Verizon Customer Service
ka7747
Newbie

2009/04/10

 

Dear Verizon,

 

I recently obtained FIOS Bundle. In the process I made a mistake not getting an international long distance service. This was done On-Line therefore I am 100% at fault. In about a few weeks after this mistake I realized I made some calls overseas due to the fact that one of my relatives passed away, with no International Service. I made $800.00 mistake in a matter of few days.

I called Verizon Customer relation and talked to Terri G {edited for privacy} a very professional gentleman and he tried so hard to convince your executive office {edited for privacy} to give me some credit for being a loyal customer for at least 6 years at this location. I personally called Verizon Long Distance Department and was denied credit. I also found the reps very HOSTILE.

I have decided to move on and pay the bills. I will however look at other options at my one year anniversary with FIOS.

I am very sad that you could not help me with this problem.

 

Professionally yours

Kevin {edited for privacy}

Message Edited by Jonathan_K on 04-10-2009 11:00 AM
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Re: Verizon Customer Service - International Calling
ardyes
Newbie

At least Kevin was very polite and professional here{please keep it relevant} .  Well Kevin, my elderly parents just got a bill around $800 last month (typically only $90/month for the last 10 years) with a similar situation.  They called relatives in the middle east as they normally have for the last 3 years assuming their international calling service with Startec Communications was in place when in fact, Verizon's "default" $4/minute plan had taken over with no warning.  Supposedly in all the fast-talking automated phone acceptance system; this little evil tidbit was disclosed.  I find this to be YET ANOTHER absurd way that Verizon takes advantage of customers; the fast hard-sell with no word of the negative implications.  So instead of my parent's usual $10 monthly international bill, they are faced with an excess charge of $480+.  Since discovering this, I went ahead and cancelled their phone service completely and plan on cancelling the rest of the "Triple Bundle" package, which coincidentally is out of the 30-day "free cancellation" period. 

My question now: Since this is clearly a case of the verizon sales rep mis-communicating/not-communicating any of these major pitfalls of international calling, how can we avoid the $175 Early Termination Fee just 2 months into this disasterous plan? Notice how they focus you heavily on the fact that domestic calls are free to anywhere in the country; GREAT, tell that to my mom that now has an $800 bill that she will more than likely not be able to pay.  {please keep your posts courteous}

 

BTW- I have emailed my concerns to a high level manager in Maryland and not heard back at all.  {please keep it relevant}  Ok, i'm done with my rant now.

Message Edited by ElizabethS on 05-01-2009 02:12 PM
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Re: Verizon Customer Service - International Calling
ka7747
Newbie

I am very sorry this happened to your parents. I was told that since my order was made online I could not do anything and I am 100% guilty as charged. If you have made your order over the phone then you might be able to get credit. Call their customer relation Potomac division and they might be able to help you. I got fooled twice. Once on line and then a few days later talked to a rep who did not warn me about international charges. I am going to stay with Verizon and when my anniversary comes I will switch. I find this organization very unprofessional . I guess this is one way to stay in business.

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Re: Verizon Customer Service - International Calling
MagicMan
Contributor - Level 1

Maybe I'm just tired.  I fail to see why this is verizon's fault.  Kevin's case he made an honest error in choosing his services online.  That's one of the pitfalls with 'rolling your own'.  He owned up to it, so how is that shoving a pole up you know where?

It sounds like terri went out of his way to try to get him some restitution with no luck.  That's a pole?

Kevin, if you call and ask for the customer retention department, you might have some recourse but their hands will probably be tied.

As for the gentleman who's parents got the wrong end of the stick, I would be upset as well.  But again, when you go into a store to buy something you ask questions to make sure it meets your needs, even if you are buying a product to replace the same model that broke. 

I don't know why their long distance service provider would change, I guess because they're starting a new service w/FiOS, I guess it would be logical to assume you got the same services as before, but that's one of the pitfalls of deregulation.  While it puts decisions into the customers hands, it also puts some responsibility in our hands too in order to make sure we're taking advantage of it.

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Re: Verizon Customer Service - International Calling
ka7747
Newbie

Well,

I don't think there is any way I would stay with Verizon after my contract ends. I am tired of calling them. I paid for my mistake. Vetizon lost me!

