that billing resource number that is conveniently placed right above the charge from Monkry Productions on my bill. That number I called, 800-736-7500 is not verizon, it's an independent 3rd party billing service.  Essentialy, they are charging this $29.95 to our bill, so that we call and then they actually pitched me on what this Monkry Productions offers by giving me an elaborate description of what services they have before asking me if I'm sure no one in my office has called to inquire about any of these services. How can verizon allow this to occur?  I'm calling verizon, AG office and anyone else I can to bi*** about this. Now I have to go thru old phone bills and make sure I wasn't charged this before and paid it by mistake.

Charged $29.95 for call made to this number, "Monkry Productions".

Verizon is now well aware of the problem with these THIEVES.
But...
They will only refund and block for you.  They will not investigate them.
And...
The FCC say it is not their problem because Monkry is an entertainment company.
And...
NY Public Service Commission told me nothing they can do, check with the FCC.
Looks like a license to print money.

Any ideas?

got the 212-550-1915 $19.95 + $1.50 charge from Monkry Productions.  Verizon removed it from my bill & blocked 900 calls for me.  

Verizon bills on behalf of 3rd parties.  Per the representative I spoke with, they are no longer billing on behalf of The Billing Resource due to the number of complaints, etc.

Same thing as everyone above.  On February 18 at 8:58 a.m. the bill says I called Monkry Productions for 4 minutes and was billed $29.95 plus $1.50 NY Entertainment Tax.  

This is fraud, plain and simple.  I am amazed that Verizon's billing systems can process a charge for a call that was never made.

I own two restaurants in Manhattan, and in BOTH my restaurants I was charged the same amount ($31.45, as all the other customers above) for a phone call made at 8:36 AM on Feb.5 (for supposed phone calls made by us)... The funny parts are: 1) There is NOBODY in none of my restaurants before 10AM ever! 2) Both charges are for the call made in the same day and at the same time - even though they are two different restaurants, in two different locations...
I contacted the Billing Resouirce number, and they were nasty and rude, and refused to take any action stating that we did make those phone calls. I them contacted Verizon. They reversed the charges and added a block to those kinds of services (but also informed me that we might be billed directly by the company, which we will have to fighth with them!). Another tip I got from Verizon is that, even knowing that this is a (212) number, the following sequence of the phone (the 550 part) is dedicated to 900 numbers (or pay-per-call services which are very expensive!)
I am calling the Federal Communication Commission at (888) 225-5322 to make a formal complaint against this Monkry Productions SCAM Business!

scumbags let them rot in hell.  How many times must we deal with people who make money from fraudulent practices? Line them up and lets hose them down with ice water.

Same number - bogus charge on our phone bill.  Although, when I called Verizon to request a credit and dispute the charge, they were very nice and said they had received numerous complaints from customers regarding this.

We were also charged $29.95+1.50 for a call that we never made.  The phone number was 212 550 1915, billed on behalf of monkry productions.  Called Verizon today and spoke with operator id #2015, and was promised a credit which should appear in the next statement.

Do I also need to file a complaint with NY PSC?

Thanks..

I received a charge on my Verizon bill from The Billing Resource, who was billing on behalf of Monkry Productions. The charge was $29.95 + tax and the number they said I called was 212-550-1915.

I called The Billing Resource at 800-736-7500 and they said the credit to my bill would show up within 2 months.

I am filing a complaint with the New York Attorney General. You can get a complaint form here:
http://www.oag.state.ny.us/complaints/pdfs/cns001web_consumer.pdf

The Billing Resource said that Monkry Productions had the following address:
PO Box 23189, San Jose CA 95153-3189
This address is also used by INTEGRETEL.

I will be filing a complaint with the California Attorney General as well.

There is no corporation or LLC registered in California under the name "Monkry", "Monkry Productions", or "Integretel".

I will also contact the NY Public Service Commission at dps.state.ny.us and 800-342-3377.

I also noticed I was charged 29.95 + entertainment tax on behalf of Monkry Productions. They seem to have an "office" both in Albany and NYC, both of which have non-working listed telephone numbers. I called "The Billing Resource" at 1-800-736-7500, listed on my Verizon bill as the provider of this portion of my phone bill and they claimed they will put a block on any calls associated with Monkry. I will call Verizon tomorrow to complain as well....

The number charged is not even attached to a physical phone - it is a Manhattan phone number that only exists at the phone company to redirect calls to our out-of-borough existing phones. In addition, I was out of state when the calls was purported to be made!

We received two charges "billed on behalf of Monkry Productions" on our phone bill totalling over $60 - called Verizon and they hemmed and hawed. When I asked for a supervisor they finally agreed to put a block on the number and credit the money - they have told me that there have been hundreds of thousands of businesses and numbers affected - looks like they went through the phone book....

I also was billed $29.95 pay-per-call + $1.50 entertainment tax for a total $31.45.

Who benefits from this type of call?

1. Verizon -- they get a % of the charges because they act as the billing agent.
2. New York State -- they get a $1.50 entertainment tax for every call.
3. In this case, Monkry Productions, gets what is left after expenses.

What to do.
1. Ask Verizon to remove the charge and put a block on your line to avoid these charges.
2. File a complaint with the NY PSC 1-800-342-3377. Be sure to get a case number.