Back in August I moved and canceled my Verizon internet/phone. I was told that I had 30 days to return my router and that a prepaid envelope would be sent to me. Two weeks later, I got the prepaid envelope and sent my router back a few days later.
I received a bill a few weeks later for unreturned equipment. I called Verizon to inquire about this, and after being transferred a few times was told that they received my equipment "one day late" and had to bill me but not to worry, in 2 to 3 billing cycles, I would be given a credit. I pointed out that it took two weeks just to get my prepaid envelope in the mail and asked when my 30 day time limit started. They answered that they didn't know but that my equipment was a day late.
About two weeks later I received a bill from a collection agency. I called Verizon again. After several hours on the phone, they again told me not to worry, that in 2 to 3 billing cycles I would be credited. They said if I didn't want to get calls from the collection agency, I could just go ahead and pay the full balance and they would eventually refund it to me. Ha!
When the collection agency told me one day that if it wasn't cleared up by the first of the month it would be going onto my credit, I called Verizon again. After speaking to a person in each of Verizon's departments (not kidding. I have 3 pages, front and back, of notes, phone numbers, names, etc) they put me on hold while they called the collection agency. After coming back on the line, the Verizon associate stated they just cleared it up with the collection agency, and I had nothing to worry about. I asked for the phone number they called so I too could verify it was taken care of. When I called the number Verizon claimed to have called to clear everything up, it was for the wrong collection agency. They had NO record of me and said they aren't even the company Verizon uses.
I called Verizon back. I had to sit on hold, go thru the voice prompts all over again, explain my situation, and be transferred a half dozen times to get back to where I started. I finally gave up and called the corporate office. The people there reassured me that Verizon doesn't credit report so I have nothing to worry about. I explained that since Verizon has outright lied to me about the situation being fixed that I was more apt to believe the collection agency when they say that it WILL go on my credit.
The day this error was put on my credit report (the ONLY negative thing I have ever had) I called the collection agency to confirm the bad news. They did so. I then called Verizon and again, after about an hour of being transferred and placed on hold, finally got through to someone in the corporate office. They admitted that oops, we DO credit report after all, sorry. And now it's too late.
I spent another two months trying to get Verizon to send a letter of deletion to me and the credit bureaus to fix their mistake. It was only when I threatened to have an attorney help me and stated that I would file a complaint with the FCC that they followed through with the letter of deletion.
In my opinion, when a business screws up, the customer should not have to spend 40 plus hours of their own time trying to fix the company's mistake. Verizon seems to be so large a company that they don't know what they are doing. There are so many departments and you cannot deal with the same department for an internet billing question and a phone billing question. Additionally, they are quick to charge your account with something, but it takes 2 to 3 billing cycles to do a credit?!?!? I will NEVER EVER go back to Verizon, even if they are the only company left on earth.
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