Submitted by a verizonmath reader/ex-verizon customer:
My experience with Verizon is like the song, “Hotel California”….”you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave…”
I am no longer a Verizon customer – having cancelled my service five years ago. Verizon seems to think that I owe them over $400 in unpaid bills – and it has taken their stellar billing department five years to figure out that they applied my payments to the wrong accounts. Mind you, my records indicate that they owe me money, so go figure.
My repeated attempts at resolving this situation since 2004 have proved fruitless. No one at Verizon can tell me how they arrived at the dollar amount owed, probably because all invoices attached to my account have been paid in full. I was assigned a Customer Service Rep in their Accounting Dept. who would not provide her last name, identification number, or phone extension. I even offered to drive to Providence, RI & meet with them to review the account – and they declined my offer. So I would have to call the 1-800 number and ask for this person in Customer Service, hold for 30-45 minutes at a time, then leave a message for her. She only returned one of my calls – and left me a voicemail without her phone number. Eventually, Verizon stopped sending me letters and one of their Customer Service Representatives told me my balance was $0. I thought they had finally got their accounting act together & found their billing errors.
Then in 2007, I started getting calls from multiple collection agencies. Each time I receive one of these lovely letters, I have to dispute the validity of the bill in writing, via certified mail/return receipt, and copy/include three years worth of invoices and proofs of payment (about 35+ pages of documents). I even provide them with a easy-to-read spreadsheet showing them the invoice amount, payment date, amount paid, check number, etc. None of this is enough to appease the collection agencies. According to them, proof of payment via bank copies of cashed checks was not enough proof. If that’s the only method I used to pay my invoices, how can I provide additional proof? That’s all there is! I quickly came to the conclusion that collection agencies aren’t there to help me resolve my situation, they just want the amount of money listed on the piece of paper, and they will resort to whatever nasty means necessary to collect it…wrong or right.
In 2008, I received a particularly nasty phone call from one of Verizon’s collection agencies, and finally did what I should have done years ago: I contacted the Attorney General’s Office. Initially, Verizon told them that I shouldn’t be receiving calls from collection agencies. A few months later, they admitted I didn’t owe any money. Since I was still being hounded by collection agencies, I requested that they send me something in writing stating this – so I could share it with the collection agencies in the future. Their response was that it was against their company policy to provide anything in writing. Finally, they relented, and sent me a letter stating my balance was $0 --- but they put the wrong account number on it, so it was absolutely useless. We requested they send us a revised letter, but never received it. My rep at the Attorney General’s Office left his position, so I had to start all over with a new rep there (who has been wonderful). He has contacted Verizon, and he has to start the whole freakin’ process ALL OVER AGAIN. Apparently, they couldn’t just open my file to review the history and the incorrect letter and make a simple account number change. Five years after the fact, their rock star billing department is finally figuring out that they put some of my payments against the wrong account.
Verizon lost my wireless business, online account and regular phone service – and I’ll never use them for cable either. This comes to about $150/month or $1,800/year – which certainly adds up over time. I don’t want to work with a company that puts me hold for 45 mins. every time I need to speak with a Customer Service Rep. I don’t want to pay a company a monthly fee when you can’t get a Billing Specialist who returns your calls --- or a person’s name, direct phone number or email address, for that matter.
These days, Comcast gets all my business, even though it costs a bit more --- and I couldn’t be happier with my service. I never have to hold more than a few minutes to reach a Comcast Customer Service Rep, they provide speedy on-site technical support and every person I speak to there is terrific. I've never had a billing problem, either. In addition, anytime my elderly mother’s phone service goes on the blink, they are at her house the next day!
After all they’ve put me through, I have not received an apology letter or a check refunding me for the overpayment I made to my account. Up until recently, I received several “Come back to Verizon” letters every month. I contacted Verizon several times & asked them to take me off their mailing list, to no avail. Welcome to the Hotel California... Then, I started returning them to the sender with “VERIZON SUCKS. TAKE ME OFF YOUR MAILING LIST” written in bold black marker on the marketing letter. That seemed to do the trick.
Verizon’s Billing Mistakes: $400+
The Amount of Business I Cost Them By Sharing My Experience Online: Priceless
What a horror story...I recently moved and my T-Mobile didn't work in the town where I live in Maryland. Everyone has Verizon here, but I forced my family to get AT&T because I have heard rumours of stories like yours...
