While this article is off topic for Positive Space, I feel that what I am about to write must be shared. Basically I am completely fed up with Verizon Wireless and their horrible customer service and the usage of their rapidly changing policies as a scapegoat. Rather than sitting back and accepting the misrepresentation that I have been subjected to, I am choosing to share my story in hopes that I may at least inform other people of what I have gone through. If you have gone through the same thing or can sympathize with what I have experienced, then I ask that you help spread the word by linking to this article or sharing it with your social network of choice.
Update: I was able to resolve the issue today (4/15/08), and my account was credited the full amount of the termination fee. I would like to thank those responsible for helping me reach Verizon management. In the end the management was very helpful in solving my problem and making sure that my needs were met.
My initial reasons for calling…
Midway through last month I became aware that I would be subject to the second raise in text message rates since I had opened my contract. Because of this I chose to contact Verizon in order to contest the fees. I was told that I could not cancel my fee because their terms and conditions said that they reserved the right to change the prices. I had remembered reading that I had somewhere between 30 and 90 days to contest these charges however the representative told me that this was no where in the terms and conditions.
I was sure that I had read about my right to contest these fees, so I went online to find the terms and conditions when I found this portion:
UNLESS OTHERWISE PROHIBITED BY LAW, WE CAN ALSO CHANGE PRICES AND ANY OTHER CONDITIONS IN THIS AGREEMENT AT ANY TIME BY SENDING YOU WRITTEN NOTICE PRIOR TO THE BILLING PERIOD IN WHICH THE CHANGES WOULD GO INTO EFFECT. IF YOU CHOOSE TO USE YOUR SERVICE AFTER THAT POINT, YOU’RE ACCEPTING THE CHANGES. IF THE CHANGES HAVE A MATERIAL ADVERSE EFFECT ON YOU, HOWEVER, YOU CAN END THE AFFECTED SERVICE, WITHOUT ANY EARLY TERMINATION FEE, JUST BY CALLING US WITHIN 60 DAYS AFTER WE SEND NOTICE OF THE CHANGE.
The representative had read this exact phrase to me while leaving out the portion about the 60 days to contact them. So I called back and talked with another more helpful representative and explained how the representative had misrepresented the terms and conditions to me. I stated that I would like my contract canceled and the termination fee waived because I had been lied to. After talking with her representative I was allowed to do so. This however is not the end of the story.
Over a month later…
Today I received a bill from Verizon stating that I owed over 200 dollars in termination fees. I naturally called back to ask about this. I stated how I was told that my fees would be waived and that a supervisor has approved it. The representative looked into the issue and stated that another department within Verizon who is responsible for researching these cases and refused the termination fee removal. They stated that raising text messaging fees was not reason enough to cancel the contract and that as a result I had broken the terms of my contract. When I stated that that was not the reason my contract was originally allowed to be canceled I was told that it did not matter.
So I talked to another supervisor who stated the same thing, and refused to accept that I was not informed that there was a chance that I could have my termination fees reapplied. So I Was told to contact their corporate division through the online contact form. (which is limited to 200 characters hardly enough to explain this injustice). So now I wait. I wait to hear whether they will remove the fees that I was already told I would not be receiving.
What do I hope to accomplish with this article?
Basically if I can let other people hear my story I will at least feel a little better about having to go through this situation. After typing this article I somewhat feel better for letting as many people know as I can, If you can help me share this article I would really appreciate it. If anything this article can serve as a venting area for those who do not have the ability to reach a large audience as easily as me.
Thank you, and I apologize to my regular readers for going off subject however I feel almost everyone can relate to this article regardless of whether it relates to design or not.
Oh yeah, this is no April fools joke. Unless Verizon is playing one on me by making me think they were actually doing what they said they would…
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April 1st, 2008 at 7:14 pm
Hi there,
That “I hate Verizon” post it from back in 2005, and I can’t believe how many responses I still get to it. I finally got fed up and sent an email right to the president of the company. His secretary called me back within a day and took *very* good care of me. I think the trick is to go straight to the top and let the sh*t roll downhill. Give it a try…you never know.
April 1st, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Laura, that is my next plan. If I do not get any kind of response from their corporate devision by tomorrow I will be looking up the presidents email address to contact him directly.
April 2nd, 2008 at 6:13 am
How many text messages do you send a month? It depends on what Verizon deems a ‘material’ adverse effect on you. If you send 10-20 texts a month i.e. $1 to $2 of expense, that does not warrant a waive of the termination fee. If you send 2000 they will credit it. How many do you send a month?
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:05 am
Roy, The problem I have is not with the text messaging fees, but with Verizon’s misrepresentation of their practices and the blatant lies I was told. That is why my contract was originally allowed to be canceled without a fee.
Now they have lied to me again by reinstating the fee when I was told that it would be waived. That is just plainly misrepresentation of their processes and bad customer service.
Obviously, they are not worried about the consumer…
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:47 am
I hear you man. If that rep really skipped over the 60 days to dispute part of the contract, thats crezy.
I work for Verizon Wireless in the Finance dept. I get alerts from Google when we are talked about just for personal interest. This isn’t a response to you the corporate inquiry that you said you submitted above. I am just responding as an employee who may be able to help. I actually drafted an email to send to you in your defense but sent your dispute to the customer service director in our Northeast Area instead.
In terms of the reason why you got your credit, it was not justified to give you the credit in the first place. The rep who gave you the credit maybe should have sent it for review before giving you the credit. I am not sure what the procedure is but that would seem to be best practice.
As you said above, your gripe with us should now be with someone misrepresenting us by skipping over the contract specs. I can’t apologize enough for that happening to you if that is indeed what happened. We certainly don’t do that as day-to-day practice.
In any event, I did pass on your dispute to the regional director of cs to review; more on terms of the rep who skipped over the parts of the contract and not on justifying the credit because of the text messaging change.
Just to clarify some things if he initially calls me back instead of you, what exactly are you looking to get resolved? Are you disputing the reversed credit or submitting a complaint on the rep? I will really try to get whatever it is completed for you. We are referring to the 6884 number right? And how should he reach you - that number or your email?
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:52 am
Roy,
I want to thank you for being very helpful, I am glad to see that someone at Verizon really cares and is being helpful.
I have emailed you personally a copy of this just to make sure that you receive my request, however I would like to ultimately have my early termination fees removed, like I was originally told they would be. I feel that I am justified in this request due to the misrepresentation and hardship I have had to endure on account of the behavior I received from the rep.
I would prefer to be contacted via email because I no longer carry the phone with the 6884 number.
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:21 am
Sounds good. I will check it when I get home. Hopefully they will contact either you or I asap and get this out of your hair. All of the correspondence is documented in the remarks on your account so they can bring in the rep you spoke to originally if need be also. I will let you know if they get back to me. FYI - I gave them your gmail address.
April 21st, 2008 at 5:12 am
I just went in and saw that you got credited for all of the charges. Cool!
May 1st, 2008 at 7:56 am
I have had a similiar problem with VW. I am active duty Air Force. In 2004 I was transfered from VA to MO. I called the Easy Move number, transfered my number to a MO number, thought everything was good, this was in Sept 04. Come to March 05, I get a call from a collection agency, I owe VW 157.00! After talking to VW, we find the mix up, two different regions, I pay the bill, tell me they will credti that amount to my MO bill to cover the headache that I messed with. They do credit my new account, but they put it on my credit report. I have wrote the National Recovery branch of VW, nothing from them. I need someones email to help me out. Thanks