Simply Awful Customer Service & Zero Help From Verizon

[LH2012]

Verizon is horrible.  They claimed in 2009 that we did not pay a certain bill for $114.  We proved to them that we did in fact pay the bill, and as a matter of fact Verizon concluded that we overpaid it by ~$30.  Verizon apologized and said they would clear the charge…..but that never happened.  We continue to get calls from 3rd party collection agencies hired by Verizon, which we then have to prove to them that we don’t actually owe anything.  We have been through this over and over again with Verizon and their various collection agents, and each time they say “You are absolutely right, and we will clear this charge from you asap!”….but that never happens.  We were so aggravated that this could not get resolved that we switched to Comcast when the opportunity arose.  Around a year and a half ago Verizon wooed us back with a promise to fix it.  At the time we brought this issue to their attention and they told us “Come on back, we will make that erroneous charge go away no problem!”.  But guess what….that never happened.  What fools we were.  I’m stunned at what kind of junkyard “system” which must exist at Verizon that continues to report that we owe money even though it has supposedly been corrected multiple times.  Our big problem now is that this stupid charge is now affecting our credit because it is noted as something “In Dispute”.  We are trying to refinance our house, and even though we have excellent credit anything in dispute no matter how small stops the process due to Fannie/Freddie regulations.  We can’t proceed until it gets resolved

Our most recent headaches are caused by the Verizon department responsible for handling this mess (reached at this number {edited for privacy}who keep asking us if we want to pay the bill now, and are not interested in actually helping us.  Guess what, they only accept documentation to support our case through US Mail or by Fax.  Alert…….***THEY DO NOT ACCEPT E-MAIL!!!!***  That’s right……it’s the year 2012 and Verizon, a high-tech network carrier, will not accept anything or any communication by e-mail and forces us to use US Mail and Fax which are almost impossible to follow-up on and prove something was actually sent.  They won’t even provide an e-mail address of any kind.  They claim to have a central fax location, so any fax sent to the group takes 48 hours to actually reach them.  Well it may as well take 48 years because they never seem to get it and never call us back.  I have these same documents scanned and would love to e-mail them to Verizon so I will know they actually arrived and are not being sent into the same black hole which apparently keeps swallowing all of our other fax transmissions over there.  They are intentionally creating a situation designed to frustrate people to the point of giving up.  We call repeatedly to follow-up and the right people are never available….we continue leaving our number and messages again and again with them AND THEY NEVER CALL US BACK.  They are not allowing us to follow-up and get this resolved.  This crap has been going on for years now. 

Here is the worst part.  There is no way to escalate.  The people who we speak with at{edited for privacy}(posting the # again because I want everyone to know who this group is) flatly refuse to escalate beyond them.  So there is no way of reaching anyone in a position of authority with the resources to actually facilitate a tangible and lasting resolution.  If we are forced to pay Verizon for this erroneous bill, just to clear the way to refinance our home, I will without a doubt cancel my FIOS (phone, Internet, TV).  Even though we are only a small drop in a very large bucket for Verizon, I will at least feel good about exercising my privilege as a consumer and gain small sense of satisfaction, as hollow as it may be.  The irony is that Verizon actually owes us money!

[TonyaD_VZ]

We sent you a message on our private support board to assist you and we did not receive a response.  Please repost the issue if you are still experiencing a problem so that we may assist you.  Tonya C.