ReplyDeletePlus, Verizon sucks. And I already had my phone unlocked.
I say, one gigantic lawsuit might just scare them into compensating you adequately for your trouble...
This is absolutely nuts!!! I listened to the MP3 recording of your call with Verizon and I have to tell you it was painful just listening to it. Honestly, is it really that hard to figure out that you have to convert the number from the multiplication to get the actual correct monetary amount? This is like fifth grade math!!! Soooo sorry you had to go through this BS all for .71786 cents...
ReplyDeleteAt least it seems the nightmare is over...but just a fair notice of Comcast...my parents were double billed for 3 months from them following a move (same amount at old and new address). Plus it took them about a month to figure out I owed them about $100 less then was listed on my final bill. Granted, most of their customer service seems pretty good on the whole...
ReplyDeleteSomething similar to this happened to me with Comcast. Also with Unitrin Auto Insurance. Bureaucratic BS is the reason for this, and all the major a$$hole companies are the same.
ReplyDeleteI am very sympathetic to your cause
ReplyDeleteon that note I would like to give you this link [http://failblog.org/2009/03/18/bill-payment-win/]
(failblog is how I got notified of this horrible experience) I'm telling all my friends, and never getting Verizon.
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ReplyDeleteWithin the first 2 minutes of listening to the mp3, I could extrapolate whats coming in the next 25hours and 16 minutes. Oh wait, my mp3 player says the remaining time is 25 Minutes and 16 seconds.. But I guess its not much different from 25 hours and 16 minutes.. so who cares!
ReplyDeleteA similar thing happened to me. I returned a phone within 30 days of purchase and should not have been subject to an ETF. This still billed me for one anyway and after fighting it for two years, I just gave up...and told them to pound sand.
ReplyDeleteIt will be off my credit report later this year. Verizon will NEVER get any of my future business.
You are a much more determined person than I.
I once had a Verizon manager YELL at me that I was a LIAR when I tried to explain their billing mistake. Thanks, Verizon!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI feel for ya, but I'll never ever go Comcast. I had them come to my apartment to hook me up with internet service in June of 2007. The technician claimed there was tampering with the wiring, imnplying that I had done something. When I informed him that I'd never had cable service at this apartment--none at all, in fact in six years--I was told they'd have to send a repair person out to remedy the matter. After two weeks, I called to verify I did in fact have an open repair ticket. They assured me I did. It's now been almost TWO YEARS and still nobody from Comcast has arrived. Fortunately, I got tired of waiting and called Verizon. I had DSL within a week, and I've had zero problems with them. Comcast can suck it.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Verizon sucks and I won't go back either.
ReplyDeleteBut lets get something straight: Comcast sucks, AT&T sucks, Sprint sucks, Dish Network sucks, All Banks and Credit Cards suck, and the entirety of all revolving account financial services suck. THEY ALL SUCK EXACTLY THE SAME WAY FOR EXACTLY THE SAME REASON.
Don't feel so proud about paying more for less with Comcast... getting in is always easy with "Goodfellas"...But just you wait till they ream you in 6 months, and then TRY to turn them off or make the adjustment - Suddenly, you can't do that online, you can't call 24/7 on that 800 number you signed up on, in fact you can't even stop them from grabbing cash from your bank account after the signal is gone. You MUST wait on hold for the "cancellation department" beyond the twillight zone, in phone jail, until you wait an hour for a hourly hang up (at Noon or 5, depending on when they put you on permanent hold)
Its the same old bull, the same ol' scumbags, on a different day, no matter how you slice it.
All these jerks need to do jail time, take weekend ethics seminars, like traffic school. They deserve just a little torture and jail house rape.... and then perhaps a dab of eternal damnation would be adequate compensation.
