Fri, 28 Mar 2008 18:08:42 +0000 (UTC)
Bill I appreciate you getting back to me, as I mentioned my problem with Verizon has always been a very frustrating and painful subject to talk about. Especially when you the consumer knows an organization as big as Verizon has been improperly handling my closed account.
Well to make a long story short. I too am a victim. It all started on March 2006. I purchased a home in a community that was in an un-incorporated area of Corona CA. I had no idea on the journey that I would embark when I called AT&T and asked if I can sign up for local internet service. Immediately did they notify me that they didn’t service my area? I would have to call Verizon. So, I did. I finally got thru to a Verizon representative, I was told they didn’t have any local wiring available because we were a new community, so I would have to opt for they’re underground fiber optic cabling to allow me to have internet service. I went ahead and enrolled out of desperation the cost for activation was $99.00 dollars paid via credit card over the phone. Three months later, June 2006 I received mailed literature and it mentioned” We are in your neighborhood” savings, bundle packages! I realized I didn’t mind the local phone service and if it would save me $$$ why not? So, once again I was on my cell calling Verizon. I inquired about the different bundle packages they had available, so I was convinced the ”Freedom essentials package” was the one for me I told the representative I already had FIOS, she said no worries I would make all the changes… of course…... It would include, Internet DSL and Local long distance. The cost was minimal for both, a total of $70.00 dollars a month. Do you see where this is going? DSL?? But I had FIOS Fiber optic underground cabling????... This is where my entire world starts to make a turn for the worse…. My first bill arrived mid month in June into my service, throughout my initial start with Verizon while I had FIOS…I would receive my bill via they’re auto-response statement reminder to pay your bill. I would make all my payments on-line. But they started sending me my billing statements via mail as well. So, I would log on and pay my bill! …..In August 2007 I received a statement where it states I owed $478.00 dollars! LOL, I was like “WTF” I logged on before calling and I wrote down the times I had my Credit card debited to make my payments??? I immediately jumped on the phone and called Verizon to find out what this was all about. They transferred me to different departments, including my old FIOS, DSL, billing etc…. guess what? After speaking with my FIOS billing/ tech support I realized this account wasn’t properly set up from the start! My money was being posted to the wrong older account “FIOS” But what about me having DSL? Now I’m on the phone speaking with billing, they transferred me to they’re FIOS billing support because they handle all FIOS accounts. And here I am disputing the fact that “I no longer have a FIOS account, I have DSL? LOL…after several more different transfers I finally spoke with someone that knew what they were doing…. Or so I thought…..She closed the old FIOS account and re-opened another to reflect where the $$ was going to go! I gave her my billing account that I had received from Verizon stating that I owed $478.00… she said she would credit all my payments to reflect on this “NEW” account….
Than I had a zero balance…..after 4 hours of being on the phone trying to get this issue resolved, she said she was going to transfer me to billing and have them verify and review. The call got disconnected while she transferred me since I thought she took care of this I’ll call another day or wait for my next billing cycle.
I continued to receive billing statements with high balances…. I was immediately again on the phone, but this time with they’re collection department because they shut off my internet service for NON-payment and they had already reported me to the three major credit bureaus. This I was not going to tolerate!!!!
I’ve been in contact with Verizon numerous times; both by phone and in writing disputing the validity of this account and yet to this date nothing….
I finally pulled the plug on January 12, 2008 when I sold my first home and where I was relocating to the service provider wasn’t Verizon it was AT&T...LMAO!!!
I called Verizon, told them since I couldn’t transfer my service, “Oh what a shame” LOL… I needed to cancel…because they didn’t service my area… I asked what would be my final bill at a prorated rate; she said I would only owe $71.00 dollars…. I asked her to send me the UPS label to send you back my equipment, so I wouldn’t be charged the $99.00 dollars fee. I paid $71.00 over the phone and 7 days later I received my return shipment information, and sent it back! I was finally rid of Verizon for good!!!!..... But why am I still being billed???
