Verizon
reviews and complaints

This is the email I sent to Verizon Customer Service.

I would like to tell you flat out that your website and phone customer service sucks. I dropped my phone display was not working thought I better get a new one. Only 5 months left in contract. Only way to get a cheap phone is to renew early. So I go online to do upgrade. My credit card has Canadian Postal Code. I live on border and commute to states every day. So I go and get a Verizon gift card. My total due online is $24.94 and gift card had $50 on it. Enter gift card info to pay comes back asking for credit card. Online chat has no resolution. Talk to phone customer service two days in a row both conversations end in me being transfered to a department that is closed because the operating hours are over. What do I have to lose, I take phone apart per youtube video reconnect and assemble and phone works. Now it only has to last 5 months and no I don't plan on sticking with Verizon. I wasted two days trying to upgrade and renew a contract. On top of it you got rid of $64 Global Data Plan, and I here the $29.99 plan is not going to be unlimited data. And New Every Two Year is going away. Can you guys screw it up any more. Please don't call me to beg me to stay. I just wanted someone to know what was going on here. I answered you automatic customer survey and the poor agent got a horrible review that is a reflection of Verizon. Oh and I could not charge it to my account because you guys disconnected our phone because supposidly we did not pay out bill on time when we did and something screwed up in your accounting system. Thank God you service sucks because i would be stuck in another 2 year agreement right now instead I fixed my phone and October is the light at the end of my tunnel. You probably won't read this far anyway since you have so many customers so what one disgruntled one matter.

After being on an internet plan for $49 a month, Verizon wireless offered a $20 a month Galaxy Tab plan. When I called to ask if I could switch I was told I could. Shortly thereafter I was told that I could not use that data plan. I was not offered a retention specialist. I informed them I would pay $20 a month (the Galaxy Plan) until my termination fee was covered. Since November I have made on line payments to Verizon but they have continued to call and not once did anyone at Verizon offer to note the payment arrangement. Now, with $60 to go (3 months pmts) they are using collection agency tactics. I have been paying all along.
They do not know what the other departments are doing.
They are not interested in customer service and use strong arm tactics instead.
Despite the bad coverage with SPRINT, I have been able to work with them since 2001 and am glad my phone is not with Verizon.

I received a telephone call from UCB for a collection.
The agent told me that I owed a debt to Verizon in excess of $600.00. I told the agent repeatedly she had the wrong person but she was very persistent to the point of harassment and finally threats concerning my credit report. I initially believed it was a scam but since the agent seemed to have my social security number I called Verizon. Two frustrating hours later, after speaking to several "customer service" agents and supervisors and being transferred to several "pass the buck" departments, non working, incorrect numbers and extensions, I found out that on October 1, 2010 an order for three phones was placed via "tele sales" with my name and social security number. The three phones were never shipped and service never activated because "the address did not check out." This is according to a Verizon supervisor by the name of Ms. Harris. She had no explanation how a charge of $552.14 accumulated for phones that were never shipped and service that was never activated. Ms. Harris suggested I contact Verizon's Fraud Department the next day. I had already spoken to a person in that department, before it closed for the evening. This person told me it was "outside collections" and had nothing to do with fraud! I called the Fraud Department the next morning and had to leave a message. Nobody called me back. I called again and spoke to Nick. He did not seem to like the questions I had about this fraudulent order and accused me of being "combative." He gave me information about the original order that was not true. He did, albeit reluctantly, indicate that he would take care of the problem.
After I hung up with Nick, I contacted "Wirefly" and was surprised to find out that the original order had been flagged by them as potential fraud. Verizon, nonetheless, proceeded with it after "the address checked out." It happened to be the address of one of the local Arby's restaurants in Heber City. I have no idea what kind of a credit check was performed. While my name and social security number were used, the date of birth and address were incorrect. Nick told me no credit card information was required with the initial order because there was "no charge" and that is incorrect. Credit card information was provided with the order. I suspect the credit card did not check out either. The date of birth is incorrect, the address is incorrect, credit card information is incorrect. I don't know what makes anyone think the rest of the information is correct? Let me guess, the person who placed the order never called to inquire about his/her phones? What are the chances this is a legitimate transaction? I do not know what Verizon's policy is, or if there even is one, regarding potential fraud. It seems to me that Verizon's Fraud Department should have reviewed this transaction. If they did, they need training or retraining.
I am not certain if, when and how this order was linked to me and my account. The bottom line is Verizon sold my personal information to a collection agency without due diligence.
I was violated twice, once by someone committing identity theft and the second time by Verizon, who sold my personal information to a collection agency.

