The Jewish Voice
JULY 21, 2017
SPECIAL FEATURES
PAGE 13
Verizon Wireless Charges Israel Bound Real Estate Startups Latch & Jet.com Customers with Bogus Roaming Charges Team Up to Help NY Landlords By: Helga Gertstein
I
t appears that all is not smooth sailing amongst New Yorkers who had signed up for advertised discounted cell phone rates with Verizon Wireless’ Travel pass service. According to their web site, Verizon offers $10 a day for phone, text and data usage overseas in over 100 countries around the world including Israel. The Verizon plan is ostensibly supposed to translate in to low bills and hassle-free roaming, but some customers who’ve come home to four-figure bills claim it’s anything but. One of those who felt “taken for a ride” by the Verizon travel package was Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind who spoke of his plight and asked that Verizon rectify the unjustified charges that he and others incurred. Speaking to the NY Post, Hikind said that he used the Verizon Wireless service during a recent trip to Israel and was socked with an outrageously high bill of $925.00 when he arrived home. Not only did Assemblyman Hikind’s tab include the expected charges of $10 per day, but the cell phone carrier also added 141 international minutes of international data for texts from Jordan. They appeared as roam-
Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind told the Post, “I hadn’t visited Jordan. Not ever. So I knew there was some kind of mistake.” He added: “I thought it was a joke — and not a very funny one.”
ing charges on his bill. Hikind told the Post, “I hadn’t visited Jordan. Not ever. So I knew there was some kind of mistake.” He added: “I thought it was a joke — and not a very funny one.” Through lengthy negotiations with supervisors at Verizon Wireless, Hikind was successful in having his bill adjusted to reflect the correct amount he owed, sans the bogus roaming charges that had inflated the bill. The NYPost had been in contact with several Verizon customers who have mysteriously received bills for roaming
charges incurred in Jordan, even though they never went into the country. In addition to Hikind the same thing happened to Refoel Silberberg of Monsey and Sarah Moskowitz of Brooklyn who also reported getting massive charges for roaming in Jordan, supposedly incurred when visiting Israel over the last few months. Moskowitz was on the hook for $500 in extra charges from Jordan and Saudi Arabia, also while in Israel. After getting threatened with collections following a sixmonth dispute, Moskowitz got her bill slashed — but only after Hikind intervened. It appears that devices may have accidentally roamed onto a Jordanian network despite the users remaining in Israel the entire time. Verizon didn’t pick up on the error, and instead billed customers for any roaming data used “in” Jordan. Problems with the billing system aren’t limited to Israel and Jordan, either. One Reddit user claimed a bill of over $2,000 for a visit to Brazil, and another said that TravelPass activated even though he didn’t use his phone at all. In the case of the customers the NYPost spoke to, Verizon negotiated individual cases to reduce (but not eliminate) the
By: Asher Schlesinger
M
any New York landlords are frustrated by the hassle of making sure tenants receive packages ordered online. This week, real estate startup Latch and Jet.com, Walmart’s online shopping platform, teamed up to help alleviate the problem. According to a Real Deal report Monday, Jet.com and Latch are partnering to install Latch’s keyless entry system (known as the “R” system) in the lobbies of 1,000 New York buildings, free of charge. If implemented, the program will allow delivery personnel to drop off tenants’ deliveries by using a temporary passcode created with Jet.com to enter the building. “People are ordering so many things online,” Luke Schoenfelder, the co-founder and chief
“The partnership will enable residents to seamlessly arrange for secure delivery directly in their building lobby, avoiding many of the urban last mile pain points such as missed or stolen packages, and the burden of having to either be home at scheduled times or reroute packages to work locations,”
See Verizon Wireless Charges , page 36
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“People are ordering so many things online,” Luke Schoenfelder, the co-founder and chief executive of Latch, said, according to the Real Deal. “Access is holding that back because you need to be home in order for that to happen.”
executive of Latch, said, according to the Real Deal. “Access is holding that back because you need to be home in order for that to happen.” The program will also benefit residents by allowing them use their phones as a key, grant access to guests, and receive packages while not at home, according to Tech Crunch.com. “The partnership will enable residents to seamlessly arrange for secure delivery directly in their building lobby, avoiding many of the urban last mile pain points such as missed or stolen
packages, and the burden of having to either be home at scheduled times or reroute packages to work locations,” a Jet spokesperson, according to Retail Dive. com. Unlike Latch’s “Latch M,” which allows entry with a physical handle and slot, Latch R allows solely electronic entry. “We’ve been shipping the M since January and the R now opens up a whole new set of buildings/contexts/doors/services,” Schoenfelder explained, according to Tech Crunch. “In 2016, all of our [pilot] buildings had mortise locks installed on the entrances and apartment doors, but we couldn’t install anywhere that was electronically controlled (like glass doors) and now we can.” According to Tech Crunch, Jet. com is still experimenting with other delivery options, such as off-site storage and on-demand orders. The Jet/Latch partnership represents a challenge to delivery juggernaut Amazon, which is hoping to implement a high-tech drone delivery system in which the flying vehicles will drop packages at customers’ doorsteps. According to CNN Tech, Amazon is taking its sci-fi premise even further, weighing the possibility of “beehive” towers where drones would take off and land. Whoever wins in the Amazon/Walmart rivalry, one thing is certain: the future is upon us.