In November while I was temporarily stationed at FT Leonard Wood, MO, I set up service with Verizon Wireless. I figured I was safe in doing this since they claim to have the "best coverage nationwide".
Well, after being permanently stationed at FT Polk, LA, I found this not to be the case. This is one of the few places they don't have coverage, so they will let people out of contracts with no early termination fees. And with the lack of reliable service, I decided that shutting the phones my wife and I had off, and going with someone who provides better coverage in my area.
I called in and arranged for the lines to become inactive on February 1. I knew I would have a refund coming from the 800 dollars that we had to pay for the 2 lines at the time of connection, but at the time the rep on the phone could not tell me how much of it I would get back due to the fact that balances would be applied to that before the remainder was returned.
Just after the first of February I called in, and was told that everything was in order, and that my money would be returned tome in very short order. After 3 weeks of waiting I called back and was told that it takes 4-6 weeks to process and return refunds. I thought that was crappy that I had not been told that in the first place, but it was only another week or two so no biggie.
At the end of 6 weeks I received a bill in the mail, showing a credit of 797 and change, that included interest paid. But there was still no money. I called in again, at which point I was told that i had been "mis-informed", and that it takes 6-8 weeks for refunds to be reviewed, not returned. After the review I was told the money would be released and sent to me. They also told me that my refund was going to be reviewed the following day.
I was sure to call in the following day, to be sure that the refund had been reviewed and released and was told that it had been and I should be receiving it shortly. At 8 weeks I called back in and inquired about the refund. It was a Thursday and I was told that my account balance was now zero, and that the refund had been released. I asked if that meant it had been issued and was told that it had. I asked the rep if they could tell me where the refunds were shipped from, but they could not.
You can get a letter cross country in a couple of days, so I figured I would see the money by that Saturday or the following Monday at the latest. Wrong again. I called back on Monday after the refund did not show up. Guess what, the money has been released, but it still takes up to 3 weeks for the mystery "Treasury Department" to audit the refund and then issue the final check. And once it goes there, there is no more contacting anyone to check status. Apparently they don't have any form of communication in that department, and there is no way to accelerate the process.
I am a soldier in the US Army. I am not rich nor do I make some outlandish amount of money. I need every penny that I have access to in order to provide for my family and myself. When I asked why I had been strung along for so long, I was simply told that I had been informed incorrectly and there was nothing that could or would be done about it. When asked how they were planning on paying me the remainder of my interest on the security deposit they are having such difficulty giving back, I was told that they wouldn't be paying anymore interest, because the money had been released.
My argument here is that the money is not in my hand, it has just been released to another of their mystery departments, so they should continue to pay me for the use of my money.
If you can avoid it don't pay them a deposit at all. If you must and you are waiting for it to be returned, they have a hardship acceleration program, which I found after much research but was too late to use.
Horrid company!
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