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I am speechless. I am so thankful I no longer have Verizon services for my home.
We cancelled Verizon Fios/Voice and TV at the beginning of the year. We received a refund check of $32 dollars and were told our account was closed. Within weeks, we received a statement saying we owed $33.35. When contacting "customer service" we no one could seem to explain the mystery charge. My wife called again a few weeks ago to attempt to learn why we were being charged, and she learned it was a "deferred charge" for fios service from 2010 - two years ago! She told them she wanted written confirmation of the charge before she paid it. The rep. told her she would immediately e-mail it to her. We never received it. My wife was so frustrated, she couldn't even call back. Know that she was on the phone for at least 90 minutes and was transfered to wrong departments while on.
Fast forward to this past weekend. We receive another notice that we owed the $33.35 and are told to pay it upon receipt or be turned in to a collection agency. Livid, I call and talk to a woman who attempts to explain the charge but admits she can't access all of the needed information "because it is in the archives." She says, "It is highly unusual to be billed two years later." She gives me the financial services and collections number to call this morning when the office opens. I did that. I talked with a rep for about 9 minutes, and then she mysteriously (without notice) transfers me to another department. A young man answered the phone after I was on hold for 10 minutes and tells me, quite abruptly, that I have the wrong department and he can't help me. He quickly transfers me to yet another person. AFter being on hold for 15 minutes, a gentleman in the DSL Technical Support Department picks up and I nearly die laughing. I was transfered to tech support! Unbelievable!!!! This man transfers me back to another person who finally, after being on the phone for 40 minutes somehow manages to access my mysterious records and explain the charge was due to us apparently not being billed for FIOS service during the month of April two years ago. He said the charge was defereed until the acount was to be closed. Of course, why not? That seems like perfectly normal business practice, right?
This rep was most kind and sympathised with my plight. At this point, I was so frustrated, I just wanted to pay this mystery charge and hopefully resolve the threat of being turned in to a credit agency. The mightly fist of Verizon has won! I was transfered back to Financial Services and Collections 45 minutes into my call (recall that this is where I started 45 minutes ago before being mysteriously transfered). A very nice woman helped me pay my oustanding charge and assures me I won't be turned in to a collection agency.
After reading the horror stories on the forum of others who had zero balances and were turned in to agencies without even being notified, I am quite concerned that this may not resolve my problems. I do have confirmation numbers, and I was told I will receive a statement showing I have a zero balance, for what it's worth. Afterall, I received one of those before and even got a refund check only to be told a month later I still had to pay the Verizon Piper!
My biggest question, should I be able to bill the Verizon folks for the time I've spent trying to resolve my issue? That should easily equal the $33.35 (plus $3.50 surcharge for paying with a bank card) that I allegedly owed them. Maybe I should be kind and donate it to their continuing education fund so they can properly train their reps in customer service and how to transfer a customer from one department to another without routing them through the wrong department.
My suggestion to anyone on the forum and everyone I speak to, DON'T SIGN UP WITH VERIZON. IF YOU ARE CURRENTLY SIGNED UP, CANCEL. RUN FOR THE HILLS. HIDE IN YOUR BASEMENTS. THE BRITISH (I MEAN - VERIZON) IS COMING!