PITTSBURGH -- Verizon is temporarily holding off on a decision that may have had some customers threatening to pull the plug on their landline telephone service.

In recent months, all Verizon customers in Pennsylvania began paying a new monthly fee and found out they would also be back-billed for that fee, going back two years.

Call 4 Action reporter Aaron Saykin said many of those customers have contacted Call 4 Action to complain.

When Gail Simpson opened her Verizon bill last week, the North Braddock woman briefly considered canceling her service.

"For you to come and tell me I owe you for two years ago, something is wrong," she said.

Beginning last December, people who have Verizon home phone service may have noticed a new fee of about 35 cents a month on their bills for "gross receipts tax surcharge."

It's a tax that the state began forcing Verizon to pay in 2006. Verizon sued the state, but lost last November and decided at the time to pass that cost onto you.

Last week, Verizon began retroactively billing all Pennsylvania customers for that fee for two years. The practice is allowed under state law.

The average total cost per customer is about $8.

"This just wasn't a decision we made lightly and decided to do," Verizon spokesman Lee Gierczynski said. "We've been in litigation on this issue for several years and because Verizon decided to litigate that issue, we actually delayed applying a surcharge to customers' bills for nearly two years."

"Couldn't the company afford to absorb that?" Saykin asked.

"This has been a serious issue that Verizon has been concerned about for some time, and we were trying to find a solution that was going to work best for the company, our shareholders and the customers," Gierczynski said.

Verizon said it's not the only phone company to fight this fee in court, and not the only one to pass the cost on to customers.

Citing confusion among customers -- and the fact that it's appealing the defeat in court -- Verizon decided late Friday to temporarily hold off on back-billing its customers.

To avoid confusion, Verizon said customers should pay the fee, and they'll receive a credit for it on their next bill.

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