I went over my minutes in my plan. Verizon lets you upgrade your plan retroactively if you go over to avoid paying overage charges, you just pay the monthly rate of the higher plan. I checked my usage and called to upgrade my plan but I was one day late.instead of paying $20 for the higher plan, they charged me $0.45 per min. = $135.00 in overage charges. I called customer service and asked if they could go back one day to charge me a fair amount for what I used. They said they could not. They said they could give me 10% of my overage charges. I turned that down. They offered 20% of my overage charges. I turned that down and I asked to cancel my account. You can't cancel on weekends.
Monday morning I called again (second call). A CSR named Michelle offered to give me what I asked for, changed my plan to the next highest plan and they promised to credit me back the $135.00 in overage charges. Since the billing cycle just closed, Michelle sent me an email saying she didn't see any overage and told me to call her when the bill was processed so she could remove the $135. When I saw my bill was $210 instead of $70 I emailed her a request to credit me the $135. A few days later I emailed her again.
She did not reply. I called customer service and they said they would have Michelle call me right away (third call). She did not call. A few days later I called to follow up and they promised to have Michelle call me that same day (fourth call). She did not call.
A few days later I called and asked for a resolution (fifth call). They said Verizon would resolve my problem that very day! They said they would contact Michelle's supervisor and I would get a call back or a credit that day. Nothing.
A few days later I called, explained everything again, and told them I wanted a resolution. They stated Michelle put a request for a credit in and it should be resolved that day or the next (sixth call). I called two days later to follow up, she did not get approval for the credit she requested. She re-requested it and it was not approved. Michelle works in the cancellation department and she never said her promise to credit me $135 was subject to an approval. She clearly promised me she would remove the $135 in overage charges.
I called a few days later and cancelled one of the two lines of service. I promised to tell as many people how Verizon was treating me. I requested a supervisor (seventh call). I explained that I was cancelling my service because Verizon doesn't do what they say they will do. They don't return phone calls and don't follow through with a promise made to a customer. The manager (Gretchen) said she could see the notes and my calls. She acknowledged that Michelle promised me a $135 credit. She said I would get the whole $100 credit for sure, but wanted to give Michelle a chance to put the credits through. They came to $100 because I would have gotten $135 less the $20 more expensive monthly plan. So that is $135 - $20 = $100. Sure. Fine. Whatever.
I cancelled my other line because I wasn't getting straight answers. I was being ignored and treated like an idiot. Michelle called me and put a $50 credit through, that is all the power she had so she said she would do the other $50 later. Gretchen followed up to see if my complaint was resolved. She said she would put the other $50 credit in if Michelle didn't. I called to follow up (lost track of number of calls). They said someone would call me within one hour. No call.
Now we are over 5 weeks into the issue. I call and a CSR says they have no open complaints. They want to know what the problem is. I explain it all and they say they can only do 50% of the unresolved credit. ($135 - $50)/2 = max credit possible. OK, fine, go ahead. I end up with two credits, $50 and $42.50 = $92.50.
No one can justify all the time I invested following up on Verizon's promises. I wanted to see how far they would go to nickel and dime a customer until they can't take it anymore.
I'm paying Verizon hefty cancellation fees. I won't get into any cell phone contracts from here on.
I have been carrying a pre-pay ATT phone that only charges you $2 on the days you use it. I had to use it 10 times in 6 weeks because I was working in areas with no Verizon coverage yet ATT had 4 bars. I guess I'll be going with ATT's $50 / mo unlimited talk, text, and web pre-pay plan. I found platinumtel for my wife's light usage. It is 5 cents per minute and 2 cents per text, no monthly fee, no minimum charges.
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