Or so I thought….. I’m a huge controlling freak so I got into the habit of checking my credit report at least once a month for viewing purposes. And what do you know; now I not only still have 1 collection account but 2!!! I called Verizon their collections department, I was talked down to by one of they’re reps within they’re collections department this guy was so rude he purposely transferred me to their financial services department and this is where it gets worse. They had no clue at to what I was talking about, they asked me to verify my account, or accounts with them, I had several I had FIOS, I had DSL, I had residential LAN line I had it all and you haven’t paid. “WTF” I only wanted the “Freedom essential bundle package” The accounts you mentioned are not on record no notes have been annotated or recorded you owe $848.00... LMAO To make matters worse, I received a notice from a collection agency I called them and informed them about my on-going issues with Verizon and that they were not going to collect on this account. I told them you need to refer back to Verizon, I was disputing this account!
It’s now been almost too long to comprehend why or what do I need to do to make this all go away! It’s now March 2008 and I just got another collection notice from another collection agency stating that I owe them $512.00 dollars!!!
I blew a fuse!!!
Beatriz H.*
Tue, 4 Nov 2008 18:24:06 +0000 (UTC)
Hello,
My name is Lisa B. We currently switched from ATT because we wanted high speed Internet, which was unavailable in our area. We also switched because of their nightmare automated system and poor customer service. Any way, from day one when we switched to Verizon's bundle package, it's been nothing but a nightmare. I have logged well over 15 hours with 10 different tech's, who knew nothing of what they were doing. I had logged so many complaints that someone from management contacted me about all of the complaints. Of course, I never heard back from them again. I have even received cash back or credits on our Verizon account because of all of the crap.
When we first received all of the equipment from Verizon, the nightmare began. The Verizon Wireless DSL box would not link to the Internet. It took 5 tech's and 8 hours to finally get it working. Once that began working we started having problems with our home phones not working. The list goes on and I won't bother you with all of the crap that went on.
I needed the Verizon tech's to do 2 things for me. They were get my already wireless ready laptop to sync with the wireless box and transfer my sub folders from my old AT T email account to my Verizon email. They were supposed to switch over when we used their True Switch icon to do this, but they didn't switch over. After having 4 more tech's tell me that I couldn't sync my wireless laptop unless I ran a line from my laptop to the wireless box. I said, why would I do that? That defeats the purpose of being wireless. I said that my laptop already can connect to the Internet with they software that is came loaded with. The signal strength was low but it was still faster than the dial up. After having the tech's screen share with me, which was a big mistake, but hind site is 20/20, they had screwed up many files and folders in an attempt to make the two in sync with each other. After 4 hours on the phone and screen sharing, I had had enough. These tech's had messed up my system so bad that I needed to contact Dell to fix all of the problems. Which thankfully, I got a tech who actually knew what he was doing. After fixing all of the screw ups of Verizon, which I had to pay for because I was out of warranty, but it was $49 well spent. He went through everything slowly and made sure I knew, saw and understood what he was doing. Then he did what the Verizon tech's said couldn't be done. He linked my laptop with the wireless box, no line needed. Just like a thought, yet these high priced tech people couldn't seem to accomplish nor did they have a clue on how to do it.
Then I went to the next problem, because you don't want to overload these Verizon tech's with too many things, because they just can't comprehend it. I wanted my sub folders from AT T switched to my Verizon account. Do you think they could do it? No way. They didn't even have a clue that there was an icon called True Switch, which is on there homepage for all new customers, that sent out an email letting people know that your email has changed and it moved over my address book, but it did not move my sub folders. After going through about 3 more tech's and 4 more hours, I gave up on them again. I went to the web site and after hours of searching finally found out how to contact True Switch directly. I emailed them this problem on October 2nd. They finally got back to me on October 25th, which was exactly 1 month since we had switched to Verizon and how long AT T gives you to get everything switched over. So now my AT T account is closed and True Switch is telling me I have to call AT T, pay to have the account restored so that they can retrieve those files. I was ready to pull my hair out! It took every ounce of energy I had not to sink my teeth into these people. I said, so in other words you want me to not only pay for your services, but go back and reinstate my old account so you can finally take care of what was asked of you over 3 weeks ago? I don't think so. It is your fault that those files were not transferred over, because you people dragged your feet about it!
