Flagrant FIOS Equipment Return Fraud and Extortion
gaudiobg
Newbie

Flagrant FIOS Equipment Return Fraud and Extortion

You are not alone if you are having a nightmarish experience in trying to return your FIOS equipment…

My family has been a loyal FIOS subscriber in the Pittsburgh area since 2009. In the summer of 2012, my father opened a second FIOS account at his commuter home outside of Philadelphia. Upon his retirement and sale of the commuter home, he promptly canceled his FIOS service on 17 Nov 2014 {edited for privacy} Looking forward to retirement, he planned on returning the FIOS equipment upon his homecoming to Pittsburgh. What followed has been six months of ignorance, harassment, fraud, extortion, and a complete miscarriage of the Verizon customer service apparatus.

As instructed by the representatives when calling the FIOS equipment return support number {edited for privacy}, my father was able to return his equipment to the Verizon Wireless store at Settler’s Ridge outside of Pittsburgh on 21 Nov 2014 because it housed a FIOS Kiosk. The FIOS Kiosk Manager, who is not a Verizon employee and is actually a contractor working for 2020 Companies, inspected the equipment, determined that it was in sufficient condition, photocopied the identification labels adhered to the bottom of the equipment, and signed and dated these same photocopies to acknowledge his receipt of the equipment. Thinking the issue had been resolved, my father walked out of the door ready to enjoy his retirement.

However, a bill for the FIOS account from the discontinued commuter home arrived on 9 Jan 2015 with a unreturned equipment charge of $1004.21. Thinking this was a simple misunderstanding or minor billing error, my father returned to the same Verizon Wireless store at Settler’s Ridge on 12 Jan 2015 to speak with the same FIOS Kiosk Manager. Additional copies of the hand signed receipts from 21 Nov 2014 were provided to the FIOS Kiosk Manager, and he assured that the issue would be addressed and could be considered closed. Yet again, the 9 Feb 2015 bill for the same account shows the same $1004.21 charge for unreturned equipment. Repeated phone calls to the FIOS Kiosk Manager have gone unreturned up to today, and requests to meet again with the FIOS Kiosk Manager at the Settler’s Ridge Verizon Wireless Store are denied. The person who acknowledged receipt of the equipment for Verizon will not communicate with the customer involved. This is fraud.

On 18 Mar 2015, things took a turn for the worse. On this date, a collection notice was received from the North Shore Agency. Shortly after receiving this notice, rather than continuing to address the issue with the FIOS Kiosk Manager, formal correspondence with Verizon customer service was initiated on 1 Apr 2015, and ticket number {edited for privacy} was issued. Scans of the hand signed equipment receipts were emailed to the customer service representative on 15 Apr 2015. 

A separate collection agency, EOS CAA, mailed a second collection notice on 20 Apr 2015. A second email to the customer service representative asking to confirm receiving the receipts went unanswered on 21 Apr 2015. An additional follow up email went yet again unanswered on 25 Apr 2015. Repeated messages left at the customer service number 1{edited for privacy}for the representative go unreturned to this day.

Now the collection agency harasses my father every day. He has sent the collection agencies copies of the receipts and correspondence with Verizon to no avail. They will not stop calling. The collection agency informs us to contact Verizon. All Verizon customer service phone numbers now automatically connect to the collection agency when the account number is entered. All Verizon accounts (FIOS and Wireless) are frozen and no service changes can be made until the unreturned equipment fee has been paid. This is extortion. 

Since all other forms of communication have gone unanswered, I am urging an empowered Verizon customer service representative to please swiftly contact us so that this manner can be resolved once and for all and before it impacts my father’s credit rating. If and when the issue is closed, I do not know how we can consciously continue to be a Verizon customers in any capacity.

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Re: Flagrant FIOS Equipment Return Fraud and Extortion
ElizabethS
Moderator Emeritus

Your issue has been escalated to a Verizon agent. Before the agent can begin assisting you, they will need to collect further information from you.

Please go to your profile page for the forum, and look in the middle, right at the top where you will find an area titled "My Support Cases". You can reach your profile page by clicking on your name beside your post, or at the top left of this page underneath the title of the board.

Under “My Support Cases” you will find a link to the private board where you and the agent may exchange information. This should be checked on a frequent basis as the agent may be waiting for information from you before they can proceed with any actions.

To ensure you know when they have responded to you, at the top of your support case there is a drop down menu for support case options. Open that and choose "subscribe".

Please keep all correspondence regarding your issue in the private support portal.

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