Verizon Not Honoring Renewal Terms
tshake
Newbie

Short Version:

  • I agreed to a renewal of my Verizon Triple-Play with explicit agreement on a price of $89.99 per month with no upgrade of service.
  • The first bill under the new contract was $114.99 and included service upgrades. A telephone rep agreed with my position, credited me the difference on the bill, and said that a recurring adjustment would be placed on the account.
  • Next month, the one-time credit appeared but not the recurring adjustment.  Another telephone rep acknowledged the problem, issued another $25 credit and said she would follow up on the prior promise.
  • The third month was a repeat of the second month.  The one-time credit appeared on the bill, the recurring adjustment was not made, and yet another telephone rep apologized, issued another $25 credit, and promised to follow up on the adjustment.
  • The fourth month showed the one-time credit but not the adjustment.  The telephone rep this time said obviously it wasn't wrong or else Verizon would have fixed it because Verizon does not make mistakes.. Eventually, she said she didn't want to discuss it any further, and when I asked to speak to a supervisor, she took my day-time phone and said I would be called within 24 hours.  Not surprisingly, no call was received.

I find it fascinating that Verizon's practice seems to be 1) adding upgrades when they have been explicitly refused, 2) acknowledging the error but " can't " remove the upgrades, and 3) expecting the customer to pay for their mistake.

All I am looking for is for Verizon to honor the $89.99 price with my original service level.  No upgrades, no additional $25/month in charges.

Does anyone have suggestions on how I can get this resolved?

Long Version:

May 2012

Received mailing from {edited for privacy}, Director Consumer Relationship Marketing indicating it was time to renew.  The letter provided a telephone number and the www.verizon.com/morenetwork web address.

May 22  6:30 PM

Went to Verizon website. Renewal was priced at $89.99 per month for a two year agreement at the same service level.  Began to enter order and on first confirmation page it said $89.99 for first month.  On the second confirmation page, it said $94.99 for months 2 - 24.  Because that was not the price promised on the initial page, I opened a chat log {edited for privacy}.  Agent Debbie was unable to resolve the problem and could not refer it to anyone else because it was after hours.

May 23 8:30 AM

Called Verizon number from {edited for privacy} letter.  Spoke with {edited for privacy} and explained issue in detail (web confirmation not properly stated).  After two long (10 minutes + each)  sessions on hold, {edited for privacy} said she had permission from her supervisor to enter the order for $89.99 per month and gave me confirmation number {edited for privacy}.  She also gave me code {edited for privacy}which I believe relates to the support ticket.

May 25

Received a confirmation Email that referenced the confirmation number provided by {edited for privacy}

Thank you for your order which provides amazing FiOS service at a terrific monthly retail rate.

Below is a summary of the recent changes to your service.


Order Summary
Master Order Number: {edited for privacy}
Order Date: May 23, 2012

Services Ordered: Triple Play: FiOS Digital Voice Unlimited, FiOS Internet 25/25, FiOS TV Extreme HD Showtime, 2012

Internet Speed: FTTP_25M_25M



Your Service Includes**:

  • A $250 Verizon Visa® Prepaid Card, which you will receive by mail approximately 90 days after your new bundle start date. You can use the card everywhere Visa debit cards are accepted. Please monitor this email address for updates on the fulfillment of your reward. 
  • $5 off for 24-Month Term Contract Discount

In retrospect, it is apparent that the order was put through for a higher level of service than what I had requested, but I didn't realize that at the time.  Had the confirmation notice included the higher price associated with this service level, I would have rejected it immediately, but there is no statement of the agreed-upon price.

June 27 8:40 PM

After getting first bill and seeing $114.99 charge instead of $89.99, I called immediately and spoke with {edited for privacy}.  After a long session of her telling me that I had an upgraded service level and me telling her that I had not ordered an upgrade and didn't even realize it had been added to my account, she placed me on hold for several minutes to consult with her supervisor.  When she came back on the line, she repeated the upgrade features and said my original level of service was no longer available.  When I objected (because that wasn't the agreement with {edited for privacy}), she said that despite that, she would credit the $25 overcharge and put through an adjustment to set the price at $89.99 going forward.  I confirmed that I had no interest in the upgrade and did not want it but she said it could not be removed (!!) but the original pricing would be honored.

July 26  8:42 PM

The second bill had the $25 credit as promised by {edited for privacy} but no adjustment to the basic price -- it was still shown as $114.99.  I called immediately and spoke with {edited for privacy}.  She referenced the discussion history on the account, promised to issue a credit for the $25 overbilling on the account, and said that she had sent a notice to {edited for privacy} to follow through on the adjustment.

August 29 5:34 PM

The third bill had the $25 credit as promised by {edited for privacy} but again no adjustment to the basic price.  I called immediately and spoke with {edited for privacy}. She also reviewed the discussion history on the account, promised to credit the $25 overbilling and to follow up again with {edited for privacy}.  She also confirmed that {edited for privacy} had sent a note to {edited for privacy} as promised.

September 27 6:10 PM

The fourth bill had the $25 credit as promised by {edited for privacy} but yet again no adjustment to the basic price.  I called immediately and spoke with {edited for privacy}.  {edited for privacy} stated that if it had not been corrected by now that I should know better than to call each month because it was obvious (to her anyway) that there was no adjustment due regardless of all the previous conversations (which I'm not sdre she even looked at).  She said she knew her packages and that there was no package with the upgraded service for a price of $89.99.  When I said I hadn't wanted the upgrade package, she said I cannot change it and that Verizon did not owe me an adjustment..  When I asked to speak to a supervisor, she said I couldn't but one would call me within 24 hours at which point she asked for my daytime phone number -- which I provided.  She then basically told me to get off the phone because in her words, "I don't want to go around with you on this anymore."

It's now 7:18 PM on September 28, and surprise, surprise, no call was made by anyone from Verizon to either my home phone nor my office phone.  As I said at the beginning, my only goal here is to find a way to get Verizon to honor the agreement made by its representative and confirmed by other Verizon representatives on three separate occasions.  I have no problem with the service level being downgraded to my original renewal package.

Any suggestions on how to bring this sordid tale to a close would be greatly appreciated.  My only options at this point would seem to be to file as many complaints as I can with as many agencies and organizations as possible in the hope that someone picks it up and challenges Verizon's business practices.  I will also pass this along to {edited for privacy} via snail-mail since he should be aware of what makes his job so difficult.

It's not the money but the principle -- and who knows how many other people have been steam-rolled by false promises, deceptive promotions, and forced service changes.

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Re: Verizon Not Honoring Renewal Terms
Anthony_VZ
Master - Level 3

It was our pleasure to help you with your account. Please feel free to post anytime you need assistance in the future with your services. 

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Re: Verizon Not Honoring Renewal Terms
Anthony_VZ
Master - Level 3

It was our pleasure to help you with your account. Please feel free to post anytime you need assistance in the future with your services. 

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