So then, I try again to file a formal complaint farther up the chain of command about all of the crap I've been dealing with. Nope, can't do it I'm told. I would have to call the tech department back. I said will I get a supervisor or someone over there that can take this complaint and actually do something about it? Nope. All I can do is call there and if there is a supervisor on duty, but they won't guarantee that. I said what about the woman who called me from the management department of Verizon. Nope. Tells me that all of my complaints are logged in there. I said what? Do you mean that you, yourself can't see them, or they're not there? He said, I can't see them. I told him that is a big difference. So, I am an unhappy person, who cannot seem to get the point across to anyone that I talk to that this whole mess is their fault! They want me to call and have my AT T account reinstated and then they will help. Where was the help when I needed it during the time frame allowed?
I want to file a complaint with someone higher up than a supervisor, but have been told that that is impossible. I don't think so. Verizon has cost me very much physical, mental and emotional distress about this whole thing, because of the nit wits that they have for tech's. Are you able to help me file a formal complaint higher up in this company? I sure hope so, because I have no where else to look and no one who will listen at Verizon. Well, they listen, they just don't get it! Any help you could offer would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance,
Lisa B.*
I wrote Lisa back and said...
"Howdy Lisa,
I am so sorry to hear that you've had so many problems with Verizon. I'm also sorry to say that I do not have a way of contacting someone further up the chain of command, but that doesn't mean I can't help you get the problem resolved IF Verizon actually cares about fixing this mess.
I checked both sites I use to find phone numbers for companies...
http://gethuman.com/gethuman_list.asp?bname="V"
http://www.hardtofind800numbers.com/listings/v.htm
....but neither have a number that would get you past the normal chain of support folks. Sorry.
However, all companies HATE having negative information about them available Online and will then attempt to help someone if they know this info is out there for everyone to see, hence the reason I started my web site in the first place. :-)
I would be more than happy to add your complaint to my web site and then you could e-mail Verizon Customer Support the link so they can see that you're adding complaints about them Online. Plus, my web site isn't the only one and there are others "bigger" than me that get more traffic and you might try a few of those as well...
http://www.bbb.org/
http://www.complaints.com/
https://www.consumeraffairs.com/php/a_report.php
....there may be others, but those are the ones I have listed on my site so far. If Verizon knows you're lodging a complaint about them at all of these sites it might motivate them to help you. I can only hope this is enough to help you get this mess resolved, but please let me know what else I can do for you and I'll try my best to help.
Y'all take care!
Bill"
And Lisa replied...
Hi William,
I would be very appreciative if you would put my complaint about Verizon on your web site.
I recently received another email from them telling me not to cancel my ATT until they get the sub folders transfered to the Verizon account. I informed them that the account is active for 1 month and it should not take another month for them to fix this problem. They then tell me they hope it won't and that they have put me farther up on their list, which is where I should of been in the first place being a new customer. Also, you would think that they would want to resolve this issue because of all of the complaints that they have received from me.
I am not sure how to post my email that I had sent you on the other web sites. I have never done it before so I have no clue how to do it. I also have no idea on how to send that complaint to the customer service of Verizon. If you wouldn't mind posting it on those other web sites, I would be very grateful. If you also tell me how to send it to Verizon to show that I am posting my complaint out there for everyone to see, I will do it.
I can't thank you enough for your help. It's nice to know that someone is willing to help with this problem. Too bad it's not Verizon itself. I will wait to hear back from you about posting the complaint on your sites as well as the others.
Thank you again for everything!
Lisa B.*
with questions or comments about this web site.
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