Corporate pigs, extortionists, ponzi schemers, payola's, thugs, pickpockets, frauds, lobbyists, loan sharks, grifters, con men thieves, re-financiers, bullfrog boilers, lily guilders, embroiderers of the truth, impostors, scammers, Nigerian benefactors, quit claim deeds, liars, three card Monte men, cheaters, snake oil salesman, claims adjusters, probate attorneys, account execs, service reps, brokers, salesmen, agents, middlemen, pimps, craigslist advertisers, estimators, appraisers, and contract administrators ....Anyone and everyone who wades in shallow waters' and muddy ethics, and must rinse and spit after all of the crap that comes out of their mouths. All shady characters, used car salesmen, or loan officers who knowingly, deliberately, obfuscate the truth, conceal the numbers, hide certain values, or other failure of full disclosure before you close the deal; Recruiters, evangelists, cultists, pollsters, registrars, census takers, trade representatives or others who knowingly deceive those whom they enlist. Its no longer acceptable business practice for major corporations to screw the customer. They don't get extra points for squeezing any suckers, stupid idiots, careless, naive, mentally retarded or otherwise incompetent prey that is vulnerable to their fast talk and fine print.
Its what we call "a contract" only after the fact it is misunderstood. Its just legal fodder for those victims who are not made fully aware of the deception.....as they dig their own grave.
These company "turds" and their foul policy must be excreted like the smelly barn animals that they have become. A stench of lies that are defined by in volumes of Terms Of Service documents and EULA agreements any Judge would ignore....
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. UNETHICAL SUCKS DONKEY DUNG. THESE CORPORATE FAT ANTI-TRUST MONOPOLIST SCUM SUCKERS!!
RALPH NADER IS STILL LOOKING FOR A HOBBY. WE'LL JUST SUE YOUR DEFECTIVE PRODUCTS UNTIL YOU BEG FOR MERCY.
We'll just have to over regulate your asses into submission until you all start looking like a Girl Scout's bake sale at a prairie home companion.
All of our business will compete for our local market. Each business will now need to demonstrate value and "service" not just "lip service" and we shall get what we pay for.
Poor dumb schmucks everywhere will now rise again from the ashes, and like the Phoenix, will blaze through the heavens, once again!
We shall again be illuminated by the radiance of free toasters as a token of their appreciation of our patronage.
This is our one true entitlement: We deserve this if its our business and money they get.
If they can't service us efficiently, we'll just let the post office give it a try.... instead.
Citizens, not Shareholders, lead our democracy. Pirates can steal our 401k or loot us, but they can't steal our vote.
And we just don't have to give them our business ever again.
Lets, from now on, insist that the customer is always right, that we're in control, and that we wanna see them pucker up, or go down, like pimps that they are.
I listened to the entire mp3 because I was enthralled not only with the sheer stupidity of the verizon customer service people, but your cool-headed calmness and crystal-clear examples.
ReplyDeleteThere is no way I could have remained so calm and polite. You have my respect!
Funny story -
ReplyDeleteDue to the horrific economy at the time (and it keeps getting better!) I'd lost yet again my It job and ended up taking a temp to hire job with verizon. Not in tech...oh no, billing. Joy. I was smart enough to put two and two together and was put into the elite backend DSL support group rather than general billing.
my job was to call people and tell them their service was active, potentially for weeks without their knowledge. good times. I got hung up on more times than I care to think about.
Occasionally we'd have to jump into the billing que and take calls. we were timed and I'd often sit on hold and call other depts and conf them in to make sure we tracked down a modem that should have been delivered, then talk to tech support (clueless idiots for sure) when that failed i'd to tech for them, then finally get a reg billing agent on the phone to refund them a big chunk...etc.
I was often repremanded for doing such things. God forbid.
The kicker tho, was one day I got a lady who got a call/letter from big V several years back (in CA I think) saying her number had been sold to another phone company. She was issued a new number with verizon. Ok then. then her DSL stops working. She calls, they tell her it was turned off with her number and re-issue dsl on new number...she patiently waits 2-3 months, gets her dsl again and happily moves on.
Until 2 years later she gets her lines cut again. WTF?
she calls and calls and calls and finally finds out that the OLD number and OLD dsl acct were active. for years. she now owes verizon 5K or something crazy. so when we finally decided to audit billing we noticed her 2 seperate accts and decided to turn off her current active one for nonpayment of her old one (which we still think is active)
basically we sold the line out from under her, but never bothered to deactive it from billing.
this poor lady was close to tears, just wanted a phone...etc.
