I had a single cell phone with Verizon prior to May and my service was perfectly fine.in May, I ordered 2 new phones, a new one for myself and 1 for my boyfriend. I placed the order over the phone and at the same time set up my account the way I wanted it to be after receiving the 2 new phones. I asked PLENTY of questions, and I hung up thinking I had free calls between the 2 phones, free nights and weekends, and 400 shared minutes per month for something like $69.99, as well as unlimited text and picture messaging for $7.99 per month per phone.
Once the phones were received and activated, I called customer service to doublecheck the way my account was set up. It had been set up wrong. I didn't have any shared minutes between the 2 phones, so that problem was corrected. I once again, given that an error had occurred, asked about the other things mentioned above, and hung up again thinking I now had all of those things.
The cost of the phones was included in my next bill...$240 I believe... And the total was over $600. I was shocked at the total since I was expecting it to be under $100. I called customer service and only then did someone tell me that they have no unlimited text/picture messaging plan, even though an unlimited plan had been discussed in 2 previous calls. I'm a fairly intelligent person, and I don't know what I could possibly have misunderstood about the word "unlimited" coming from 2 different people, or how I could have conveyed anything other than the word "unlimited" when I had asked if the text/picture messaging was in fact unlimited.
Needless to say, since we thought we were able to send as many text/picture messages as we wanted with no additional charges, we had done just that. The $7.99 plan was actually only for 80 text messages and even fewer picture messages. Once that was FINALLY understood, I continued to use text and picture messaging and tried to keep track of how many per month I was sending/receiving, but that didn't prove to be realistic since my inbox and outbox would only hold 50 messages each. So I then decided to eliminate text/picture messaging from my service.
When I received my 2nd bill, it was almost as bad...$599! Customer service THEN explained that since I had altered my service in the middle of a billing cycle that my previously sent/received text messages had been pro-rated. I had already used all of my minutes for that month at the time the change was made, so instead of the 80 messages being for a 30 day period, I was only allowed 40 for the 15 day period that I had text messaging on my plan. 1/2 of the messages for 1/2 of the time. So, basically I was charged for the additional 40 messages already sent/received at the normal rate of 25 cents to send and 10 cents to receive. Basically, in order to get rid of the problem originally caused by being misinformed about just exactly what their charges were, I had been charged more than I would have if I had left things alone.
That's when I asked to speak with a manager. I told him the situation, and he listened intently without interrupting. I told him I wanted to cancel my service and that I would refuse to pay the $175 early termination fee. He suggested that, rather than lose me as a customer, he could refund the previous charges for the phones I had purchased. He said there was nothing he could do about the actual billing. I didn't believe that he couldn't do anything, but I graciously accepted his offer. He told me to call him with any future problems I had.
I also made a payment that day and was told by the rep I spoke to that my balance would be $0 pending the supervisor approval of the refund I was offered. I called back the next to verify that the approval had gone through, and asked again if my balance was $0. It wasn't. It was $120! How I do not know... I just paid it.By that time I was disgusted at the thought of talking to them any longer to figure it all out.
The next bill I received was $710. More text/picture messages that weren't previously billed somehow are just now being charged... At least that's what a customer service rep told me. Once again, I do not know how that's possible, and it's not like I kept track of how many we sent/received and when to be able to dispute the charges. I haven't paid that bill yet, but I called today to cancel service to my boyfriend's phone. I now want to only use my phone for emergencies and nothing else at all in an attempt to have something resembling a normal bill once again. But when I asked to do this I was told that what I have already used in this billing cycle would be pro-rated again, which would make my bill higher than it would be if I left things alone for now.
I also found out that my boyfriend's cell number had been made the primary number on my account. No one ever asked me which number I wanted to be primary, nor did anyone tell me that there had to be a primary number. I simply activated the phones when I got them. Since his number is primary, if I cancel service to that phone, the shared minutes are taken away. Since I wouldn't have any of the 400 shared minutes I previously had and since I wouldn't be calling his phone anymore, I would be charged 45 cents per minute for any call I make from my phone. That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.
I then asked for the name/number of the manager that had authorized my refund before, and the customer service rep wouldn't give it to me... When another rep did give it to me another time in the past. She said she would send him an e-mail, and then transferred me to his voicemail after that only because I asked. Had I not made it clear that I wanted to speak with the man? So... She sent him an e-mail and I left him a voicemail... And 8 hours later I still have not received a return call from the manager.
When I do speak with him next... And I will... I am going to demand that they rectify and refigure my account from the beginning of my service on these two phones, and if they cannot or will not do that, I will cancel my service and I will absolutely refuse to pay the $175 early termination fee or this last $710 bill. There's NO WAY IN HELL they are getting anymore money out of me! The potential of having this show up on my credit report means absolutely nothing... It's the principle of the matter.
I have everything I want and I don't need more credit. I will glady go to court to tell my story if it should come to that... And yes, I do have detailed documentation to present, I just don't have it in front of me right now. I have dates, names, what I was told, etc... All the proof I need.
Kimberly
Martinsville, Indiana
U.S.A.
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