Verizon

Back in August I moved and canceled my Verizon internet/phone. I was told that I had 30 days to return my router and that a prepaid envelope would be sent to me. Two weeks later, I got the prepaid envelope and sent my router back a few days later.

I received a bill a few weeks later for unreturned equipment. I called Verizon to inquire about this, and after being transferred a few times was told that they received my equipment "one day late" and had to bill me but not to worry, in 2 to 3 billing cycles, I would be given a credit. I pointed out that it took two weeks just to get my prepaid envelope in the mail and asked when my 30 day time limit started. They answered that they didn't know but that my equipment was a day late.

About two weeks later I received a bill from a collection agency. I called Verizon again. After several hours on the phone, they again told me not to worry, that in 2 to 3 billing cycles I would be credited. They said if I didn't want to get calls from the collection agency, I could just go ahead and pay the full balance and they would eventually refund it to me. Ha!

When the collection agency told me one day that if it wasn't cleared up by the first of the month it would be going onto my credit, I called Verizon again. After speaking to a person in each of Verizon's departments (not kidding.. I have 3 pages, front and back, of notes, phone numbers, names, etc) they put me on hold while they called the collection agency. After coming back on the line, the Verizon associate stated they just cleared it up with the collection agency, and I had nothing to worry about. I asked for the phone number they called so I too could verify it was taken care of. When I called the number Verizon claimed to have called to clear everything up, it was for the wrong collection agency.. they had NO record of me and said they aren't even the company Verizon uses.

I called Verizon back. I had to sit on hold, go thru the voice prompts all over again, explain my situation, and be transferred a half dozen times to get back to where I started. I finally gave up and called the corporate office. The people there reassured me that Verizon doesn't credit report so I have nothing to worry about. I explained that since Verizon has outright lied to me about the situation being fixed that I was more apt to believe the collection agency when they say that it WILL go on my credit.

The day this error was put on my credit report ( the ONLY negative thing I have ever had) I called the collection agency to confirm the bad news. They did so. I then called Verizon and again, after about an hour of being transferred and placed on hold, finally got through to someone in the corporate office. They admitted that oops, we DO credit report after all, sorry.. and now it's too late. I spent another two months trying to get Verizon to send a letter of deletion to me and the credit bureaus to fix their mistake. It was only when I threatened to have an attorney help me and stated that I would file a complaint with the FCC that they followed through with the letter of deletion.

In my opinion, when a business screws up, the customer should not have to spend 40 plus hours of their own time trying to fix the company's mistake. Verizon seems to be so large a company that they don't know what they are doing.. there are so many departments and you cannot deal with the same department for an internet billing question and a phone billing question. Additionally, they are quick to charge your account with something, but it takes 2 to 3 billing cycles to do a credit?!?!? I will NEVER EVER go back to Verizon, even if they are the only company left on earth.

I had cell service with Alltel for over five (5) years and was NEVER late with bill. Verizon bought out Alltel and rasied my bill by Ten Dollars a month without notice. When I inquired, I was told Verizon did not offer my program so my bill increased to meet Virozon nearest plan. I now pay Ten Dollars a month for one bar service to a company I didn't (DO NOT STILL) want or ask for !

Verizon data plans for blackberry's and smart phones are to high it is another way to get over i was going to get a blackberry tour entail i found out about there high price data plan one was 30 and 45 a data plan for a phone should not cost no more than 15 to 20 dollars the most maybe if no one buys them they will drop there data plan cost

For the past two months there has been a charge of $19.98 on my cell phone bill labeled "Premium TXT Messaging".
I have never authorized any such service, and only rarely use text messaging at all.
In talking today with Verizon customer service I was informed that they cannot refund the charges or cancel the service.
I spoke with a supervisor and got the same unacceptable answer. They say that they are only acting as the billing
agent for the provider, therefore cannot refund the money, even though the charge is made on my Verizon bill.
The bill does not anywhere identify any other party involved other than me and Verizon. They said the charge was
from Solo.com. No such site offering text messaging exists per google search.
This is an unbelievable situation. And the fact that Verizon can bill me for a service that they are not providing
and deny any responsibility for the charges is infuriating.
Obviously this is come kind of scam in which Verizon is a participant either knowingly or innocently, but the
refusal to take responsibility even though they threaten to terminate my service if I don't pay is unacceptable.
But I really don't know where to turn next