I got her number, hung up and walked over to the head of the call center, closed the door, argued for a hour, got HIS sup on the phone and argued. They shot off emails to corp directors and the next morning I called her and said all 5K of charges had been refunded to her, the acct zeroed out, and her DSL/phone line are turned back on and oh, couldn't do much else but I slipped like 3m credit in there ;)
(basically only thing we could do was upto 3m credit on just dsl...)
funnily enough however, I was laid off a week later. hrrmm...
i currently am a verizon customer...& reading your story & listening to your phone call scares me.
ReplyDeletei have never really had any problems with verizon-in fact ive loved it thus far, but this gave me knots in my stomach as to if something like this ever happened...::shiver::
p.s. verizon should send you a letter stating: 'thanks for the math lesson' love, verizon.
I had a very similar experience in Canada with Fido. When I opened my account, I had my phone number changed the same day because I didn't like the one that was assigned. They mistakenly opened a second account for the replacement phone number. It took about half a year for them to actually correct this and stop sending me two bills. Then, about three years later, I started getting collection notices about that second account that should never have been opened. Fido had no records of what originally happened or access to any of the original invoices. Thankfully, my record-keeping is better than theirs, and I had to fax mine to them as proof. But that still wasn't enough. I write down exactly who I speak to, when, and about what on my bills, and I was able to track down the person I originally spoke to, and we managed to finally get it sorted. Unfortunately, in Canada, there is only one GSM provider, so I am still stuck with these tards.
ReplyDelete.002 cents != .002 dollars
ReplyDeleteIts plain and simple!!!!!
I'm so angry listening to your call and I feel so angry at verizon. They will never have me as a customer!
Did you ever think to ask for a supervisor or a manager or a Director or District Manager or even higher? Service Reps these days don't know anything compared to when they were actually trained in the old days.
ReplyDeleteI had an awful time with the installation and billing of my Fios, DSL and Phone...wrong order, setting up two accounts by mistake, multiple bills, threats of turnoff...but after finding a management person with a brain, it was fixed. I have her number in my cell phone and don't hesitate to call it.
As a former VP of billing for a company that was even more screwed up than Verizon when we took over,I empathize. But you could have taken care of this much more simply.
Yeah, sue them. They have more money than God. Bad idea.
I was discussing my Verizon issues with a coworker, and she showed me you site. Wow, I am glad that I am not alone in this BS. I signed up with Verizon because they gave a discount to employees at my job. I was guaranteed a 15% discount on monthly charges and was told that I would not have to pay for my act. fee. A month later when I went to them to decrease my monthly minutes, I asked about the discount and the reimbursement for the act fee. She said that they would look into it. 3 months later (In jan just after the busy holidays) I talked to someone else in the store and he took all of my info and and told me that he would call me. (I requested retroactive discount reimbursement on top of act fee reimb.) No call, No letter, NOTHING. I finally got someone to help me just last week (after 2 more visits to the same guy.) This new person who helped me was great, but it took 6 months to get what I was guaranteed the day I opened my acct. Unbeleivable. I do not feel that my situation was as complex as your, but where is the accountability. I was about to walk out and tell them to shove the past due balance (that I refused to pay until my credits went through, as there never should have been a past due balance in the first place) and their early term fee where the sun don't shine. Thank you for blogging abt this, it makes me feel better knowing that it is not just me. VERIZON SUCKS!!!!
ReplyDeleteGeorge, your self-control is exemplary, but why didn't you get the agent to do the calculation with .002c and a sequence of 1kb of data, 2kb, 10kb, 100kb and 1000kb?
ReplyDeleteThe moment that they switched from cents to dollars in the billing amount (probably at 10kb, latest at 100kb) would have shown them their logical error.
jb
Oh man, I had a similar experience with my Verizon DSL account. I got a few phone bills saying that if I didn't pay, my service would be terminated. Problem is, I don't have a Verizon landline! I called them, DSL said I didn't owe any money, the DSL supervisor said I must have inherited the dry loop number of a former customer who had an outstanding balance, and passed me on to landline people. Landline people claimed DSL charged me for installing the dry loop, even though my DSL bills are all paid under a separate account number, and even went as far as to say that the DSL people I'd been speaking to didn't know what they were talking about. I was on the phone for over an hour, spoke to about four different agents, could not get a straight answer as to where this bill came from, much less a resolution. Finally, I just took the nasty bill, circled the fine print on the back under "if you wish to dispute this bill", and sent it back with a letter attached explaining that yes, I was disputing the bill, here are the reasons why, and please get your own records and departments straight before sending me any more nasty bills, thank you. Haven't heard from them since. I still have the DSL service (got another 5 months left on the contract), and I am not looking forward to having to disconnect it when I move, because I just know they will screw that up somehow.
