Why Verizon Wireless is going to get a boot shoved up the #$%

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

And so it began - he had Verizon, she had AT&T. They were in college, living happily off of their parents’ cell phone plans. Winter break rolls around, and we emerge with nearly 1000 extra minutes and texts in overages. Amounting to about $300.

My family (ATT) rollover minutes covered me; my boyfriend, not so much. So I called on his mother’s behalf to haggle the bill. Verizon issued a $200 some dollar credit, then bumped the calling and texting plan up a few notches retroactively. We had to pay about $50 in overages. No problem. They tell me the new bill will come in the mail; disregard the old.

Bill comes in the mail. No overages taken off. Charged for late fees. I patiently call Verizon again. No problem, it was listed on the account, but the override by a manager was never done. After about 30 minutes (at this point, wasting roughly 1.5 hours of my time), problem is taken care of. Plan bumped back down to original. New bill promised in the mail.

In this time, the Verizon plan ends. They sign up for ATT a few days after their 2 year Verizon contract ends. I’m told by Verizon they will bill daily for the days past the 2 year contract. It will be on the next bill.

Bill for over $500 arrives (should be around $200, including extra days past the 2 year contract). Overages clearly have not been taken care of. Late fees incurred.

So I have to call again today.

My question is: what ground do I have to stand on, now that they switched to ATT? They have wasted nearly 2+ hours of my time at this point, and if I don’t get the credit issued, the boyfriend and I will have to learn an exceptionally costly lesson. My own mother has had upwards of a thousand dollars in credits issued retroactively; this is not a new process to me, only that I’ve never dealt with Verizon before. Should I ask to speak with a manager right off the bat? Should I have them email me a PDF of the new bill summary? Should I ask for the direct extension of the person I’m speaking with, (hopefully) once the credit is re-issued? Should I say I’ve cancelled my cell plan but that I’m considering adding FIOS?

I don’t want to give up and pay the full amount - but I don’t want to plunge even more time and wasted effort into this, if they’re going to continue lying to me.

Any suggestions/comments/concerns/experiences with getting credit issued from wireless providers?

2

I don’t think there’s any particular route to success over the phone that you haven’t already tried.

It might be worth it at this point to have your boyfriend* actually go into a Verizon Wireless store and settle it then and there in person.
*It seems like you’ve done enough on his behalf already.

3

Tom, have you heard/tried going into the store yourself? My experience is that the store prices on phones are higher, and that they really only service the devices themselves. Billing questions would probably be foreign to them.

Also, it’s certainly on my behalf as well - the overages he charged over winter break were talking to me, so we’d split the cost of the overages. While I’ve haggled on the phone, he’s done chores.

4

I’ve only gone into a store for technical issues, but there usually seem to be people there dealing with billing problems. There are separate check-ins for technical and billing, IIRC. Note that I’m talking about an actual VZW store, as opposed to a kiosk or a reseller.

As long as he appreciates what you’re doing for him. I’d certainly rather be doing chores than arguing with the cell phone company. :slight_smile:

5

So you two incur overages and decide you don’t want to pay what you owe. I don’t think Verizon Wireless is the entity that needs a boot shoved up the #$%.

6

You must be fairly naive, dbuzman. It’s common practice to “credit” customers, so that they stay on as customers after their contract ends. Also, it would have never been a problem if Verizon had Rollover minutes like ATT does - his family uses maybe 200 of 500 minutes a month, and had they “rolled over” to accumulate monthly, as they do on ATT, this wouldn’t have been an issue.

Tom, thanks for the info. I had no idea they had a separate billing check in at the stores - I’ll try it tomorrow.

7

I’m not naive at all. I know businesses do this. I also think they are stupid for doing this because then customers get the mindset of “Even though I screwed up, instead of paying what I owe, I’ll ask for credits. I’m entitled to it because they do it for everyone.”

It’s one thing if you call them to let them know you can’t afford to pay the bill all at once and want to work out a payment plan and they lower the bill without being asked, but calling with the intent to ask for credit when YOU screw up smacks of Entitlement Whoreism.

I notice the way you to try to blame Verizon (the victim) because they don’t have rollover minutes instead of your boyfriend for screwing up and going over the limit.

The fact is you and he screwed up and want to get out of your obligation.

I’m of the mind that if you agree to pay x amount for a service you pay that amount even if you mess up and owe more than you wanted too.

8

This exact thing happened to me last month, also with Verizon. I fucked up and they agreed to credit me. I asked for the agent’s name, wrote the time & date of call, and requested that a note be added to my account (agent said that always happens even if I don’t request it).

A few days later, I checked my balance online and it was exactly what was promised, smooth as butter.

My suggestion to you would be to simply call them (or go in), explain the situation again, and ask them to refer to the account notes and prior promises if need be. The only ground you should need is a reminder of what they already agreed to give you.