Prior to July of 2009 my cell phone service was with Alltel and my service was good, account was also in good standing. Since July 2009 I have had numerous problems with the phones service, poor customer service that required me to waste countless hours of sitting on hold or being bounced from department to department to resolve my problems. At one point Verizon technical department wanted me to drive around and look for areas where the phone service discontinued to function and the report the address of the locations, a big waste of my time. When billing was contacted to negotiate the bill it again took many calls, hours and department bouncing to get to an individual that could reimburse me for loss service but not loss of time wasted dealing with the poor service and poor customer service. Since the loss time was not compensated I send an invoice for a fraction of my time wasted dealing with Verizon's low performance, the invoice 2266 dated 09/29/09 is still unpaid after many attempts to collect the debt. Verizon has not adequately relieved me of financial loss and I still continue to have poor cell phone service and more wasted time dealing with the repeat of the above mentioned items. I am canceling my service with Verizon due to nonperformance and filing whatever complaints through whatever avenues I can find to bring about justice to such negligence. I had no previous problems with Alltel and ever since Verizon has taken over the service the account has been plagued with multiple problems. I would hope that the Complaint Board will take whatever measures to help in bring about justice where a large company can neglect and abuse its customers.

Verizon FIOS customer service is an absolute joke. The company is completely unregulated and argues that regulations aren't necessary because the competitive marketplace for Cable TV services is sufficient to enforce the company to have decent customer service. But Verizon's argument fails if for the simple reason it competes with the cable industry! An industry with an equally horrible reputation for customers service. Well, if Verizon FIOS' customer service is being policed by competition, then I guess Verizon FIOS is doing everything it can to match the Cable industry's lackluster reputation.

I've had FIOS for about 3 years. Love the service, but if there's a problem -- WATCH OUT! Better grab a bottle of Xanax, a tall drink, and make sure you take the day off of work. Why? Because you'll need patience... lots of patience... and you'll need time... lots of time. Don't have any loaded weapons b/c after the 3rd of 4th or 5th time you repeat your problem to a different "department, " you'll want to blow your brains out. That, or put a hole in your flat screen TV with the blank void staring at you.

Mind you, this isn't the first time I've experienced a problem with FIOS over the past few years. I actually say prayers at night hoping not to have any technical, billing or other issues with FIOS because I dread making that call.

Here's a recap of my most recent experience earlier this evening...

Come home from work at 5:30 to a blank screen with the following announcement --

THIS CHANNEL IS CURRENTLY NOT AVAILABLE... CHANGE CHANNEL OR CALL THIS NUMBER - [protected]...

So I make the call.

After going over my telephone number, name, rank serial number, mother's maiden name, and showing them a picture of the mole on my ### to confirm my identity because I had the misfortune of NOT also having a "Verizon Telephone Number" on my account (yes, I of the audacity to choose a competitive telephone provider over Verizon), I finally get ahold of someone who can access my account.

VZ: What's the problem sir?

ME: Well, I don't know, you tell me. My TV tells me to call this number.

VZ: It looks like your account is suspended.

ME: Really? How did that happen? I'm on auto-pay and the payment has been deducted every month for 3 years, without fail.

VZ: I can't say, sir. I'll have to transfer you to the billing department. We don't handle billing issues.

ME: Ok. Can you transfer me to a human being account rep [cue on hold music] resentative!

... ON HOLD MUSIC CONTINUES FOR THE NEXT 25 MINUTES... good, gives me time to eat dinner as I sit in front of my blank TV screen.

Enter Billing Department representative.

VZ: Sir, can you provide the Verizon Telephone Number associated with your account...

Oh God, here we go again... 10 minutes later and I've once again provided the rep with a picture of the mole... finally, my account information is up in front of her... finally, I can get this issue resolved and get TV service restored... finally...

VZ: Sorry, sir, yes this is the Billing Department, but we don't handle payments... that's another department... and I'm sorry to say that the payments department is only open from 8AM to 6PM and it's now 6:30 PM, you'll have to call back in the morning to have your service restored.

ME: Wait, you mean there's nothing I can do to identify the cause of the suspension this evening? Possibly have you restore my service?

VZ: No sir, even if we could, service wouldn't be restored until tomorrow during normal business hours.

ME: Well... thanks for wasting the past hour on the phone with me... had you bunch of idiots provided me with the right damn phone number from the get go, I would have been in touch with someoene during NORMAL BUSINESS HOURS!

And mind you, this is not a rare occurance. I'd say I've had to contact Verizon around a dozen times in 3 years. Each time the service experience gets worse and worse and worse. And no matter how many times I call, it takes 10 minutes and all the personal information in the world for them to even access my account information... and that's 10 minutes every damn time I'm transferred to one of Verizon's infamous "Other Departments."

