The company that I work for recently moved and I was in charge of setting up the new phone numbers. We only moved a block away, but because that put us in a different district, we would need new numbers. Actually, the first time I spoke with Verizon, the rep said they didn't even cover that area and I would need to set up an account with AT&T. A couple phone calls later between AT&T and Verizon and I learned that wait, no, that rep didn't know what she was talking about—it's still a Verizon area.
I also learned that Verizon's agents are about as incompetent as their their automated voice system is. One time I went back and forth with the automater because it would ask if I had called to pay a bill to which I responded "No." Then it said, "I'm sorry. I didn't understand that..." and asked me again. This went on at least five times of me saying "NO!" in my clearest voice until I pleaded for an agent.
Before the billing charges came, I reviewed the notices of services Verizon sent out and had to call to straighten some details out. The agents I got were always in the Residential Dept. And to speak with someone in Business in California usually meant a twenty minute hold time. The one plus: all the reps speak English.
On the notices, I saw that they were charging us for the wrong service. We were getting charged for Remote Call Forwarding (RCF) instead of Enhanced Call Forwarding (ECF), which is the cheaper option. So I called and had that corrected simply enough.
Now on to the greater issue—incorrect charges on our bill.
I have heard from other sites that Verizon is notorious for overcharging and duplicate charging, so I was careful to check every detail on our new statements. Lo and behold, they charged us for twice as many lines as we had as well as charging $27.49 for an order to have the numbers listed, which I had not requested.
I called the 800# and I later learned that the account number had changed when we changed to ECF, so the automater kept telling me that the six-digit code next to the phone number on our bill was wrong which I didn't understand at the time.
I got Linda on the line who said she couldn't help me because she was in Financial Services, which is completely different than Billing, which is the department I had asked the automater for. She said she'd transfer me to billing, but I just got sent back to the automater.
I tried waiting through all of the options so as not to go through the same process of ending up in the wrong department and having to go to the automater yet again, so I listened to the prompts and said, "Billing and Payments, " which gave me four non-relevant options. "Something else, " I said. "Question about a bill, " I said per its prompt to which it responded, "Your long distance is through another provider. Please contact that provider with your question, " or something to that effect and put me back into the loop of prompts. "Question about a bill, " I repeated, but I got the same random long-distance prompt, which was true, I had a different provider, but surely they know their customers have questions about a bill beyond long-distance.
I crossed my fingers and asked for an agent. Thankfully, I ended up in Business Billing. I told her about the double-charge and she said, "Oh, Orders will have to handle that." What? Fine. That didn't make sense, but I just hoped to speak with someone who could help.
After talking to Christy in Orders, she said I needed to speak with Billing. I had a fit explaining that's where I JUST came from not seconds ago. She apoligized but said this really is a matter that only Billing can handle.
I end up with Colleen in Business Billing and explained what I'd just been through in the past fifteen minutes of my wasted time and she was sincerely apologetic, which I appreciated.
I reviewed the extra charges with her and she agreed they were a mistake and easily credited our account back for the service and taxes. I also pointed out the extra service charge to make the numbers public, which we had not requested and though she couldn't immediately confirm that I had not requested it, she kindly removed the charge and taxes for that as well.
If I didn't check the bill thoroughly, who knows how long Verizon planned on milking my company for what would amount to over $100 extra a month!
Terri
Los Angeles, California
U.S.A.
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