I called Verizon and requested set-up of there Fios, internet and telephone service. The Verizon rep on the phone scheduled a installer to come to my home between 10-12pm and ask that someone be home. After scheduling time off on my job to be there no one ever showed. I waited until 3pm just in case someone would eventually show and then I called Verizon to see what the status was. At that time the person on the call rudely said that things happen and I would just have to reschedule the installation and take off another day. I immediately said no I don't want the service and to cancel the request. The following day I took back the equipment they had mailed me and I thought this episode was over only to receive a bill for over $300.00 for service that I never got. What is this all about? How can a verbal contract be binding if the service is never set-up or used.

Watch out when your 2 yr contract ends and if you shut your phones off in the middle of the month they will bill you for the entire month. I was only with them for 2yrs and was not impressed, their prices are so out ragious. They do not offer unlimited data plans because they cannot collect more money. They are going to find out the hard way a lot of their customers are going to be dumping their A$$ and going with companies that do provide the unlimited data. Phones are being used more and more for the internet than computers. Being an IT Tech all I have to say is wake up Verizon, there is no limit on the progress of technology!

i recently purchased a prepaid verizon wireless phone. without even dialing a single number, i'm getting calls from secondary financing companies, payday loan companies and 500fast cash. basically, companies that people with credit problems would apply too. now, i would understand if someone else had my new number before me and applied for loans, but when i answered the phone (which cost me $1.99 each time) it's just a recording offering me loans. it wouldn't bother me if it didn't cost me each time i've answered, which i won't anymore but i wonder who gave them my number? VERIZON WIRELESS MAYBE. 1) i answer the phone...$1.99. 2) the company gets a chance to sell me something. 3) i then have to add more money on my phone.

I moved from CA to Phx 8 yrs ago. I caled Verizon to give me a new local number in Phx and top cancel my CA number which they did but they still continued to charge me for a CA number and roaming after 8 yrs they refuse the remove those charges from my credit report.

Letter received today. I called the number listed and asked to have my 4 set top boxes 'bundled' so that I can save the promised $12.97 per month. The lady at Verizon asked me if I had the DVR. I told her I did not. She then explained that I would not be eligible for the savings unless I had the DVR service. I told her I didn't want the DVR service and pointed out that the letter clearly stated twice that there were no strings attached. It was even underlined: There's no catch. No Strings. Just Savings.
The lady told me that the promotions people that put the letter together have no access to my account therefore they wouldn't know that I don't have the DVR. Why then would they know that I have 4 set top boxes?
I was then offerred 3 months free DVR and 3 months free premium channel. I don't want either. I only wanted what the letter promised, $12.97 per month discount with no strings attached. The lady said she could not help me.
This letter clearly promises something that they refused to deliver. Thanks Verizon :(

I went on line to order additional converter box, i wanna to pick it up from there Fios store. But this option is n/a online, so i called customer service to change the order. The rep came and he was able to change the order from 1 additional box to adding a box and swapping the old silver boxes to 2 new ones. And i stated clearly that i would pick them up from the store in Hempstead and he stated not a problem i will send that information to the store. Well i get to the store in 10 mins and i turn in the old boxes and the agent says that the order for 1 additional and 2 swap boxes are mail orders and i can't complete this order you have to call customer service back. I get on the phone with CS and after about 45 mins later they could not cancel the order that was put in 1o mins before arriving to the store. So the nice rep by the name of Larry Steffan said i will try to help you, so he gave me the boxes. My service has not worked since going into the store, 4 days later and 2hrs and counting on the phone with customer service my service is still not working. THE WORST IN HISTORY OF ANY COMPANY KNOWN TO MAN.

For more Verizon complaints, check out FiOSComplaints.com where this blog and other sites give the gory details of how Verizon treats customers.
As for me -- Fraudulent and deceptive business practices, slamming my bill with things I didn't order, and general run-around concerning a shocking over-billing. We called to check on our phone service, and were told that we could add features, plus ad cable/internet service, and with a new phone plan, actually reduce the overall bill. They installed the new services, removed my land line and installed a battery-back up system, and when the bill arrived it was well over DOUBLE what we were told it would be. Countless calls, all the way to the executive offices of Verizon, have not budged the bill at all. The person who was supposed to be on their "task force" to correct these problems, suddenly is AWOL and her phone mailbox is FULL. Mind you, someone at Verizon has a non-working phone. To date, there has been no resolution, even after 3 months.

