Last year I wrote this post about my woes with Verizon FiOS and their customer service.
What I didn't include in that post was after we got FiOS, Verizon simply couldn't find it in their heart to send us a bill. Nope. Instead, they would just disconnect the service at the end of the month and charge us $30 to reconnect our service, plus the bill. We called and called and called begging them to send us a bill. I'm really not sure how they think you can pay a bill if you don't SEND a bill. Apparently, they have something against paper. Or the US Postal Service. I'm really not sure.
It took us SIX MONTHS for Verizon to straighten out that we "wanted our bill mailed to us." Really? Really.
That was FiOS. Bring on Verizon Wireless.
Now, I've had a cell phone with them since 1994. That long. It was a phone that Grandma and I shared. So, I have a long standing relationship with this company.
Back in 2004 we had some serious issues getting our two cell phones straightened out. It took months, but everything finally got fixed and has been great since.
UNTIL I UPGRADED MY PHONE.
God forbid I should want to get a smart phone and pay more to Verizon every month for the privilege.
Here is the situation.
I have a cell phone and Grandma has a cell phone. Together, the two lines were on a Share Everything plan (not the current version- an older plan from 2006). The two lines were on Grandma's bill along with the other services she receives from Verizon. Everything comes together on the Verizon One Bill.
In September I got the new iPhone 5. This required me to add texting and a data plan. My best option was their current Share Everything plan. $60 for the plan, $40 for the phone connection and $30 for Grandma's phone connected to the service. Then they charged us a $300 connectivity fee... for UPGRADING OUR SERVICE WITH THE SAME CARRIER!!! Not only that, but Grandma is still using the same old phone, and they still charged to migrate her number to the new plan.
Okay great. Fine. Whatever.
As you might have guessed, I no longer live with Grandma. And since we decided to change the plan, the plan was for me to receive the cell phone bill at my house.
Enter Verizon's inability to figure this out.
New plan. New owner of the line. New address. Not hard, right?
Wrong!
October
They sent the bill to Grandma. I called to straighten it out. They said it was all taken care of.
November
They sent the bill to Grandma. I called to straighten it out. They suddenly claimed that One Bill is a separate company and that it's One Bill's fault and that we have to call One Bill to straighten it out. One Bill laid the blame back on Verizon (hey guys, you all work for the same guy!). The swore it was straightened out.
December.
Suddenly the bill is a whooping 300+. I call to straighten it out. Nobody knows why the bill is so high. Verizon tells me that One Bill is double charging for the cell phone and not to pay it. Instead, we should pay the statement for the wireless when we get it.
I also made the point to walk into a Verizon Wireless store to speak directly with a person and try to get the cell phone in my name and the bill sent to my house. The clerk was playing a video game on his phone and huffed when I walked in. He acted very put out by my presence. I told him what I wanted. He said. "Our computer's broke." I asked what I should do. He told me angrily to go find some other Verizon store and didn't offer where those locations were. He basically threw me out of the store. He was rude, mean and extremely unhelpful.
January.
Another high bill- way over the actual 140 it should be. Oh, and we've yet to receive a paper statement for the wireless portion of the bill, but One Bill is still charging for the wireless. We wonder why- maybe we're over on something? (But at 200 minutes, 30 texts and less than 1G of data we're under everything on the number).
February.
I get an email from them that I owe 300 and need to pay it. They don't send a bill. When I click the link it takes me to a website to set up an online Verizon account that I don't desire to do. I call them to request that they send me a paper bill. (Why is this a big deal? Send a paper bill so you can get paid!) They won't let me do anything with the account because I'm not Grandma and it's not my line. Wait, what? So, I straighten everything out.
Then two days later I get a call from Verizon that my service will be shut off at midnight unless I pay them 300 immediately. I informed them that the bill had already been paid (It had. A check for that exact amount had been sent. Also, that bill is not due until the 17th of February. This was last week). They didn't care, they insisted I pay it AGAIN immediately because One Bill hasn't been sending them the money for the wireless that One Bill has been charging. Oh yeah, and we're still not getting paper statements to be able to pay the wireless portion of the company, even though One Bill insists on taking our money.
So, I try to talk through it, but Verizon customer service refuses to deal with me until the bill is paid again. So, I pay the bill again, this time over the phone.
Now they're willing to work with me. Now they tell me that "Assumption of Liability" never took place. (That's Verizon speak for possession of a telephone line- as though having a line is a bad thing and you're liable. Yep.) So, we go through that process-again. Mind you, that we went through this process 3 other times in attempts for me to take ownership of my phone number, including Grandma and I conference calling Verizon so we were both able to speak with the reps.
They promise me that everything is now straightened out.
Oh, and the very next day I received my first paper statement from them. In February for a service started in September.
The process of upgrading my plan has taken 9 phone calls, a trip to the store, 15 hours and over a thousand dollars and is probably still not fixed.
Spare yourself the trouble and NEVER get Verizon.
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