Verizon issues – is this what I will have each month?

[Presentation]

My question is, after only being on the Verizon system for a month and having 6 errors I am asking of this is the type of service I can expect from Verizon?

I have been an Alltel customer for years. I live in a town by Appleton Wisconsin. Alltel was purchased by Verizon. Because of this I am now a Verizon customer.

Last month was my first month under Verizon billing.

One day last month I could not get online with my EVDO air card. I went to a local Verizon store. The first thing I asked is if the system was down for former AllTel customers. The customer service representative claimed to check, and looking at their monitor that I could not see and typing on their keyboard said there was no reported system outages.

Error #1) They claimed their system was not down, it was.

I had my laptop and card with me. The CSR played with it a bit and claimed he determeind the card was broken and not fixable and the solution was to sell me a new air card.

Error #2) My card had no issue. A day later everything worked as it had before.

The CSR said if I got a new card the $59.99 monthly access fee would be pro-rated so I still would only pay $59.99 plus taxes for the month plus the onetime fee for the new card.

I agreed to this, paid for a new air card, they deactivated my air card and activated a new one that also did not work. By this time others came in the store with air card issues. A manager came over and said the the system is down but it’s not an official down so it’s not in the computer. OK, I said please cancel this new card, give me my money back and reactivate my old card. He did.

I got my phone bill. Wow!

For my data card I was charged:

BSP Unlimited Plan 11/22 - 12/21 $59.99 (my normal data access)

Wireless Internet 11/13 - 11/21 $17.42 (I assume the pro-rated data access for the card I never got)

Error # 3) charged me a prorated access fee for a card I did not have.

Wireless Internet 11/22 - 12/21 $59.99 (I guess more just to really push it over the top)

Error #4) I really can’t explain why I got this one. Maybe when they reactivated my account they just decided to charge me for a full month again for pure profit.

Yesterday I got an email telling me I can view my bill online. I did, discovered these charges, called customer service and the person agreed the $17.42 and $59.99 plus any related taxes were in error and would credit my account for this plus $10 for my inconvenience.

Today I get an email that my bill had been updated. I only got the $27.42 ($17.42 + $10) credit, the double $59.99 and all related taxes remain.

Error #5) When issuing the billing correction they made another error, in their favor, by not crediting my account for this second $59.99.

I call again. The new person says they agree I should not be billed twice for the $59.99 data package but I was and I was not credited correctly and I am still owed a $59.99 credit but they can’t do anything today, he is off Monday but Tuesday will request this credit but there is nothing they can do about all the additional taxes because that’s a different department.

Error #6) If Verizon makes a over-billing error and this causes additional taxes, they may credit and fix the error but they keep the related taxes. I don't think this is right but I could not convince the CSR on the phone that I was correct.

So I have been a Verizon customer for 1 month and have had 6 errors.

 

[diznygirl]

Yes. It's nothing new for Verizon.

 

[NikitaZee]

We have been Verizon customers for 6 years, and yes we do have an issue with billing errors (I am speaking of Verizon wireless). It's a trade-off for us, because Verizon has the best coverage in our area and we rarely have dropped calls. It's usually nickel-and-dime stuff, but it happens over and over again - every couple of months I'm calling because I've been charged roaming fees (in my own driveway), data usage charges when I don't use data features, etc. They're usually polite and helpful and credit my account, but it gets tiresome calling several times a year for the same issues.

 

[bicker]

Verizon's notoriously bad billing system was one of the things that kept me from switching to Verizon for so long. The bad billing errors is a very unfortunate fact of life. It has been going on so long, and despite so much time, energy and effort expended to try to get Verizon to fix them, without success, that I personally am going into the Verizon experience fully cognizant of the fact that we will have billing catastrophes, and they'll be a PITA to remedy. However, word is that the service is presumably so much better than the alternative, that the billing problem will supposedly be worth it.

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

I am dealing with a data charge errors AGAIN . I went through this last year and a "specialist" was tasked to my case to figure out WHY this kept happening. I was not using the Browser nor Get it now. Have unlimited text and pics.

This month there were TWO MB's on the bill. I do nothing but call and text/pic message. Everything else (like internet) is even blocked so no accidental hitting of that. It is maddening. Is usually only $1.99 (plus tax) mb wrong, double that this month. But that adds up over several years! I imagine many people don't notice this and pay it. The Verizon forum is full of this issue. Some are even told they have to pay MB for sending photos. NOT right if you have unlimited text/pic plan!

The bad part is when they don't want to take it off, insist you used the browser (that is blocked). I think I would notice if I unblocked my browser and looked at 100 pages or so...

I have heard that other wireless companies have billing issues too.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Error #1) They claimed their system was not down, it was.

Respectfully, you were told - correctly at the time you asked - that there were no reported outages. It was most likely you and others coming into stores or calling Verizon that notified them there was a problem. If nobody tells them, it's reasonable that it wouldn't be in the computer.

Just wanted to point that out.