I have Verizon fios service and accepted a promotional 3 month free Movie Package. I cancelled it within the three months and when I received the bill I saw that they had billed for the next month. I called Verizon and the Rep told me to pay the full amount and they would credit me the following month. I asked why I couldn't deduct the amount from the bill and was told if I didn't pay the full amount there would be an underpayment penalty charge. To say the lease I becaume a little upset and requested too speak to a supervisor. I was told there was no supervisor available and that I could deduct the amont from the bill with no penalty. BEWARE VERIZON'S OF FREE PROMOTIONS!

I not complaning about the product I love it just the idoit customer service in late march I finaly got out of contract with [protected]@ home service which worked fine for phone but did not work with my fax machine so added the phone to our existing package of TV and internet which sould of been easy but no
next day I got 1/2 my channels cut and my unnowingly intenet speed cut from 25/25 to 5/15
I even had QVC blocked which everyone gets finaly after 12 hours of calling geting tranfered to wrong people and flat out geting disconected before I got the chanels back that I was paying for as the idot put me on la conectia after geting all my pay for channels back i found out that I was on 5/15 so another 6 hours to fix that and I thought all was finaly fine after the 10 days of screwups which they refused to comp me for and today i found they have the acount still screwed up as i seem now to have 2 acounts so after a month still screwed up and I the one who has to deal with there problem as it up to 19 hours so far and still not fixed

We agreed to have Verizon as our contractor for a bundled option of 59.99 per month which was to include free set up of Directv dish, directv channels bundled with internet. We agreed to a contract rate of 59.99 per month for 2 year term. We then received our first bill and DirectTv and verizon both billed us. We contacted DirectV on 4/12/11 and Sandy advised that Verizon rejected our bundled program. I advised her that if that's the case this was not agreed to and we are going to have to terminate services. There is no way we are paying 84.31 per month for Directv plus 49.99 per month for internet and we did not agree to this. We then contacted Verizon twice on 4/13/11 only to receive the run around and now they stated that we are being billed directly for the 1st month then the agreement goes into affect. I advised my husband to call back but at this point this is not something we agreed to nor can we afford. Now they are threatening us with early contact termination and paying the fraudulen bill. Please contact us [protected]

Verizon 4G Retail Store sold me a used phone when I paid for a brand new phone. They never said it was used. I have been a Verizon Customer for almost 10 years. Dec. 3, 2010, I went to get a new phone and bought a Droid, switching from my BB. The store said that I have 30 days to come back and switch out my phone to another phone if I didn't like it or I could get refund minus restocking fee. On Dec. 12, 2010, my husband brought it back due to major issues with the phone. They gave him what we thought was a new phone since I paid for a new phone. Tonight, we went to another Verizon Store since it has been less than one year and the phone should still be under warranty and we were having major freezing issues with the phone. The Verizon store told us that the original Verizon 4G Retail Store in "H" street that I purchased the phone from sold me a used phone so it was no longer under warranty. Talk about unethical practices. We will be pursuing this matter.

charged for unwanted service
$165 if I want to discontinue service of mifi i got in a jam and needed mifi for a short period to help myself out. It was implyed that it was free and not a big deal...
i will not be using it at all and it is a very big deal to have this money stolen from me.

Here's the text of an email I sent to Verizon's complaint division:

To Whom It May Concern,

I'm writing to advise you of the horrible experiences I'm having with your billing and customer service personnel and practices. There are a lot of details I have to share with you. In the interest of being as brief as possible, I've done bullets below to provide an overview of the situation, with these three objectives/requests in mind:

* First, that your billing department acknowledge and expediently resolve a long-standing discrepancy of approximately $520 on my FiOS bill.
* Second, that you allow me to make payment arrangements on the amount that is not disputed
* Third, that Verizon take serious, demonstrative steps to correct the serious problems in its billing system and the level of professionalism, diligence and skill set in your customer service department.