ReplyDeleteSounds like typical verizon. I worked for DSL tech support for just shy of a year, and was fired because a customer was lying to me about necessary info, I called him out on it, and then made his problems go away and he was happy. But cause I called him out on lying I got fired. Their management is completely horrendous, and trust me, with Verizon, it's all about getting the cx off the phone and making money.
ReplyDeleteIt's not just Verizon, it's any big corporate or government entity where the people that you get to speak with on the phone are, in the vast majority, underqualified script readers who have no idea how to help you nor any incentive to do so. Over the years I have dealt with Verizon, NYNEX/Bell Atlantic, Comcast, AT&T...they're all clueless. It extends way beyond the customer service arena too. At a previous job I worked for a telecommunications company that AT&T had acquired. In a three day meeting to discuss merging our 800 service billing systems we had a team of 5 people who could walk through the system from end to end. AT&T showed up with 50 and could not do the same. They had gaps in their process where bits of information were literally thrown over the proverbial wall and then they magically appeared somewhere else. The only surprising thing in any of these organizations is that their services work at all.
ReplyDeletecame here via xkcd.
ReplyDeleteawful things are said here, some kind of Stone Age there, over the ocean.
How does it came, that you need to change phone service to change the phone ? How does it came you cannot keep the phone you like and change the provider ?
Your girlmate have talked all her money through, and what would you do ? I simply would handle her my phone provider id, so he would make all her calls with *her* phone and all *her* phonebook within it. Would you just say here "key in all those long digits and don't you make a typo error" ?
And you computers and notebooks, they don't belong to you either ? You should change them when you change internet provider too, don'
t you ?
No! unbelievably! Even the last miserable bear here in Russia cannot understand, why you are prohibited of using the phone YOU DO LIKE and why you just like a prisoner must fall under 2-3 models you're forced to use?
That is so simple - get the phone you like and make your calls anywhere you like!
Like WWW: http://svyaznoi.ru/catalog/phone/224
Or like IRL: http://www.muratov.com.ua/data/P3190007-1.JPG
Hard to believe, sounds like slavery age :-[...]
Sorry for 2nd post. Have to mention that our eduction is downspiralling as well.
ReplyDeleteHere in job blacklisting forum, there is a discussion of Nix (large computer store in Moscow).
Some persons are moaning there, they were tasked to tell (1/2 - 1/3) and to tel (13*17) w/o using paper and of course w/o using calculator.
They said like "i'm tested for a freight handler! why should i bother with a school, i had quit ten years ago???". Surely, to make those calculations all the day through might dry ones mind, but the problem to do it once a day, or even once per new job??? Yet tha frustrates them enought to post long forum posts of how sadistic headhunters there are...
I anyway wish those Verizon managers to be paid in xxxx cents per minute rate, instead of xxxx dolars per minute. I bet my current phone, that would take onl a 1 month salary on new rate to make 90% of those suddenly quite confidential with the difference between cents and dollars :-)
Wow I can't believe what these companies think they can get away with.
ReplyDelete@sleze
I had a similar situation... I added a line for $9.99/mo to my plan for my bf of the time to use to talk to me. He was stationed in a different state, so I had to mail him the phone. I had decided to send him an old phone since I didn't have money to buy a new one.
The phone got lost or stolen in the mail, and never arrived. I called Verizon to cancel the line, since I didn't have any more old phones to send. They informed me that I was 3 days past the 30 cancellation period and had to pay $175 EFT.
THE REP CONFIRMED THERE WERE ZERO MINUTES USED ON THE LINE! 3 f***ing days, pardon my language!
Not to mention, I could have saved roughly $50 if I'd left the line on my account and continued to pay $9.99/month for the one year duration of the contract.
I had to pay the fee, and here almost 4 years later I get a notice that there is a class action lawsuit against Verizon regarding the EFT, and would I please send in my documentation if I'd like to be included.
If the case is won or settled, I'll be getting a full refund.
http://www.verizonetfsettlement.com/
In the future, if you ever get referred to the collectors (by Verizon, or AT&T, or anyone) -- you are *NOT* responsible for getting together the paperwork.
