TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE/AND FEE HIKE

[skamantpt]

When I received my latest FIOS bill (August 2017), I saw that there was a new fee that I was being charged, called the Fios TV Broadcast Fee, that I had never been charged before. As I do with all new Verizon Fees (bill went up $6 in two months...) I went to the previous month's paper bill to see whether I had received notice about this new fee prior to being charged.  I called Verizon Customer Service to inquire about this fee and was greeted by TREVOR the customer service rep. When I explained to him why I was calling, his immediate response was "well that's a standard fee, there is no way you've never been charged that fee before." I implored him to go look, at my billing history. Sure enough when he came back on the phone, he confirmed that I had never in fact been charged that fee before. I told him that I did not receive notice of this new fee in the last month's bill and asked him to remove it from my bill until such time that I am given proper notice. He refused to do so, telling me again and again that even if I wasn't given proper notice, they were still going to charge me the fee because it is standard and everyone pays that fee. Not only is this against the "contract" I've signed and been held to many times before, but it is also illegal. I then told him I would like to cancel my service, to which he said "sure, but that'll be a $90 service cancellation fee". I told him I refused to pay that and hung up. I then called back and spoke with a different customer service rep and asked to speak to supervisor. MS. BROWN then got on the phone and I explained very nicely what the problem was. When I told her I believed that I was being unfairly charged with no prior notice she excitedly said "Oh no we gave you notice! I'll find it!". She then put me on hold for 10 minutes while she combed through old bills. I did the same. I had to go back all the way to APRIL 2017 to find the notice of this new fee, which said that it would be charged after 30 days, not 4 months and two fee hikes later. I explained that that was unreasonable and that it was their fault, not mine, that I was never charged when they were supposed to charge me. I explained that their notice was faulty and that it was wrong to charge someone 4 months later without providing another notice. I explained had they come to the realization that I was not being charged when they thought they were supposed to be charging me they were required to give me another notice that I would be charged after 30 days. To this MS. BROWN said that's just the way it was. So I went through the process of cancelling my service and again was told I would be paying an Early Termination Fee. This is by far the worst customer service experience I have ever had. To have someone on the other line so giddy about "proving me wrong" just to get their stupid $4 fee was demeaning, unprofessional, and not what one expects when dealing with  a multi-billion dollar company like Verizon. To be charged a non-sense fee 4 months after they said they were going to do it and without prior notice on the previous month's bill only works to alienate customers and breed the perception that all cable companies do is try to take advantage of their customers and squeeze every last penny out. To have all three of their customer service reps not give a **bleep** about how unfair this billing was and to not care at all that I cancelled my service shows how little Verizon cares about their customers. I will NEVER use Verizon again. For anything.

[jonjones1]

Bet you feel better now that you vented.

it may interest you that you can file an online complaint with the NYS Public Service Commission  here.

http://www3.dps.ny.gov/W/PSCWeb.nsf/All/B40C096675BE10C085257687006F39E7?OpenDocument

Explain in exactly what happened. Also look at your customer service agreement where any material change can be a cause to cancel service without any early termination fee due to you having a contract. The PSC will give you a contact with Verizon executive escalation department. If you speak to them calmly I am sure something can be done to assist you.

Depending on exactly what the fee is, the PSC can compel Verizon to remove it and keep it off your invoice.

However if the fee is considered valid, or just a prior fee with an increase then you would have been dinged to pay it. But let the state of New York handle it.