We had Verizon for our local phone service and AT&T for our long distance phone service (I've had AT&T for long distance for many years.) starting in 1998 when we moved into our current home. We only left Verizon because AT&T came up with a package deal for our local, long distance and Internet service that we couldn't pass up.
Comcast bought out AT&T's services here in Richmond and they didn't want to work with us on the local and long distance phone service along with the Internet service (They forced us to take a cable TV and Internet service package deal we didn't want.), but that's another rant for another day.
So, after the Comcast crap we had to deal with, I decided to go back to Verizon and AT&T for phone service (Comcast didn't even care they were losing us as $60+ phone service customers and forcing us to take an $8+ Cable TV service, but again, that's another rant....).
I had been solicited for several years by EarthLink and others for DSL Internet service and decided that I didn't want to deal with Comcast's stupidity/ignorance anymore so I started calling around for DSL Internet service. I was told by several companies that now we could not get DSL service on our line because it was now a "Digital" line. Huh!!?? There's copper wire coming into this house, not fiber optic or whatever's used for digital service.
So, I phone Verizon to find out what this was all about. I get shuffled around to several different departments until I finally reach a guy in Tech Support who knows why. He says it's because AT&T had added a "digital loop filter" in their "box down the street" that changed our line into a digital line. He says all that needs to be done is to remove that filter. I say fine, please remove that filter. He replies he can't without a work order from the Phone Service department. The Phone Service department says they can't put in that work order, it has to come from the Internet Service department. The Internet Service department says they can't put in that work order since they don't deal with Phone Service work orders. Can y'all see where this is going!!??
Now, I contact Customer Service and explain the problem, they contact Tech Support who says they have no idea what we're talking about. This is going nowhere fast!
After several more similar calls and being passed around to different departments again, I finally call Customer Service back and tell them that if they can't resolve this I will cancel our phone service with them. They say they can't help so I cancelled our phone service with both Verizon (Local Carrier) and AT&T (Long Distance Carrier) on January 24, 2005.
I've been in contact with Customer Service numerous times since then, both by phone and in writing, informing Verizon that I cancelled phone service with their company on January 24, 2005 and they still keep billing us refusing to turn our phone service off and credit us for the past seven months. And, of course, since we haven't paid the bill for our non-phone service, they're now threatening to shut off our phone service and send the bills to a collection agency. LMAO!!! *sigh*
Now it's time to get the BBB, FCC and FTC involved.
September 09, 2005: We received a Revised Final Bill from Verizon for $125.49, LOL. I wonder how we managed to owe another $125.49 even though we cancelled service with Verizon on January 24, 2005? I wonder if they really think they'll get away with this? Maybe they're hoping we're either stupid, or just ignorant?
September 21, 2005: We just received notice from a collections agency that our Verizon phone service has been cancelled for non-payment and now they're attempting to collect on this debt, LMAO!!! I called them and informed them about this on-going "problem" with Verizon and that they would not be collecting on this account.
I'm filing an Online Complaint with the Maryland Division of the BBB right now, as I'm getting sick and tired of this damn game Verizon insists on playing with us!
October 08, 2005: On September 21, 2005, the BBB of Maryland wrote, by snail-mail, to inform me that they're not the office to handle this complaint since Verizon has a Richmond, VA office. They said the Richmond, VA office of the BBB should handle this complaint. (I called the Maryland Division of the BBB number and explained, to the lady who wrote me, that the Richmond, VA BBB web site didn't have a listing for Verizon and "it" wouldn't allow me to file a complaint Online; Hence the reason I filed a complaint with the Maryland office of the BBB. She had already forwarded my complaint to the Richmond, VA office of the BBB and said they'd be contacting me soon.)
October 6, 2005, a Thursday, I received a phone call from an Angela Shackleford (sp?) of Verizon, (I'm not sure what division.) and she informed me that she'll "...look into this..." complaint and call me back when she had "...some more information..." about this whole situation (I included a link to this page in my original filing of the complaint against Verizon to the Maryland office of the BBB...I wonder if she saw this page?).