The following summary of my current experiences with Verizon's billing and customer service provides context for these requests:

* According to your records, my bill as of today is $1, 152.47, of which you are demanding $823.69 to avoid our service being disconnected by April 8.
* Of that $823.69, the approximately $520 amount has been in dispute since around January of this year, when I informed your billing department that my payment records and your billing statements didn't seem to mesh. The rep agreed to start an investigation into the amount and acknowledged that a response would likely take about a few weeks to a month. In the meantime, he said, I would not be responsible for the charges, only what I owed for the current and following months.
* From October of 2009 through December 2010, I've made payments on our FiOS bill totaling $3, 415.94. Since January of 2011, I've made payments totaling $548.35. Before I made both payments - one in January and the other in March, I confirmed with the billing rep that the disputed amount was still under investigation and reaffirmed that I didn't have to pay that amount unless I received notice that the investigation found that the charges were legitimate. I confirmed this once again when I called in March to determine how I can lower my bill in the immediate future. The representative I spoke with at that time was very helpful in changing my service to ensure that my bill would be lower by the time the April bill would be issued.
* Despite the above-mentioned assurances about the investigation, and the fact that I had not received yet received notification that the investigation has concluded, I received a disconnection notice from Verizon dated March 28 for the $823.69.

* I contacted Verizon billing this morning to explain that the cut-off amount could not be correct, given the disputed amount being under investigation. The representative said she did not see anything on my account indicating an investigation/disputed amount. After my insistence, she and I went through my payment history (which, she said, she could only see as far back as October 2009.) She listed all the payments I made and I verified those with my bank statements, which happen to only go back that far, as well.)
* I explained that, in December 2009, I made an arrangement to pay my bill in full with two payments totaling $683.62. This, from what I was told by the representative at that time, would bring my account current. After making the payments, I confirmed my account was, in fact, current after I made a payment on December 30, 2009. I subsequently made payments between February 2010 and November 2010 totaling $2, 297.62 The payments she listed and that I confirmed with my back statements, verify this amount. She then advised me to call Customer Care to resolve the issue, adding that they close at 6:00 p.m. EST.
* I got in touch with Customer Care at approximately 4:45 p.m. today (April 5). The representative I spoke with (Brett Dey, Employee #2405649) was very courteous and helpful. He agreed that there appeared to be a dispute and confirmed that the $520 amount has been under investigation since January with no resolution. I told him about the difficultly I've had in resolving this and he shared that he would forward the matter to a specialist who would move the investigation along and get back to me within 2-4 business days. When I shared my concerns about my service being disconnected for what is, in large part, the disputed amount, he advised me to speak with a representative who could make payment arrangements for the undisputed amount. He also noted my account to indicate that the $520 remained under investigation and transferred me to the next representative to make payment arrangements on the balance.
* This is when my customer service experience went, once again, from one in which I felt like I was being treated with respect and concern (from Brett) to a highly unpleasant experience. I spoke with a rep who later identified herself as "Alison" and gave her employee number as "740836."
* I explained, yet again, what was happening with my account and, while she at first denied that she saw any amount under investigation, she finally informed me that she did, indeed, see that the $520 was in dispute. She advised me that, in light of this, the amount I owe to avoid disconnection would be approximately $303.69.
* When I asked her if I could have until April 15 to pay this amount, she advised me that I would then owe a total of over $600, reflecting "past due" and "new" charges. At this point, after all I'd been through that day and previously in trying to resolve this issue and keep my service, I asked to speak to a supervisor. I also felt that she showed no interest in the additional concern I now had that my bill would be so high, given that I had modified our service for a lower bill (as indicated above.)
* "Alison" put me on hold for approximately 20 minutes. When she returned, she told me that her supervisor was not available but would call me back in about four hours. Now, feeling completely disrespected, I began to rant. I complained about being on hold for so long only to be told that I couldn't be helped by a manager. I pointed out that I was aware that her department closed at 6:00 p.m. and that I wasn't as stupid as what she thought. I also asked for her name and her employee ID, at which point she said that I should stop talking if I wanted this information, and sarcastically began spelling her name and giving me her ID number s-l-o-w-l-y. At my boiling point, I advised her that she won't think I'm so stupid once she finds out about the letter I planned to write to the Better Business Bureau and Verizon corporate. I then slammed the phone down.
* I redialed the number I dialed to reach Brett and was transferred back to "Alison's" department. I then, yet again, explained the situation and tried to make a payment arrangement. This time the representative insisted that there was no notation on my account about a disputed amount. After some insistence that she look more carefully, she then claimed that there WAS a dispute but that it was resolved at the end of December and that I did owe the full $823.69 to avoid disconnection on April 8. At this point, I felt completely helpless, frustrated, confused and cheated. My recaps of the previous conversations I'd had that day and my pleas for her to re-check the notes on my account fell on deaf ears as she talked over me and refused to make an arrangement that didn't include this disputed amount. I shared with her my thought that "Alison" may have altered my records to delete the note about the investigation as payback for my outburst. I, once again, asked to speak to a manager. Once again, I was put on hold--this time for more than 20 minutes, way past 6:00 p.m., when that department was closed. No one ever came to the phone. Of course, when I tried to call back, no representatives were available.

