Story Filed: Friday, June 22, 2001 1:17 PM EST BALTIMORE, Jun 22, 2001 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Efforts to efficiently serve and properly bill customers continue to be hampered by more than 26,000 new errors in charges to Ntegrity for the April-to-May billing period, according to company officials. The improper charges affected customers in the states of New Jersey and Maryland. "When a customer gets their bill there should be no doubt as to the legitimacy of the amount they are paying," said Keith Machen, executive vice president of Ntegrity, a Maryland-based local exchange carrier. "Someone has to stop this madness. Verizon certainly isn't going to stop it on its own."

As a local exchange carrier Ntegrity purchases local services from Verizon and re-sells to customers as part of a resale agreement. However Ntegrity has filed an anti-trust lawsuit against Verizon in U.S. District Court in Trenton New Jersey charging them with violating that agreement and using anti- competitive tactics to run Ntegrity and other CLECs out of business. Last year Verizon sought to have the case dismissed but was turned down. The case is currently awaiting a trial date.

Machen added that this marked the 30th consecutive month that Ntegrity has received error-ridden call information for its customers. The Company estimates that it spends as much as 100 hours per week resolving billing disputes and that 50% of Verizon's bill contain errors.

"Verizon continues to minimize its conduct -- I guess you can do that when you're the only game in town," Machen continued. "Fortunately the U.S. District Court has chosen to see beyond what Verizon calls a payment dispute."

Formed in 1998 as a minority-owned business to provide telephone service to the underserved and un-served based on the increased competition afforded by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Ntegrity provides telecommunications services to New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Northern Light

-- Anonymous, June 25, 2001