She called me back on Friday (?) and informed me that the reason the original person I spoke with at Verizon did not cancel our service on January 24, 2005 was because I didn't give her my account password. I almost said, "Bullshit!" since I have been using passwords on ALL of my phone, utilities and bank accounts since 1987, when I was taught to do so by an AT&T representative after MCI changed my long-distance service without my permission (Remember those days?), but I didn't say anything to Angela at that time. However, anytime I call any any company I do business with these days, I must give them a password before they'll discuss anything about my account with me over the phone since I have all of my accounts setup that way...as did the "person" I spoke with at Verizon the day I told them to cancel my account (And, every Verizon Rep I've spoken with since January 24, has asked for my password before they'd even discuss our account with me.). *whatever*
Angela said she placed an order to cancel our account that day, that it would reflect the January 24, 2005 cancellation date, and that Verizon would credit us $149.75. She said the actual balance owed was $125.49 and that there was a credit due that would be mailed out to us soon. Now, on October 7, 2005, we received another demand for final payment of $125.49 from Verizon (The exact same amount quoted in the Revised Final Bill that we received from Verizon on September 9, 2005. (Even though our account had been turned over to a collections agency for non-payment on September 12, 2005.)). So, I don't know how she came up with $149.75...unless I heard her wrong...which is possible since she talked fast and I have hearing problems. *whatever*
We'll see what happens next.
October 16, 2005: We received a letter dated Oct. 07, 2005 from Verizon stating;
"This correspondence is to serve as verification that the above mentioned account with our company is paid in full and will be removed from you [sic] credit profile. It may take 45-60 days for your credit profile to be updated, please retain this letter for your records.
If we can be of any further assistance, please call our office at 1-800-477-7244.
Sincerely,
M. Allen
Customer Appeals Office"
The amount mentioned is $125.49, so I must have mis-understood Angela during our phone conversation about the amount she said was refunded...or whatever.
Unless something negative shows up in the future on any of my credit reports, I can now, finally, consider this problem resolved. Thank God!!
November 09, 2005: We received another statement, dated Nov. 01, 2005, from Verizon stating a credit of $149.75 was applied to our account towards the $125.49 they claimed we owed. That leaves a balance due us of $24.26.
Dunno how the hell they came up with that, but I don't wish to argue with them anymore. And, of course, this still doesn't change my opinion of the company and the experience we've had with them.
November 28, 2005: Sure enough, a check for $24.26 showed up last week.
August 17, 2006: We checked my Credit Report on June 18, 2006 with all three Credit Reporting Agencies for a different reason and realized that Verizon had included all this "mess" on my credit report in a negative fashion. Meaning, we now have to "clean up" Verizon's mess on more time. *grrr!*
We contacted Experian directly to dispute the entry from Verizon and Verizon quickly responded and agreed that payment for services rendered had indeed been paid in full, 60 days late. *frickin' jerks!*
Now I have to dispute that the final payment for services rendered was ever late.
As you already know from following this story from the beginning, we cancelled service with Verizon on January 25, 2005 and made our final payment for services rendered in February 2005. So, there's no way in hell that the final payment for services rendered was 60 days late!
So, we go back to Experian to dispute this 60 Days Late Charge, and then find that they only allow 120 Characters to be entered in the Dispute Screen...After typing all of this, that is...WTF!!?? How can anyone possibly dispute ANYTHING while only being allowed to use 120 Characters!!??
So, now I have to tell Experian to "visit" this page so that I can include ALL of the relevant info needed in order to dispute Verizon's claim that my final payment for services rendered was 60 days late. *grrr!*
Well Experian, here's the Whole Story that y'all won't let me submit:
Verizon was asked to close this account on January 24, 2005.
After numerous calls and letters over many months, with no results, I finally had to contact the BBB to file a complaint against Verizon to get this matter resolved.
Finally, in October of 2005, Angela Shackleford called to say that the account would finally be closed and that all charges from January 25, 2005 forward would be removed from my credit report.
And, in October of 2005, I also received a letter saying that the account had been paid in full and that any negative remarks would be removed from my credit report. This letter was signed by M. Allen, Customer Appeals Office.
The $125.00+ dollars that Verizon claims were "60 days past due" were charges that they added to our account after I attempted to close the account in January of 2005. Meaning, there were never any past due payments made by us because the final full payment for services rendered by Verizon was made by us in February of 2005!
Please see the following web page for more information:
www.stupidorjustignorant.com/Verizon.php
Sincerely,
William A. Ford
Now, I gotta admit that I'm slightly biased about not being able to "submit" enough characters to dispute a charge on my credit report, especially considering that the previous dispute I attempted to submit is over 1k characters, but how else could I possibly submit my claim with fewer characters!!??
August 22, 2006: Wow! It's finally over! Verizon agreed that we never had any past due payments made and has cleared my credit report! Yeah!! Thank You Verizon for, finally, "fixing" this issue that you created.
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