Verizon's No-Good $99 fee
DCCustomer02
Newbie

Hi all,

I realize this is long, and probably overly detailed. But I have a feeling, based on the posts of literally hundreds of people, that the type of insanity I dealt with from Verizon is not unique to me. I decided I needed to everyone know about it, in case anything sounds familiar because it happened to you!

I have spent at least 5 hours on the phone with Verizon over the course of the last month, because of a series of lies and mistakes that Verizon reps made. In my 30 years of life, I've never written on a forum of any kind before(!), which should give you a sense of just how frustrated I am with Verizon.

I first called Verizon on May 16 to tell them I was moving apartments within the same building and that I wanted to transfer my service. I explained that I did not want to pay a $99 fee because I saw during my tour of the new apartment that there was an ONT in the new apartment and I wanted to perform a self-install. They said "no problem." The sales rep transferred me to a tech, who said, "sorry, we have to send someone to your apartment building for you to get service because the system there needs an update" (lie). Being a reasonable human, I assumed they were telling the truth and said, "ok, I understand. Thanks for checking." They said they would send a tech to help that Monday, May 18.  You know what, if a tech needs to come, a $99 fee is fine.  No argument from me.

The next day, Sunday, May 17, I was in my new apartment, bored and without Wi-Fi. I looked at the ONT and googled on my phone to see what the professional tech would have to do to set up internet. I noticed a TON of messages on this forum and others saying that Verizon reps regularly lie about whether a self-install is possible, and that you can call again to see if another rep lets you perform a self-install. I did that, and WHOA, the person I got was awesome and had my ONT working within 10 minutes. I asked the rep to cancel my tech appointment and they said they "couldn't" (lie or bad system, I'm not sure). But they said I could cancel my appointment once Verizon contacted me to confirm it, or when the tech contacted me the day of the appointment (before planning their day).

That night, I was happily using my Wi-Fi and I got a text from Verizon saying: "Your appointment is scheduled for tomorrow between 11:30am-1:30pm. . . . Out of an abundance of caution, we are checking to make sure that there is no one in your household who has COVID-19 . . .. Please reply YES if someone in your household has been diagnosed or quarantined. Otherwise, reply NO." I responded, "Please cancel my appointment." Verizon texted back, "Ok. Would you mind if we just check whether you want to CHANGE your appointment, or CANCEL your entire Verizon order?" I wrote back, "I would not mind." In other words, go ahead and check. I assumed Verizon understood, because they wrote the next morning, May 18, at 8:03am: "We will cancel your appointment." Notice, they did not say WE ARE CANCELING YOUR INTERNET SERVICE.

Approximately 3 hours later, in the middle of an important, quarantined, work-from-home workday, Verizon shut off my internet... I went to my ONT and it said there was no data coming through. I assumed it was an innocent mistake that could be easily fixed (ha!). I called Verizon. They told me there was NO RECORD of my transfer order, but that my internet order (for the old apartment) had simply been canceled and closed. Weird. After a series of calls, Verizon still couldn't figure out what happened, and they said they would have to start a new contract. Here's where things got really weird. They said that the internet speed I previously had (100MB) could not have been transferred because that speed was not available at the new apartment! This was strange: I had an order confirmation from Verizon transferring my 100MB service to the new apartment! What speed had they given me for a day and a half? Then they told me that the internet in the new apartment would be MORE EXPENSIVE because it was a new contract/faster speed. Me: "No no no, it's not a new contract, it was supposed to be transferred, and I just received an order confirmation that said it was the same price and the same speed!" Verizon: "It's impossible that your internet was transferred at that price because that speed is not available at your new apartment." Huh??? After awhile, I got through to someone else at Verizon who told me the price would be the same as before, as long as I enrolled in Auto-Pay. Wow, "great news!" I told my wife. "We are going to pay the same as before but for faster internet (200MB)." I was ecstatic. After all this difficulty, I did a little victory dance. I was transferred from the sales rep to a tech. I spent the next TWO HOURS on the phone with that Verizon tech. The last tech had turned the ONT on in 10 minutes just 36 hours ago. This tech literally took over two hours. Same exact ONT. Weird, right? But he finally got it working, and I was back on track, so I couldn't complain.

I got another text from Verizon a few days later about a tech appointment. (Uh oh, not again...) I knew better than to try to cancel it this time. As you may recall, at the beginning of this, a Verizon rep had told me I wouldn't be charged if they didn't come. And another Verizon rep had told me I could cancel when the tech contacted me the day they were scheduled to come. So, I waited for the tech to call that day. The tech sent a text instead, and was very nice when I explained that I had performed a self-install and didn't need their help. All good (I thought...). A few weeks later, I look at my bill and noticed: THERE's STILL A $99 CHARGE!!

I had the clear feeling of being cheated, which many on this forum have expressed. But I figured Verizon would remove it once I explained myself. NOPE. They say they can't take it off because I "agreed to it in my original order!" WHAT? At the end of the day, it was a transfer of service with a self-install, exactly what I was told I wouldn't be charged for! Is it really not possible to give me a $99 credit, where you didn't actually perform the work? Imagine if a car dealer promised you he'd bill you only for what you asked for, but then tried to charge you for an upgrade that they never put into your car... You'd be upset! Why do we accept anything less from our internet service provider?

I've now seen dozens of posts here and elsewhere saying that you "shouldn't believe anything the Verizon reps say." What a horrible way for them to do business! It makes me sad that the reps act this way. Are they paid on a commission basis to mislead customers? If not, why do they do it?

Thanks for reading, and please feel free to reply if you've had something similar happen to you!

-Upset Customer in Washington, DC

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Re: Verizon's No-Good $99 fee
LawrenceC
Moderator Emeritus

Hi DCCustomer02,

Your issue has been escalated to a Verizon agent. Please check your Private Messenger Inbox for a message from a Verizon Support agent. You can find your Inbox by clicking on your username at the top right corner of this page and then clicking the envelope icon that appears at the top of the menu. Response times may vary and may be delayed at this time. Please continue to check your Inbox for a reply from a Verizon agent. Please direct all correspondence concerning your issue to the agents who will be assisting you privately.

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