beware
kuba1
Newbie

ok, so I decided awhile ago that my monthly bill of $185 for just internet and tv was too high for me, since it's just me in the house.... thought about it, and decided I just don't watch the movie channels anymore and that I could do without them.... also, my one DVR that I rent was on its last legs, the cooling fan on the unit came on awhile ago and would never turn off, and according to forums here and a friend that works for Verizon, that means that the box/dvr was on its last legs.... in the middle of February, it finally breathed its last.... so on February 17th, I called Verizon to make some changes.... I told the agent I wanted to cancel the "fully loaded entertainment pack" (which was ALL the extra movie channels) and that I was returning the DVR...... during this call, she (the agent) tried to upsell me on my internet plan, but I told her that I was happy with it as it was and wanted no changes.. I had the 20/5 plan, and that was working fine for me.... she mentioned upgrading to quantum, and I specifically told her that I'd heard bad things about quantum (because of this forum) and that I wanted to just keep my internet plan as it was..... when I made this call, my Verizon "double play" was $111.99 a month...... I got a confirmation email from Verizon confirming the changes.... then, I got another email from Verizon confirming my "order"... I figured that was some sort of mistake.... a day or two later, I got another email saying that the equipment I ordered was on its way.... since I did NOT order any equipment, I called Verizon back to ask about it.... the agent this time said that because my router was one of the old ones, probably the agent thought I should have it upgraded... I asked about the price and that agent assured me that it would NOT cost me anything, my router was just being upgraded...... got the new router a couple days later and sent the old one back.... in the meantime, since I had changed my services, I called Verizon back again to verify exactly how much I was supposed to pay on my upcomiing payment.... the agent told me that I had to pay the prevously invoiced amount and that any pro-rated deductions would show up my next bill.... so a couple days ago, I get an email with my new bill..... clicked on the link to see a breakdown of it, and was shocked to find out the following:.... I got a credit for the unused "fully loaded entertainment pack" and for the unused days after I'd returned the DVR... BUT, also for Feb 17th, I got a pro-rated return for my internet 20/5 plan billed at the rate of $38 a month, and then a new bill for the same 20/5 internet plan billed at the rate of $50 a month, and that my double play amount was now $123.99 a month instead of $111.99..... so I called Verizon again to ask for clarification.... the agent looks at my bill and says that I owe $118.86 (the amount after the pro-rated deductions were applied), which was the invoiced amount.... I tell her that that's not my question, that I wanted to know why my double play plan was suddenly $12 higher and why my internet plan was suddenly $12 higher..... she again looks at it and repeats that I only owe them $118.86.... I again tell her that that's NOT my question, that I want to know why my plan increased  by $12, seemingly coincidentally on the same day I called to downgrade some services.... the agent says she'll look into it.... she comes back and says that since I'm not under a contract, that that is now the new price and that there is nothing she can do about it..... I point out to her that apparently my bill increased IN THE MIDDLE OF MY PHONE CALL ON THE 17th, and why was that???.... she again repeated that that was the new plan price and that she had no control over that.... so I asked to be connected to someone that DID have control over that.... she puts me on hold again.... a couple minutes later, she comes back on and says again that thats' the new price and that she has no control over it, but that she can offer me a "valued customer" discount of $15 a month for 12 months.... shellshocked, I say I guess I have to take that...... she stresses that it's only good for 12 months.... we get off the phone.... I talk to my friend that works at Verizon and he said that probablly what happened is that when the order was placed for the new router (that I did NOT order or ask for), that invalidated my "grandfathered in" price of $111.99 for my double play package and that the new price of $123.99 was recouping the cost of the router that I did not order..... so basically, yes, I've got a stay of execution for a year with the $15 a month discount, but at the same time, i've now basically agreed to the new $123.99 double play cost... when the 12 months runs out, that is my new plan cost..... now, while $12 a month might not seem like a lot, I still feel violated because the new cost is the result of a piece of equipment I did not order, that the agent "slammed" me with... I'm sure she'll get an award for screwing me over with it and increasing my bill....  the point of this lengthy rambling is just to remind y'all to always check and double check all facts when dealing with Verizon customer service...... I'm no fan of Comcast, but I'm definitely investigating my options there because my only recourse as a consumer is to "vote with my pocketbook" if I'm unhappy with how I've been treated, and I definitley feel like Verizon played dirty with me on this one......

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Re: beware
tns2
Community Leader
Community Leader

You are writing on a public forum where peers help peers.  Your message is so unreadable I doubt anyone can read it to actually help you.  I believe a Verizon admin has tried to remove peronal info which you should never post in these forums.

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Re: beware
kuba1
Newbie

yeah, I can see where it might be hard to read without paragraphs and such, but I was basically typing stream of conciousness.... if it's unreadable, I apologize.... as for personal info, I didn't post any,

1) on Feb 17th, I called to downgrade services, eliminated movies and a DVR, so only now had "double play" at $111

2) rep asked me if I wanted to upgrade my internet plan (currently 20/5)

3) I declined, said I was happy enough with what I had, and specifically said I didn't want Quantum because I'd seen quite a few negative reviews here

4) got confirmation email about downgraded services, then got separate confirmation email confirming my "order"

5) next day, got email stating that my order was going to ship.... since I did not order anything, I called Verizon...

6) rep assured me my bill wasn't changing, that they were just upgrading my old router... he even apologized and said that I should have been informed of this by the other agent.... since I wasn't paying extra for the current router (that I know of), this seemed plausible to me....

7) got email the other day with my new bill, my "double play" package was now suddenly $123, an increase of $12 month

😎 reading my bill, turns out that my 20/5 internet was $38 monthly until that Feb 17th phone call, then raised to $50 for that same 20/5 service after that date... no upgrade in service but an upgrade in price

9) called Verizon, rep told me that that was now the price and there was nothing that she could do... I asked why the price was $111 until I called them to downgrade and suddenly increased to $123 on that specific day?? why was my bill increased in the middle of a billing cycle with no warning?? she would only say that my "double play" was now $123 and that there was nothing that she could do....

10) was talking with a friend who works at Verizon, he said he thinks that when I got the new router (that I did not order), that "broke" my grandfathered in "double play" plan price of $111, and that now I was basically being billed $12 a month for the new router....

summation: Verizon rep ordered a new router for me that I didn't order, that I specifically declined... then when I found out it had been ordered, I was told it wouldn't affect my bill by another rep..... now that I have gotten my bill, I find out that i'm paying $12 a month more ($144 a year) and 3rd rep says that is new price and there's nothing they can do.... I assume the price hike is to recoup the cost of the router, but since that is not actually spelled out on my bill, I'm thinking I'll be paying $12 a month in perpetuity for the router, which over time will end up costing me far more than the router would cost if had bought it.... mainly the purpose of this post was to alert people to be vigilant about verifying what they're being told as it relates to their bill when they're on the phone with Verizon.....

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