Complain about a product or service

Verizon Local Service

Beth of Santa Maria, CA February 13, 2009

Beth of Santa Maria CA (02/13/09)
I am out of the country for 5 months. Before leaving, at least 2 months before departing on November 29, 2008, I worked out an arrangement with Verizon on my vacation services. As I was thinking of canceling my internet and disconnecting my land line, I was advised through a supervisor, that they would 1) credit my account with 49.95 which would cover the normal 9.99/month vacation charge for the DSL internet, which would leave my without charges for the 5 month duration. In addition, they were to waive the 46.00 vacation charge on my land line and only charge my the monthly fee to keep the same phone number.

I paid them 86.79 on November 7. 2008 and with the credit I had a 136.77 that would cover the majority of fees and charges. However, I am being charged 26. 77 for land line and 9.99 for the internet. I have writtne them over 10 emails, each time getting a different or repeat of the same story and sent by a different person. I will not return to my house until May and would like to have outside help to resolve this because Verizon seems incapable of doing it. I told them that

I would file a complaint with the FCC and take legal action if they did not remedy the situation. I asked that one option I had was to disconnect all my services as I originally wanted as of November 30, 2008 and wanted everything in writing. They are not complying with this either. I am being hassled, harassed and overcharged. Verizon seems to be unable to keep its promises to its customers.

Thomas of Philadelphia, PA February 13, 2009

Thomas of Philadelphia PA (02/13/09)
I called verizon to cancel my home phone and internet service on 12/20/2008. It took 3 calls to them to have the internet services stopped. I called the second tiem and third to cancel which they finally did. When yo call verizon you have to call different numbers for each service BECAUSE THEY ARE SO BIG. I was told there would be a refund for what i paid. Every time I called I got different information. All the workers are not on the same page and I guess they take a guess as to what the solution is. Today I gound out no refund will be given to me. Ok at least that is one of the 5 people i talked with

ive spent several hours calling verizon causing me to be unable to sleep.

Harriet of Philadelphia, PA February 12, 2009

Harriet of Philadelphia PA (02/12/09)
My Verizon bill showed 17 Easy Number phone calls @ 5.00 / call for a total of 85.00! Not made by us and Verizon will do nothing about it as they say their equipment shows it was made by our property. The number called was not a 900# and it is presently disconnected. I showed Verizon rep the previous posting on your site about this issue and they still will not credit my account.

Sandra of Berlin,, NJ February 11, 2009

Sandra of Berlin, NJ (02/11/09)
I want to disconnect my residential service. I have not been able to get through to Verizon on the phone. I have been trying for a month. I wrote to them at the above address, but received no response. I want to have it disconnected as soon as possible. I will be having new siding on my house and will have the wires removed. This is unacceptable. Is there anything you can do to help me with this?

Maheen of Vienna, VA February 5, 2009

Maheen of Vienna VA (02/05/09)
I've been a Verizon customer for years. I currently have their telephone and internet service. I've had an international long distance plan with Verizon for a long time. In Jan. 2009, I had a death in my family overseas and made calls to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia (77 minutes total). Verizon locked my long distance service and asked me to call a special number. I called the number and was passed onto their Toll Investigations Dept. Apparently, I was billed by Verizon at ludicrous rates, such as 8.43 per minute to Pakistan and 5.72 per minute to Saudi Arabia, totaling 577.29 for these calls!

They told me that my international calling plan was cancelled by me in Aug. 2008. I never cancelled the plan and asked them to reinstate it. They said they could only work on my case, according to Federal Trade Commission rules, once a paper bill arrived. I called the Toll Billing Dept. back and the response I received was that since their records showed that I had cancelled my long distance plan, they couldn't reverse the Premium charges and bill me at regular per minute charges under a long distance plan. I emphasized that this was not my mistake since I never cancelled the plan.

I simply asked them to charge me a fair rate rather than these predatory rates! The normal rates that Verizon charges to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are .74/ min. and .71/ min. respectively. The supervisor told me all I could do to escalate my case was to write to Verizon's corporate office and that their response could take from 30-90 days. This is unacceptable because 1) I did not cancel my long distance plan this was an error that Verizon needs to correct, 2) Verizon should not be charging such predatory rates to any consumer no matter what the situation, 3) if Verizon truly thought I did not have a long distance plan, they should have disabled my long distance calling feature before I made the calls rather than locking my account after charging me these exorbitant rates, and 4) I am a long-time customer of Verizon, have choices in where to take my business, and they should not be treating me in such a manner.

I plan to escalate my case by calling Verizons corporate office and asking to speak to the executive who heads up customer service. I am also contacting consumer advocacy groups so they can put a stop to companies such as Verizon taking advantage of consumer, and I will contact the Federal Trade Commission for help. Even my cellphone provider, T-mobile, only charges me .20/ minute to call Pakistan even though I dont have a special long distance plan with them!

Due to Verizon charging me Premium rates of 8.43/min. and 5.72/min. rather than .74/min. and .71/min. to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, respectively, I am being charged for 523 more than I should fairly be charged!

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Follow us on Twitter.

Back to the top |