Lied to by Sales Representative (Didn't agree to 2-Year contract)

[dcannapolis]

I am writing this so that everyone can learn from my experience with Verizon, in which I am now wrongfully paying for a cancellation fee of $135.

In August, I signed up for Verizon FIOs high speed internet service over the phone with a sales representative, who told me that I was being signed up for a month to month contract. I called last week to cancel my service, and was told that I was in a 2 year contract, and that in order to cancel my service, I would have to pay a $135 fee. This came as a huge surpise to me. This is because back in August, when I originally signed up, the representative quoted me a 2 year contract rate, which I rejected. I explained to the representative that I was NOT interested in a 2 year contract, because I expected to be moving in less than 1 year. The representative then quoted me a month-to-month rate. I told her that the rate was too high, and asked if she could give me the 2 year rate for a month-to-month term. She asked me to hold, entered some stuff into her computer, and told me that she could infact offer me the month-to-month contract at a 2 year contract discount. Awesome, right?

No. Because she entered me into a 2 year contract anyways. I also asked her very clearly on the phone if I would be incurring any other fees that she has not mentioned, and she said simply "no"..  but then I get a $69.99 internet activation fee, which has since been waived due to her mistake. 

So last week, after explaning this to a helpful representative, I asked him to review the phonecall from August in which I was told that I would be receiving a month-to-month contract, because I have nothing to hide. He informed me that he does not have the ability to review the call, but that I should call back the next day to speak with a supervisor.. no problem.. except that I had to call 3 more times in order to get in touch with a supervisor. 

Finally, today I spoke with Karen, a supervisor who listened to my experience. I explained to her that I have been a Verizon customer for years, that my family currently has another plan with Verizon for internet and TV, and that I have generally been happy with the service and the agents I have spoken to in the past (with the exception of the represenative in August). I also explained that I was lied to by the sales represenative in August, and that if Karen simply reviewed the phonecall from that day, she would soon learn that I am telling the truth. 

Her response was that she would not review the phonecall, nor escalate the problem to the authority/department that would review the phonecall, nor waive the cancellation fee. 

{edited for privacy}

Wow.. So in short, a sales rep tells me what I want to hear to get my business and make her comission, but signs me up for a service that I did not ask for. When I ask Verizon to review the phonecall from that day so they can hear for themselves, they refuse, so now I am paying $135 and am in complete disbelief. I have spent over 3 hours of my time dealing with the mistake of a sales represenative. I have never had an experience like this in my life, and am honestly suprised because I thought highly of Verizon's customer service and always paid a little extra for their services over their competitors like COX. I will now be contacting corporate directly through mail, and filing a formal complaint against the represenative, as well as Verizon for negligence.

All you had to do was review the phonecall, and there you have your proof.

Thanks, Verizon.

[tcarv21]

I would LOVE to jump onto this complaint as I have spent the past hour and a half searching for somewhere to give a scathing review of Verizon's poor customer service and I can't find ANYWHERE to put it!

I called Verizon in November to INQUIRE if FiOs was available in my area as I was tired of poor service from Comcast (almost 2 weeks without service and no answers from customer service as to why). I got a woman on the phone who told me I could get internet and Direct TV for approx $80-90 a month. I was hesitant as I had never had Direct TV before so I didn't have any experience, but that was approximately what I was paying for Comcast.

I asked the woman 3-4 times over the phone if my price would change and she verbally confirmed it would be $80-90 per month, approx. $45 from Verizon and $45 from DirectTV. I was told I was getting a Double Play with Verizon and Direct TV. I was told the only change in my bill would be a one time high bill for installation.

Two months later I got a $170 bill. I called to inquire and was told it was the installation bill and that NEXT MONTH my bill should return to approx. $50.

I just got my new bill of $75. I called to inquire and the woman over the phone told me I did not have a double play package and that's why my bill was so high. I told her I was so confused as that's what I was signed up for. She put me on hold a couple times to look into things and said she would make a note on my account to bundle things and to "see if she could get a credit." Obviously, this was not a satisfactory answer. "See if I can get a credit" doesn't do it for me as I had no interest in paying a higher bill.

Moments later, her supervisor gets on the phone, and the fun begins. She informs me that the package CANNOT be bundled as the package with Direct TV doesn't meet the minimum requirements for a bundle. At this point I'm floored. I then try explaining to her that I feel like I was tricked to sign up for a package that I'm stuck with now. I explain to her when I signed up, I was told it was for a double play package WITH Direct TV and that the woman said to me several times exactly what I would be paying and not only does it turn out I never had any of that, but to cancel this package I would incur paying out the rest of my 2 year contract with Direct TV at $50 per month and there's nothing Verizon can do Customer Service-wise because it's a separate company. So essentially, they signed me up for something under false pretenses but now that there is an issue, they can't do anything about it. I told her this could cost me a minimum of $1000 just to get out of my Direct TV contract.

She then tells me "To cancel Direct TV it'll only cost $400, but it's a different company so I don't want to give the wrong information"

Only? A) That's not some minimal, change in my couch cushions amount. B) The last woman at Verizon I spoke to about Direct TV gave me the wrong information so how about you not? Don't give me attitude and correct me, and then say, but that's not my company so maybe I'm wrong...are you serious?

At this point I try complaining about the situation further that the woman who signed me up gave me false information, but this Supervisor will not let me get a word in, forcing me to shout over her...she legitimately forced me to yell at her on the phone.

She informed me she was going to call DIrect TV to "See what they could do." I then asked, what I thought was a reasonable question, as she was a customer service representative. I asked if nothing could be done on Direct TV's side (as they had nothing to do with signing me up and this was a problem originally caused by a Verizon representative signing me up improperly), what would be the next step with my Verizon bill? She actually said to me, I'm not even kidding, "We could debate the what if's all day and it wouldn't get us anywhere. I can't tell you what's going to happen next if I haven't talked to Direct TV."

You work in Customer Service! It's your job to debate the what if's all day! At this point I was beyond **bleep** off. So I posed the same question you did: I said, "Fine, I have a question. We are told explicitly when we call that our phone calls are recorded. Where's that phone call where the saleswoman tells me several times that my Verizon bill would be $45?"

She then had the nerve to tell me,  "Ma'am those phone calls are only for quality assurance."

As a customer service representative, what is her definition of QUALITY ASSURANCE?! I think it's different than mine. I think when you have issues like these, going back to those phone calls are perfect ways to handle quality assurance because obviously there is an issue with the quality of service! Obviously, the sales reps are either purposely giving out wrong information to get their commission or are not being clear on the information they are giving out!

Verzon doesn't seem to know the first thing about quality assurance OR customer service.

[LawrenceC]

Hi tcarv21,

Sorry you are having difficulty with your billing. An agent with access to your account will reach out to you directly by email, private message in the Forums and/or the billing telephone number on your Verizon account for more information or to help you resolve your issue. Please remember to check your spam/junk folder if you do not hear from an agent.

[Verizon_Support]

Hi dcannapolis

If you wouldn't mind sending us a private message with your original post, my team would be more than happy to look in to contract issue for you

~Jess