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Re: Verizon Customer Service - International Calling
Harles
Enthusiast - Level 3

@ardyes wrote:

At least Kevin was very polite and professional here{please keep it relevant} .  Well Kevin, my elderly parents just got a bill around $800 last month (typically only $90/month for the last 10 years) with a similar situation.  They called relatives in the middle east as they normally have for the last 3 years assuming their international calling service with Startec Communications was in place when in fact, Verizon's "default" $4/minute plan had taken over with no warning.  Supposedly in all the fast-talking automated phone acceptance system; this little evil tidbit was disclosed.  I find this to be YET ANOTHER absurd way that Verizon takes advantage of customers; the fast hard-sell with no word of the negative implications.  So instead of my parent's usual $10 monthly international bill, they are faced with an excess charge of $480+.  Since discovering this, I went ahead and cancelled their phone service completely and plan on cancelling the rest of the "Triple Bundle" package, which coincidentally is out of the 30-day "free cancellation" period. 

My question now: Since this is clearly a case of the verizon sales rep mis-communicating/not-communicating any of these major pitfalls of international calling, how can we avoid the $175 Early Termination Fee just 2 months into this disasterous plan? Notice how they focus you heavily on the fact that domestic calls are free to anywhere in the country; GREAT, tell that to my mom that now has an $800 bill that she will more than likely not be able to pay.  {please keep your posts courteous}

 

BTW- I have emailed my concerns to a high level manager in Maryland and not heard back at all.  {please keep it relevant}  Ok, i'm done with my rant now.

Message Edited by ElizabethS on 05-01-2009 02:12 PM

I am sorry for your experiences. For Kevin, I would like to know whether you had existing Verizon phone service and switched the long distance provider to Verizon Long Distance, or if you were installing new voice/Phone service? If you had existing phone service and switched to VZLD, it is a requirement that Verizon put the order through Third Party Verification(TPV). I'll explain in a moment.

Ardyes - When your parents made the switch from Startec to Verizon Long Distance, they should have gone through this Third Party Verification process. It is a requirement that Verizon put the account holder or authorized party on the phone with a non-Verizon employee who works for an independent verification company. This consultant asks the ordering/calling party several questions to confirm their desire to switch from their current provider to Verizon Long Distance. International calling is discussed in this TPV Scripting, and if TPV was approved, there should be a recording on file with this company for disputes. In many cases, a TPV Supervisor will have the capability of playing a recording via telephone. This would normally be Verizon's first step to check with disputed international calls when the Long Distance provider was switched to VZLD.

As far as Ardyes' parents' early termination fee, I would recommend calling the billing/ordering department at 888-553-1555 and asking them to check to see if the FiOS Bundle Terms were digitally signed on Verizon.net. Verizon keeps record of this action attached to the original FiOS Bundle order.

Thank you,

Harles

Message Edited by Harles on 05-04-2009 08:26 PM
Message Edited by Jaime_Lee on 05-07-2009 09:05 AM
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Re: Verizon Customer Service - International Calling
ComposMentis1
Enthusiast - Level 2

The reps should be telling people what the international rates are when they sign up.  My wife made one 4 minute call and was charged $18.  Luckily, I had called to sign up for the International 300 plan.  She must of made the call before I signed up. 

$4.50 a minute for a call that is normally 0.10 to 0.25 is a rip off, but apparently a very lucrative ripoff.  Another issue, (as I put in another thread) is that you can NOT see how many calls you made under the 300 plan, so you start getting billed per minute after you use all the 300 minutes.  However, the rates after 300 minutes are just pennies compared to $4.50 a minute.

Legally, Verizon probably holds all the cards here, but even $800 isn't much compared to how much revenue they eventually loose from burning a customer.  Oh well - caveat emptor.

CM

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Re: Verizon Customer Service
davidh
Newbie
I wasn't aware Verizon had any customer service. They sure don't act like they do. But boy oh boy when comes time to collect money you better believe they have their hand out. Then disappear. Been dealing with "customer service" and "repair" for 3 days now with run around after run around. Each department saying it is the responsibility of another department to fix my service. NO ONE taking any responsibility. Without service over 48hours, told a technician will "TRY" to come to my house on 4 June. TRY. In other words don't count on it. {please keep your posts courteous}
Message Edited by KaLin on 06-03-2009 11:32 AM
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