Q. I turned in my converter box to Comcast three years ago. I just found out that I have been charged $3.79 every month for the past three years for a converter box that I no longer have. When I complained to Comcast, I was told it was my responsibility to call it to their attention. Robin from customer service informed me that they only had to credit me six months. Shouldn't the company be responsible for removing these charges from my bill?

GERALDINE RYAN
Lawrenceville

A. The company agrees with you, Geraldine. Comcast's Jody Doherty asked customer care agents to research your account. You are correct. The three years worth of $3.79 monthly payments were deducted in error. Ms. Doherty says Comcast will give you a full refund of all 36 or so payments, along with its apology.

"Mrs. Ryan is a valued customer," said Ms. Doherty. "Comcast prides itself on stellar service and we thank her for bringing this problem to our attention."

So what happened to the "we only have to refund six months worth of payments"? You were charged for a service you did not receive. Unless you signed a contract that specifically gives a company a refund deadline, there is no six-month limit on errors.

Company reps might say they can only refund six months. That may be all that particular person is authorized to refund; to get the rest, perhaps you have to talk to a supervisor.

Company reps might tell you it is their company policy to refund only six months. That could well be true, but that does not mean you have to accept the company policy. That policy is often based on how many months of easy computer access a customer rep has.

Just because a customer service person tells you that refunds are limited to three months or six months doesn't make it so by law.

That said, this is another example of why it is important to look closely at what we are paying for on our monthly bills. Mistakes happen and the sooner we catch them, the easier they are to fix.

Q. When I opened my Verizon bill, I was surprised by a $2 charge for long-distance service that I never knew I had. I didn't order it. Verizon said I had this "timeless" long-distance plan for a while. Before there had been no monthly fee and no charge if I didn't make any long-distance calls. Now Verizon says I have to pay $2 a month not to make long-distance calls and if I don't want to pay the fee, I have to pay Verizon $5 to take the charge off. What's going on?

CHUCK BERTRAM
Plum

A. Verizon is doing what AT&T did a while back, surprising old customers with a new charge. In fact, that may be how many of you became Verizon "timeless" customers. Back when AT&T started charging customers a monthly fee for a long-distance service few people realized they had, you might have switched to Verizon's no-monthly-fee plan.

The people most likely to be surprised by this charge are those who rarely, if ever, make long-distance telephone calls. If you were on this "timeless plan" and didn't make long-distance calls, you wouldn't see any sign of the timeless program on your bill.

As of Aug. 1, that changed. Customers listed under Verizon's "timeless plan" will now be charged a $2 monthly fee that will allow them to make in-state long-distance and state-to-state, direct-dialed long-distance calls for 10 cents a minute.

If you don't want to pay that $2 charge, you can change to a different Verizon long-distance plan and pay 35 cents per minute with no monthly fees. You can say you want to drop long-distance plans altogether or you can switch long-distance carriers.

Verizon's Lee Gierczynski said there is no fee for switching plans or dropping long-distance. There is a $5 fee for switching from one long-distance company to another.