 

[johnnymo99]

If you need to call into them again ask for a former Alltel employee(now a Verizon Wireless employee). Most of the Verizon employees have no idea about what Alltel offered and how to fix your problems. You actually could get bad info. Go the the VerizonWireless dot com website and look in the forums for former Alltel customers. A warning: be very wary of Verizon and them trying to switch you to one of their plans. Alltel offered cheaper and better plans plus much better customer service. In my opinion Verizon's plans are much more expensive and more restrictive. You can keep your Alltel plan but be careful when switching phones because some will only work with Verizon plans and they will switch you and cancel your Alltel plan(then your out of luck). Hope this helps. Just fyi I used to work for Alltel years ago in IT and have some knowledge(insider) of the switch over to Verizon .

Good luck

 

[JessicaR]

Verizon has the WORST customer service of all businesses I have ever dealt with. They are the pits! We cancelled all service with them after they told my husband they werent sending anymore techs to our home to fix our non working phone system.

I have never been so frustrated with a company in my life.

 

[tar heel]

We had a majorly messed up bill -- when we got new phones, the rep forgot to install my teen's texting package. His bill was $900+. When they adjusted it, they said the tax would be taken off on the next bill and it indeed was, so maybe the tax thing will turn out okay for the OP.

We have the $1.99 data charge on three of our lines this month, too. I've not called yet, but I don't intend to pay for data unless I actually use it.

 

[phorsenuf]

I've had Verizon for many many years and have had nothing but great experiences with them.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Not wireless-related, but one of my neighbors called Verizon to upgrade her phone service. She got a letter a couple of days later thanking her for being a customer and telling her what day they would be shutting off her phone.

 

[foxysilver]

I worked at Verizon Wireless for 3 years as an in-store technician, your post really brought back memories lol.

Now at the store level we were never trained or allowed to service or even troubleshoot air cards. We couldn't touch your laptop at all. All we could do was give you the number to the data services customer support team. It's likely that the sales rep you were talking to at the store saw that you were eligible to upgrade your equipment/plan and told you that the issue was your air card just to get the sale/ commission.

It's also completely possible that they did check to see if the network was down as a whole, and the verizon intranet said it was up. One night I was working and the entire verizon network went down in the town I worked in. We never got any call or email stating that it was down in the first place, or even when it would be back up. Like it never even happened.

I didn't deal with billing much at all, but I know that when they credit your account it sometimes takes 1-2 billing cycles to process.

If you continue to have problems your best bet is to call customer service and threaten to cancel. They will usually move mountains to get your to stay. Anything that customer service remarks on your account the store will have to honor.

 

[Presentation]

Thank you all very much. It’s encouraging!

 

[RangerPooh]

We had Verizon for a few years and they were notorious with problems, billing and phone service availability. We switched to Cingular/ATT for the last 4 years and had much better service. Sadly we moved to an area where ATT coverage is not the best and had to returnto Verizon. Again we are reminded as to why we switched.

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

We have the $1.99 data charge on three of our lines this month, too. I've not called yet, but I don't intend to pay for data unless I actually use it.

I have googled and this a HUGE issue. All 4 of our phones have had it, multiple at times. I won't pay it. I even see a lawsuit online over it. Many articles and columns too.

 

[kydisneyfans]

We have had 6 bills from Verizon since we signed up in July, and we have had 6 bills that have been incorrect tying up at least an hour every month to straighten out. They have the worst billing system of any company I have ever dealt with.

 

[Nancy]

I've had Verizon for many many years and have had nothing but great experiences with them.

Us too, cell phones with them and no billing issues ever. Now I did have issues with the land line...the wire was down in our yard and it took them a week to come out and fix it, they were in no hurry since we don't have our land line with them anymore..it is through the cable..so it was a dead wire. When they finally came out they just removed the whole thing. I guess we can never go back to them for land line service since they just cut it right off at the house, they would need to re wire again and I'm sure we'd get a nice charge for that one.

 

[SaraJayne]

OP, I live very close to you and have heard nothing but bad things about Verizon.

We've had US Cellular for 12 years and never had a bit of trouble with them. The customer service is fantastic.

Though I don't know if they have the specific service you're talking about. I only use my phone to talk.

 

[Scurvy]

I've had Verizon for 10 years and I think I've had one billing error in all that time, and no other problems at all. I've wanted an iPhone since they came out but I wasn't willing to switch away from Verizon in order to get one. Thankfully, that's bothering me less now that I have my Droid! OP, I'm sorry your experience with them hasn't been as good.

 

[LindaG4458]

We are former Verizon customers. They decided that Maine, NH, and Vermont were not profitable enough and sold our portions of the business to a small company called Fairpoint. This purchase was bigger than their entire company beforehand. The billing errors and service quality are so bad that officials from all three states had a joint meeting with the company and told them to clean things up. When I left NH for Florida at the end of October Fairpoint was going to file for reorganizatioin under bankrupcy protection. We haven't read any NH local news so I don't know if it happened.

We only have a landline through them and it has everything blocked except local calling. We use an AT&T prepaid calling card or our cell phones for long distance. Our bill has been OK but there isn't much to foul up. Others have had disasters similar to the Verizon messes described here.