How many Departments does Verizon have? It has as many Departments as are necessary to make sure 90% of the complaining customers who call them get so fed up being transferred to a different Department they simply give up!

Please... FCC... Virginia Corporation Commission... Attorney General... someone... please help!

I purchased a cell phone in August 2007at the Verizon store located in BJ's Warehouse in East Setauket, New York. The vendor/sales representative (J. Velez) took the battery out of the new cell phone and replaced it with another battery. That battery wouldn't keep its charges for no longer than 4 hours without using the cell phone. If the cellphone is used, the battery would only last at the most 2 hours. I returned to the store in September 07 and dealt with the same vendor who originally sold me the phone. I explained the problem and asked him to replace the battery since it is frustrating to have to charge the new phone's battery every day. He took the phone from me, opened it and replaced the battery with another phone's battery. I asked him if he'd instill a new battery in the phone. He replied yes. A few days later, I began to experience the same problem. This time, I followed his instructions and went to the main Verizon store located in Lake Grove, NY. The customer representative checked the phone. He looked in his computer for the sales date of the phone and then told me that he couldn't help me because the battery in the phone is 2 years old, past the warranty. I was ripped by the sales rep. and felt cheated. He was dishonest and unethical.

A few days ago, I noticed that Verizon FIOS has started inserting extra commercials and preempting the beginning of the next programming segment by a noticeable amount. I have noticed this on Fox News Channel, but I don't know if it's true for other channels, too. This is very annoying, to come back to a segment "already in progress." Being the Verizon monolith that they are, I don't know how to voice this complaint (they don't make that every easy, do they?) nor do I feel that anyone at Verizon would really care ... pitty.

Verizon charged us over $100 in roaming charges while we were vacationing in Alaska (we thought we were still in the US). Our phones never gave us any indication that we were in "international waters" (Alaska coast) or that we were outside the home network, and we never imagined we were being billed $2.50 a minute for the incoming phone calls/voice mails that we never even answered. We would have shut our phones off completely had we known that Verizon can randomly charge "roaming" rates at any time without warning by claiming that we are "out of the Verizon home area" even if our phones indicate that we are still within the home network. I couldn't believe this when I heard it, so I looked it up in their contract fine print, and there it is. Even when the phone indicates you are not roaming, you might be roaming off the Verizon network, and be billed at obscene rates without knowing it. We had filed a claim against Verizon's (what we thought were) unauthorized international roaming charges with the FCC, which achieved absolutely nothing, since Verizon came back at the FCC with the fine print in the contract. During the two months when the dispute was before the FCC, Verizon gave us less than a week from the time they sent us a bill in the mail for the "roaming charges" before they suspended our phone service for "nonpayment". We had spent less than two months with the new carrier, and quickly returned to T-mobile (we'd been with them 4 years, and switched to Verizon because of supposedly better networks, but we kept dropping calls with Verizon when we hadn't before with T-mobile). Verizon then chose to add over $500 in various early termination fees and the like to our bill, and they decided to make daily harassing phone calls to our home after 9pm threatening to take us to collection over the bill, while they knew the matter was still under review by the FCC. We just paid the full bill to avoid further harassment and collection action. Overall, a disgusting experience with a self-inflated, inhuman, and abusive organization.

I was trialing several different cellphone companies, because I was planning on switching to one I liked better than my current provider. I will never, ever recommend verizon wireless to anyone. I trialed their service for 4 days, they sent me a bill for almost $300! They told me I had 700 minutes to use, but when I cancelled my trial period because of poor signal in my area, they took away the minutes I was told I had to use, and left me with 100 minutes, and charged the rest as overage. Be forewarned... Stay away from verizon wireless. Nowhere in their contract, or terms of service, does it state they can do this. It's absurd for them to tell someone they have a certain amount of minutes to use, let that person use them, then take them away and charge major overage charges. This should be illegal. How are you susposed to trial a cellphone service, if you have no idea how long to talk, or how many minutes you have? According to them, this is the case, you just gotta guess. I will never pay the bill, I will let my credit score drop a few points over this. I do not owe them anything but $35 for data usage. Just stay away from this company! I learned from experience, they are thieves!

Customer service at its poorest, paid for a phone line for 6 months that had no dial tone. Called them to say that we had no dial tone for them to come out and fix it. When they showed up they dialed the phone number they were coming to fix and, obviously, got no answer so they LEFT! the records showed that we were not home, after i had taken the day off from work to sit at home and wait for them! THEN they come a week later to fix it again, get a dial tone, leave and an hour later, no dial tone again, like they had flipped a switch and turned off my line! complete ###s these people are. they have a manual that they follow with no common sense!