This is, by far, the absolute worse customer service and billing experience I've ever had. It absolutely amazes me how Verizon can have such great product offerings and fail so miserably at customer service. Just to see how prevalent Verizon's customer service problems are, I Googled "Verizon FiOS" with "poor customer service" and got approximately 26, 000 results (when I searched "Verizon" and poor customer service, " the number jumped to well-over 43 million.) Even if you factor out hits that don't directly talk about Verizon's issues -- including your shameless ads within those results -- this is still a shameful testament to the experiences consumers have had with the Verizon brand.

I implore you to get to the bottom of my situation and, in general, to bring your front-line people and billing operations up to par with your products. Please don't make the mistake of thinking because you lead the industry as a result of your product offerings, you can treat your customers like crap. Your competitors are ready and waiting and their products are catching up every day -- not to mention their reps are courteous and competent...and have basic math skills.

I purchased the Mifi 2200 and a home phone connect device from verizon. The plan was to cancel AT&T home land line service at $74 a month and dial up internet $19 month. So for $50 a month I would have high speed Internet up to 5 gigs with the MIFI 2200 and $20 a month unlimited home phone with the verizon phone connect. The problems started when the MIFI 2200 would not auto download to either my laptop or pc. I ended up connecting it with a WIFI adapter. Another $70. But in the process of trying to get online with the verizon site to to fix the MIFI problems, I used my old netzero dialup connection to download from verizon site to try to fix the MIFI. BEWARE-the MIFI2200 will act as a modem. I thought I was hooking up to netzero dialup with my home phone connect with $20 a month unlimited, instead the MIFI connected thru a usb to my pc acted as a modem and I then incurred airtime charges thru the MIFI2200! In the 4 days of trying to download thru a slow dialup connection to fix the problems of MIFI ON THE VERIZON SITE, I incurred $214 in off peak and peak airtime charges, with no warning of what was happening. I did check on my usage on the verizon site during this 4 days, but since it was a new account, the Verizon site could not "analyze" my usage. It would show how much of the 5 gigs/per month I had used, but not airtime charges. I did not even know I wasa burning airtime!So much for saving $. After a long call to verizon techs, they said there was nothing they could do, I owed the $. I had talked to verizon local stores and techs online and by phone-they were no help at all thru this whole ordeal. I found out about the wifi adaptor thru complaint columns online.

I owe for a final bill with verizon on line. $45. Collections started calling. Now they are calling my wife's family looking for me. Leaving messages, they are trying to collect a dept. Its none of any family member business, therefore, is this legal for them to do so? I returned the call at the number they left me. I told them, I do not have the money right now. With that, the girl said she is noting the account of a "refuse payment". That is not what I said. Can you please help me. I am a senior citizen on ss. My wife does not work. I want the calls to stop at family members. My email address is: [protected]@yahoo.com. My name is mike. Thank you for your time. I hope to hear back to let me know my options..

Verizon calls regularly to push me to "upgrade" to Fios, which I repeatedly have told them I don't want. I have asked them to put me on a "do not call" list, but they ignore it. I get calls regularly, and every time ask them again to put me on the do not call list. In addition, I called Verizon Fios about this, and even spoke with a supervisor to ask them to not contact me about Fios again, whether by calling or by mail - I get about 3+ letters per week about Fios. I am not kidding!

Even though she said she'd take me off the mailing list, I continue to get mail quite often, as well as the calls.

Verizon - I get it that you want everyone to pay you more $$$ and switch to Fios. I'm not biting, so please leave me alone! I think I'll have to switch my current Verizon phone/internet, and then possibly they'll be legally required to stop calling me and sending me junk mail!