But I have to agree with dbuzman here… I felt lucky, not entitled, for having gotten the credit. They lost $100+ in exchange for little more than goodwill. My contract was nowhere near over and they still did it. Yes, they may consider it merely a cost of doing business and a customer retention scheme, but as far as schemes go, this one seems relatively benign, even win-win. It certainly didn’t make me want to switch carriers or shove a boot anywhere.

9

So, if I “can’t” pay, because of my own idiotic overspending, that makes it Verizon’s obligation to accommodate me? Sounds like you’re advocating a mini bailout plan. Alternatively, asking for an oft-issued credit smacks of whoreism in your “mind”.

I’d rather have been told “nope, no credits are issued anymore” than have wasted 3 hours of my time getting the run around. It is or it isn’t. And, dbuzman, I asked for advice or experiences with obtaining said credits issued by wireless providers. You provided neither.

Update: I called and the credit had been issued…and Verizon owes us $150? Very odd. More updates tomorrow during business hours…

10

The thing is, dbuzman and Reply, they told her she could have the credit. They didn’t have to do this; they could have insisted that she pay the $300 in overages.

But…

Once they agreed to waive the overages and give the customer a retroactive change to her plan, then they should abide by that agreement. If they don’t want to do it, then don’t agree to it in the first place.

To the OP: once you exhaust other options, try launching an Executive Email Carpet Bomb.

11

Oh I agree that once they said they would give her credit they should. My point is the situation should never have come up in the first place.

12

Absolutely. I don’t usually quote myself, but:

My suggestion to you would be to simply call them (or go in), explain the situation again, and ask them to refer to the account notes and prior promises if need be. The only ground you should need is a reminder of what they already agreed to give you.

13

It’s a non-issue. She said her account has a $150 credit now.

14

I’ve never understood why, if you can change the level of service mid-month at-will, the cellular company isn’t obligated to “mitigate the damage” by automatically adjusting your plan each month that it’s needed. In other words, when you go over your plan, you should only owe the amount required to take you to the next level of service that covers the overage.

If I rent a car by the day but keep it a week, I only pay the weekly rate, not the daily rate times seven. Why isn’t cell phone service the same?

15

Because the carriers have profit, not your best interest, at heart? Why should they change if there’s no visible consumer outrage and the few customers that argue with the method can be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, a la the OP?

FYI, Sprint’s “fair and flexible” plan used to do exactly this, but I suspect it’s because they felt a need to compete with the bigger carriers. I don’t know if they still do that.

And are you sure rental car companies automatically change you over to the weekly rate?

16

Sounds like Verizon got screwed on this deal.

17

I would agree with this. If she actually does get this resolved on paper, more than just by another service rep over the phone, that is impressive.

Usually they will do these things to keep a customer. Now that the customer has left, they no longer have this incentive.

18

Still have Verizon home phone and internet service, and FIOS just came to the area, which they’re pushing very very hard, so there’s plenty incentive.

Also, when you rent a car, as flex727 said, you aren’t locked into renting from that one car company for two years. The major companies (ATT & Verizon) are being sued for the legality of locking people into two year contracts and making them pay exorbitant fees for canceling before their contract is up.

Update: All straightened out, had overall a $243 credit and (months ago now) paid $50 in overages/upping the minutes and texting plan. Apparently when calling it’s best to deal with “OneBill” on the main Verizon number, not with the wireless sector. A very bright customer service rep informed me that all the credits made in the wireless portion of Verizon computer system can’t be seen by OneBill; thus we were continually billed for them. Additionally, the credit would have never emerged had I not called, since the wireless service is over.

If anyone has problems with their wireless Verizon bill in the future (and have home or internet with them), I suggest you deal with OneBill after you have a credit issued to you from the wireless portion, to ensure it takes.

At one point I was actually on a 3 way call with a OneBill rep and a Wireless rep, and they talked it out themselves. “Oh? You didn’t see this? I see this”. It was humorous, in a sad way.

19

Well, now that this is all resolved, I must post this link:
Verizon can’t tell the difference between dollars and cents
The whole thing was really quite astounding.

20

FTR, I agree that the OP and her boyfriend should have sucked it up from the beginning and paid what they owed. Despite it being “common practice” for customers to play the “give me some courtesy credits or I’m bailing” card, that doesn’t make it right to expect or demand it. There existed a contract between your boyfriend’s family and Verizon regarding how much would be paid in overages. You went over. But that’s water under the bridge, as you played your hand, and apparently got what you wanted.

I will agree, though, that if it comes to it, and you ask for the credit and are promised it, they should follow through.

No, there’s not. If Verizon is like any major company I’ve ever worked with, Verizon Wireless is an entirely separate business entity than Verizon FiOS, home phone, etc. The wireless reps don’t care at all that you’re signed up for FiOS – they care about your wireless account. They are trained (and experienced) to usually ignore promises of “well, I see you’re offering FiOS… and I could be inclined to sign up, if we can fix this little situation…” Because 9 times out of 10, it doesn’t matter, and the customer is just BSing to get a credit.

Maybe, but right now, it’s legal. And you (or your parents) signed up with it – agreeing to the costs and the contract length under your own free will.