I bought a new laptop and signed up with verizon wireless internet service in sept of 2008. unfortunelly my laptop and internet card was stolen in dec, 2008. I made a police report and reported it to verizon wireless with a police report. accordinding to verizon wireless I signed a two year contract with them so they validity decline to terminate contract, instead verizon validity suspened the contract and countinued to validity bill customer due to not properly terminating the contract although verizon validity acknowledge there were a discussion but adamantly said they are correct in justifing for the two year contract which I've heard so much times from verizon wireless. After making so much complaint's towards BBB and the state attorney general the problem has been unsatisfactorty at this point and unresolved. I also went on line at justanswer.com and talk to an attorney for a fee. I was told my best bet is to sue for the remainder of the two year contract. But when I sued for the remainder of contract, verizon counter with a in-advance payments. I only paid $60.07 monthly until I tried to terminate. In dec.2008 I was chagered additional $10.00 fee with internet serve fee of $60.07 monthly. I never paid late but somehow verizon wireless has the right to suspened my contract without any notice to paying customer. I tried my complaint to all places. I am upset with verizon wireless I came comming to a point theres nothing I can do. I hope theres people looking at this message and dont signed up with verizon wireless. I think verizon wireless is a turncoat of a bussiness.

I got collection calls from ER Solutions regarding a Verizon Wireless bill. Verizon said I signed a 2 year contract and had an early termination fee. Totally ridiculous, but that's not the point. I spoke with a rep from ER Solutions that told me that I avoided paying bills and "am a person that makes consumers look bad"...I said are you serious, this bill is completely wrong! He continued to be little me, I finally got annoyed and hung up. Worst of all though, I sent in a letter explaining my situation. Of course, now they don't want to talk with me and say my complaint is in a long line. At first they called me everyday, since i sent a letter... they wont get back to me. Horrible company, I am actually considering going after them legally even though I will lose money in the end. I can't stand this company or its representatives! I never complain about anything, but this company is ridiculous!

On 7/2/2009 I activated a non-contract, personally owned, cell phone with Alltel's prepaid service with total charges of $140.00 with the assurance that when Alltel and Verizon merged that my balance would transfer and that the $100 payment(the other $40 was an activation fee) for future minutes included in that amount would not expire for one year.

Upon transfer of the account to Verizon no balance was transferred by Alltel, despite less than 20 minutes of time being used, according to Verizon. Alltel states that a balance was transferred and that they can no longer access my records as Verizon is now the sole holder of the account.

I spent over an hour on the phone with Verizon tonight. Initially speaking with "Brandon" in the Verizon prepaid call center, who could not resolve and who offered no further assistance I requested to be transferred to a supervisor. After some time I finally spoke with a supervisor, "Porsche, " in the Verizon prepaid Georgia call center in an attempt to resolve. She could not resolve my issue and told me "this is not a 'known issue, ' told me there was nothing anyone could do and promptly hung up on me! Needless to say she was quite rude.

So I am out $140, with no prepaid phone service despite making payment in good faith.

On 11/16/09 I received a confirmation letter from Verizon Wireless confirming that I had opened a mobile account with them. I immediately called customer service as I had opened no such account. I was told that Verizon had closed the account on 11/11/09 due to fraud. Five (5) phone numbers were associated with the account and 5 blackberry storm phones had been ordered. The representative also told me that it had been opened using my name, address and social security number. For any additional information I would need to speak with their fraud department. Several phone calls later I have yet to speak with a frauds department representative as they are always "experiencing unusual call volume". I have been placed on hold on 6 different occassions only to be disconnected after 20 minutes! One one occassion I was able to leave a voice message and was assured someone would call back, but I've yet to hear from anyone. What makes matters worse is that I intend to file a police reeport and cannot get any information from Verizon on how this fraud was perputrated! Review of my credit report at all three credit agencies revealed no credit inquiries from Verizon. Are they just giving away phones to theives? This attitude just increases the liklihood that identity theft will occur. As I do have a Verizon landline, I have to wonder whether this fraud and identity theft was committed by Verizon employees. I'm canceling my landline, have reported them to the FTC and NYS Attorney General. How can we protect ourselves from identity theft and fraud when companies like Verizon Wireless won't assist the victims?

Verizon lost the phone that I returned to them, they charged my account 434.59 refused to take the charges off and now they are threatening to shut off my phone?