Highly Dissatisfied Customer

[norisa7814]

I am extremely disappointed with Verizon and the run-around that I am getting with resolving this issue with charging me for services that I didn't have. 

I had FIOS Internet for 2 years and paid the same amount $59.99 every month and then in July 2017, I noticed that the bill was going up to $74.99. I called Verizon to find out why and how they can work with me to maintain my current amount of $59.99 because that is what I had budgeted. Everyone I spoke with gave me the same answer that internet went up or something like that and there's really nothing they can do. They would always say on the phone, let me see what I can do and then they will come back within minutes and say unfortunately I don't see any other ways that I can get you a discount. Because you are already getting a discount from when you signed up for that 2-years contract but this increase, there is nothing that they can do about it. So I always told them that I guess I will need to cancel the service then. So in August I spoke with two people, they both said the same thing that they couldn't do anything about the cost. The last guy I spoke with told me that Verizon bills a month ahead and that as long as I cancelled the service by September 7, 2017 I should be fine. I noted this date down. After I cancelled the service in my name, my sister was going to set up her own account since it was her house to begin with. She decided to go with Verizon again. So when September 7, 2017 came, I called Verizon as soon as I got to the office at 8:59 AM because I wanted to make sure I could get it done that day and so I called first thing as soon as I was sure they were open. 

I spoke with a lady, told her I needed to cancel the service and that my sister will get one in her name. I specifically told her I need this done TODAY, Sept 7, 2017 and even told her that I had spoken with someone back in August 2017 regarding making sure I cancel by that date, Sept 7, 2017. So I needed this done today. She said Ok, and of course went on to say we are sorry to see you go and even before that she also offered to check what she could do to make me keep the service which I would have kept had the price not gone up. I didn't have a problem with the service, just the pricing. She came back of course saying that same thing and so I said then please go ahead and cancel the service. I need this down today. After she did some stuff on her end, we hanged up and I recieved an email at 9:10 AM confirming the cancellation. I noted that it said in the email service will be disconnected on Sept. 11, 2017 and I made the mistake of not calling them back right away to ask why, when I specifically asked for it to be disconnected on Sept. 7, 2017. Mind you that I was still within my billing cycle from the previous month on this date. 

Immediately afterwards, I kept getting calls and emails about returning my FiOS equipment which they told me I would receive a box to ship it back to them but that if they didn't receive it by some date, they were going to charge me. That box never came and so I chatted online with them and a customer rep (female) finally gave me an address to a place near me that I could drop it off at. I got to the place and was told they do not accept FiOS equipment and they then gave me another address and thankfully it was about a 10 minute drive and so I drove there and returned the equipment. 

Now, I keep getting these calls and emails about past due bills which didn't make any sense and so I decided to call Verizon. I came to find out that Verizon decided to charge me for the full month of September even after they had cancelled the service. I just spoke with a rep and come to find out the reason why they couldn't cancel my service to fall within my previous billing cycle so as to avoid getting charged for the full month of September 2017 is because Verizon needed to check their calendar to see when they can turn off the service and not when I requested the service to be turned off, I am the paying customer. I pay for a service and I requested cancellation on a specific date because my sister got another FIOS Internet service for the same address and they want to charge us for 2 accounts at the same address. The lady told me that I should have told the rep on the phone that my sister was going to get another service. my question to her was, how is that any of Verizon's business? Maybe I wanted to go with another provider, I don't need to tell Verizon my plans for internet in order for them to cancel my service when I request it to be cancelled. The rep went on to tell me that it's my fault because I had called about a week earlier, they would not have charged me for the full month and I asked her by your logic, if I had called 4, 3, or 2 days earlier, Verizon would still need to check their CALENDAR to find a time that is convenient for them to cancel the service and while that might mean that I get charged for services that I didn't have they just don't care and it’s policy that they don’t prorate internet. She even went on to suggest that I should have asked the people I spoke with back in August that they make a note on the account that I was going to cancel which makes no sense. When I call them I don’t know what note they make on the account, they obviously only write down what will be beneficial to them should cases like this arise. 

So I asked her to put herself in my shoes and tell me that she would sit idle and let someone take advantage of her like that. All she could muster was, well I am a consumer too and I know how it feels, I told her obviously, you don't because you just told me that there's no point sending me over to a manager or someone who can actually listen and do something about my situation because they will all tell me the same thing that internet is not prorated. I told her whatever that policy is, somebody wrote it and it can be unwritten but that I wasn't done with them yet. I will do my research and I will come back for them. Verizon has taken advantage of me before and so I swore never to use their cellular services again (although my cell phone # belongs to them). But they had good FIOS Internet services and that is why I chose them. In fact, my husband and I use FIOS cable and Internet at our house, which is not too far from my sister's house and so for them to not even want to listen and try to sympathize and continue to give me that garbage that internet is not prorated, is quite unfortunate and very disappointing and to charge double for the same address at the same time period is frankly stealing in my opinion. I have heard of bad customer service with Verizon but I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt until they did it to me also. 

I told the rep that I am willing to pay for the days that Verizon needed to check their calendar in order to disconnect the service. Mind you no technician needed to come to the house to do anything but they still needed 4 days to decide when to actually shut off the service (remotely!!!) putting me into the next billing cycle and forcing a bill down my throat. If Verizon can change the service start date to when you actually need the service, (I know this because they moved up my sister's service start date to Monday September 11, 2017 even though they had told her she wasn't going to get the equipments until Wednesday, September 13, 2017), then they definitely do not need 4 days to disconnect a service. So when it benefits them, Verizon will make adjustments and granted my sister did need the internet because she works from home on Mondays and woke up at 5:30 am to find that the internet was disconnected. If you ask me, this is done deliberately and no amount of diction can Verizon use to convince me otherwise. It really hurts because without us the consumers, Verizon won't be in business. 

[MrMatthew1]

Hi norisa7814,

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 scroll down the page to an area titled "My Support Cases". You can reach your profile page by clicking on your name located above your post, or at the top right of this page.

Under "My Support Cases" you will find a link to the private board where you and the agent may exchange information. The title of your post is the link. 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, you may subscribe to the case. At the top right of your support case there is a gear icon which provides a drop down menu with support case options. Click that and choose "subscribe". Please keep all correspondence regarding your issue in the private support portal.