ReplyDeleteSend them a certified letter that disputes the debt and demand that they validate the debt. The FDCPA requires that they show that they have intimate knowledge of the history of the debt, how it was calculated, and proof that it is indeed yours.
Basically, they have to prove that they *ARE* actually contracted with collecting it, and not just some scammer-collector out there who saw an opportunity with an outstanding debt on your credit report. (There are PLENTY of those guys out there).
Coppola vs. Arrow Financial Services (don't have the docket # handy, sorry) also determined that requiring this due process be done BY THE COMPANY is *not* unreasonable.
In my experience, unless the debt is substantial (over $2k) the collectors will usually give up, sell the debt off to another collector and just be done with you. When the new collector sends you the notice, just repeat the process. Eventually, it just won't be worth it. (They're paying someone $10/hr to do all the footwork, so there is some number of hours where it's just not worth it anymore).
Then again -- you aren't guaranteed to have it expunged from your credit history though...
Bottom line is, don't do the legwork; make them do it for you.
I've read story after story n they all sound horrid but quite honestly Verizon doesn't lose much w/o ur business. Its sad but true. This provider is the largest carrier especially now with the Alltel merger. If u want results on your credit, you will need to do the leg work yourself n w/o lawyers, AG's n a billion irritating phone calls. I know for a fact contracts aren't kept by the majority of wireless providers, perhaps maybe all. I have removed legitimate cell phone collection debts, if that's possible, your illegitimate debt has a better chance to be no more. Debt validation is how but ur going to need to follow specific steps, these can be provided by website, creditinfocenter.com or google remove collection accounts from credit report n find the article from this website. You will get free advise, explanation of ur rights and collector guidelines per the Fair Credit Reporting Act....INCLUDING detailed steps and FREE sample letters u can copy n paste (just fill in the blanks)!!! This letter will threaten the collector to validate or they will face a lawsuit (they don't know if ur serious or not, but why not give them a chew of their own medicine)They harass to collect because it works that's the same mind set u need to have. Ei. No company can report to ur credit or hold you responsible for debt unless u are bound by something in writing, that's what counts. Billions of contracts aren't kept in some secret room somewhere, in most cases they are disposed of to minimize or just simply can't be tracked down, therefore, w/o a written agreement how can they claim u accepted any services??? Collectors need to be legally entitled n appointed by court by the originating company to collect debts as one n the same. Companies today rarely waste their time with legal matters and overlook this. Capital One is one of the more "astute" companies as having an appointed collector on their contract...see where I'm getting to? Remember that collectors make money by collecting, that's y they are such push overs n harass, use it to ur advantage n negotiate for a physical address to send ur certified mail "payment" or something of the sort (sometimes info like this is refused). Do your self a favor n take charge, do your homework people.. The internet is a wonderful thing.. Use it to help u with this n you ca beat these companies at their on game.
ReplyDeleteIf this doesn't work u can proceed as far as deemed necessary, just keep in mind the credit bureaus don't put effort in validating debt like this but with the copies of your letters, certified mail receipts n response mail from the collector, you can submit n build ur case directly with the bureau. With the evidence at hand the collector after all still answers to the credit bureau n can't ignore them as they may do to you.... :)
Just thought I would add our Verizon nightmare to the list:
ReplyDeleteAbout a month ago my family upgraded from a two-phone family plan with 700 minutes and no texting to a five-phone family plan with 700 minutes and unlimited texting. While we were at the store, working out the plan and activating all the phones, the representative discovered that she couldn't give us the unlimited texting just yet. She could give us 500 texts for the three new phones (supposedly effective the moment she hit 'enter'), and then we would have to call Verizon and switch the plan to unlimited texting to all five phones. As soon as we got home my mother did just that, and we were told that the unlimited texting would become effective in two days. Within those two days the three new phone users sent about 300 texts. We did not exceed the 500 text limit.
A few weeks later, I received a phone call asking why we had not payed our bill yet, despite the fact that they had only sent it two days before and it had not yet reached us by mail. On that bill we were charged for every text during those initial two days, resulting in about $91. My mother called and argued them into crediting our account for the faulty charges, and we thought we were done. Yesterday morning I was woken up by a call from Verizon, again wondering why we had not paid our bill. I was starting to get pissed off because (1) They woke me up, (2) I do not pay the bills but am the one Verizon calls, and (3) They sounded angry when I told them I was not my mother and she was at work.
I relayed the message to my mother, who was surprised that Verizon was calling even though she'd received the bill a day earlier (Monday the 18) and was planning on calling them on Wednesday (one of her days off) to question the fact that they had not credited the $91. She called. They argued. As of now we’re supposed to be credited $61 instead of the original $91.
I did not send any of those texts (my phone was one of the older two). I am not the one paying the bill. I am still angry. I’m not sure if I will switch to a different carrier, though, because it seems all of them can be giant (insert plural expletive). I cannot blame any single person either. I wish there was a phone number I could call and rant at the company as if it were a sentient being. Maybe I will name a tree ‘Verizon’ and go yell at it.
I learned this trick from my father in law (great man). Whenever a company (let's say Verizon) won't stop sending you junk mail, find the envelope inside. These envelopes usually don't require a stamp. This is because when it goes through the post office system, the USPS then charges Verizon's account. If you weigh the envelope down (washers, small metal objects), you will up the price that Verizon has to pay. It is your chance to get the man!
ReplyDelete@ aweber:
ReplyDeleteWhy use washers? They're required by law to pay the postage (I believe), so find a good cinderblock and tape it on there. That's also a nice way to get rid of your extra garbage, cat litter, etc.
I ordered a Verizon phone on the Internet once and, when it arrived, I had to drive 40 miles to activate it. I immediately returned it. It was within their 14 day money-back guarantee (at the time). I was then billed over $200 for canceling the contract. I called and was told they never received the phone, but I had a FedEx record that showed receipt of the phone by their receiving department. The agent told me that it was never put in their computer and I was still responsible. When I told her it wasn't MY job to tell them how to do their jobs, she hung up on me. I called back and asked for a supervisor. The bill was canceled, but it left a really bad taste in my mouth where Verizon was concerned.
ReplyDeleteVerizon recently bought our wireless provider, and they allowed someone who lied to them to cancel our cell phone account! THEN, when we wanted to quit after this debacle, they said it would cost us $200 to get out of our contract! Never again. Never again.
WAHHHHHHH! POOR LIL CRY BABIES!! Why don't yall sit around with nothing better to do than whine and complain and talk about us hard working people just trying to make a living Every complaint on here could have been avoided if the "victimised" party actually took responsibility as the consumer and educated themselves!
ReplyDeleteMan. Verizon. wow. absolutely horrible. I once spent 2 hours on the phone with verizon trying to pay a bill. Seriously. I had $60 burning a hole in my pocket that I really needed to give to them so I could finally free myself - and they couldn't get their goddamned act together enough to take my money. 2 freaking hours trying to pay a bill. I really hate verizon.
ReplyDeleteI moved to London a few years ago and had to close my Verizon accounts. They happily closed them, after the requisite wait times on the phone, then refused to return overpaid bills (for phone service beyond the cancellation date). Of course, they did not quite say that, but they just did not send my money back. The amounts were small, but my sense of injustice was high, especially given the generally lackadaisical service. Finally, I spoke to an agent, who told me (probably off the record) that it was Verizon policy not to return overpaid bills, deposits etc and to not do this openly, but by delaying the process as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in a country with socialistic tendencies, so used to dealing with customer unfriendly companies, but I have yet to find one with such foul principles of service. Makes you long for AT&T...
Verizon customer service is the biggest joke. From the beginning it has been a nightmare. They credited our account fiftyeight dollars when it we paid 158 dollars and then turned us over to collections. When I tried to fax them bank statesments showing we had paid and it was a typo they said why, we are right you are wrong and hung up on me. It took three months for them and five frustrating phone calls for me to reach a sane person who said yep you are right.
ReplyDeleteNow I am in another Verizon nightmare, my blackberry started dialing the internet on its own, not their problem, if you get a new phone we won't charge you.
went and bought a new phone and hated it and had to pay a surcharge to exchange for a simpler phone.
while there my spouse got sold into the droid. He loved it, they didnot offer insurance and he dropped it in the lake three days later. Turns out another 600 dollars for the droid. Right now once these bills get straigtened out, I am quitting Verizon for good, I don't care how much it cost to get out of the contract it will be worth it to never see there name again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!