Verizon Wireless Reviews

I went home, looked on the internet and the FCC site says it could take up to 4 days. So why wouldn't I believe the Verizon rep? I did not want to be without phone service. So I went back to the store at 4:00 on Sunday (the only day we have together to get anything done) and signed up. Then we got a bill from Verizon saying we cancelled our contract on March 3, 2013 and they are billing us $240 for early termination fees ($120 for each phone).

I have sent 2 emails about this and talked to 5 Verizon Service reps and 2 supervisors and cannot get this resolved. They never call back. Each time I have talked to someone, they claim there is no record of my emails or phone calls. It's a one sided game. I have copies of every email I sent them and the log from my computer when they were sent. Yes, I'm angry. I think I have been lied to. Enough is enough.

Within 30 days of getting those phones, the exact same problems occurred with the new phones. We called Verizon and were informed that this must be something we are doing wrong - on all three phones! They tried to blame an SD card, but that was only used on one phone. They claimed there was too much information on the phone (contacts, photos), although the phones show plenty of storage space left and, again, all three phones had the same problems. As of this point, Verizon will only offer us the opportunity to send all three phones to them for "repair," which means we would be without these phones for more than a week at minimum. We have decided to find used phones and activate them. Sadly, we just re-upped for two years, but we will definitely cancel our Verizon service at that time, after having been with them for about 10 years.

Today, I went into Verizon to cancel my father’s phone explaining he had passed away; and until recently, I was not aware I could cancel his phone. The manager of the Yuma, AZ office named ** informed me that it has been too long since he passed, and I would have to continue to pay for his phone until December 2013 when his contract is due for renewal. I reminded her I was not aware of this policy. She stated that Verizon doesn't tell people about this policy. So I again asked, “If Verizon doesn't tell their customers, then how would I know?” And why is there a time limit? He is still deceased today. I have paid for his phone now for 1 year 11 months after he has passed. I am not asking for back money, just to be able to terminate a contract without penalties, which according to Verizon they allow, unless you ask for it. I appreciate your help in this matter. His cell number is **.

When I received notice that my four lines were being discontinued due to late payment, I immediately began working for them, yet not on their payroll. The check sat on an employee's desk for 30 days! And it sat at the Pennsylvania location that doesn't even accept payment! Don't you think if you walked past a desk for 30 days seeing a check made out to Verizon in a location that doesn't accept payments that you'd take some type of action?! Upon my call, they immediately began searching for the check, but in the meantime, I had to pay my bank to stop payment. When Verizon located the check, they failed to contact me and you can predict what occurred. The check bounced!

I incurred another charge from the bank. Then Verizon had the gall to contact me and relay that payment was not made due to my negligence! I had to pay that month with a credit card and stop payment permanently at the bank, which cost me more money. That was the first of 6 consecutive months with billing errors.

I had four lines for a very long time but when going through hell, I made up my mind that Verizon needed to be eradicated from my life! I now have 2 lines. I've managed to rid myself of two lines with two remaining. A supervisor in New Mexico said that he'd reimburse me the bank funds I was out due to Verizon's errors. Do you think that occurred? He also gave me his cell number, if I ever got into any further errors with Verizon. Soon after he did so, a bill arrived that was... wrong! I called him and guess what occurred? Nothing! I never heard from him. The company said they would track him down and get back with me. Did that occur? No!

It seems that most of the company is not held accountable. Anyone can say about anything they want with no liability, leaving the customer in the dust. The New Mexico supervisor was stupid enough to relay that Verizon had worked for years to be number one on JD Power's list. What does that say for a company that has to work for years to be at the top of the list? It says a lot, and it's not a positive.

I hope Verizon isn't counting on remaining #1, because they're going to fall and fall quickly. One error took 3 hours and 26 pages of notes to track who was saying what, their name badge number, what was said discussed, who I was being passed to and why. No one should ever have to spend 3 hours of their free time working for a company, yet not be on their payroll!

I pay $130.57 for two lines. One is mine, just a cell phone & the second is my son's smart phone for college. I could have a smart phone like my son. He could have a new one and through Walmart or other such place, pay far, far less than what I'm paying now. I'm conducting research for the best as I don't want the word Verizon spoken in my home!

If they want to remain in my life, they need to do the following: 1) meet or exceed their competitor's price (2 smart phones for $45 each at a number of stores), 2) work exceedingly hard on being accountable, 3) follow up with customers to determine if all services obtained, changed, arranged have been received & all is well, and 4) repay me all the time and energy I worked for them to straighten out 6 months of errors by sending me a free Tablet with a free net connection.

It has been two months now and I have yet to see a reduction of the charges stated as well as the initial $75 off the first month's bill. I spent a good part of the morning explaining to several Verizon representatives the above situation, and all said that I am locked into the two-year contract. By me confirming that email, which I was told initially to disregard since it was just an estimate, I have no basis to appeal. I took precise notes on the promises said over the phone. I was given a verbal promise by the representative how much the new billing would be for the next two years. In a nutshell, here's what I feel are the company's misrepresentations:

Verizon representative quotes $75 reduction in first month's bill. Same Verizon representative quotes a $145 bill with the same services I have received for the length of the two-year contract. Same Verizon representative says email quote was just an estimate, that his quotes would be the actual quote. Despite the order number, Verizon supervisor said the company was unable to trace the employee who made the quotes to verify my notes. Verizon supervisor said I am locked into the contract despite the conflict in quotes.

I went to a local store, gave them the death certificate and a few minutes later he came back and said the account would be credited. At that point, I was very impressed with Verizon. That is until I started getting the collection calls. For the first week I ignored them, thinking it took time for the credit. The second week, I actually spoke to the collection person. I told her what happened and she said she saw that the credit was being processed. She apologized and said I wouldn't get any more calls. I didn't. Instead I got a threatening letter from a collection agency! Now they were messing with my credit.

Infuriated, I called corporate and asked for a supervisor. I got a cheerful woman who said she was a "problem solver." After I took the time to carefully explain that they are the ones who initially offered to credit my dead sister's account if I simply took a copy of the death certificate to their local office (I did that, reliving the car crash several times during that experience), yet they did not do what they promised. Instead, harassed me with collection calls and then turning me over to a collection agency. This woman started telling me that there were charges after my sister died that I would have to pay for. She told me that their company doesn't credit accounts for deaths and she doesn't know why anyone with Verizon would ever tell me that. She suggested I go back to the local store with another copy of the death certificate and find out why they didn't do what they said!

Unbelievable! During this conversation, I had told this woman that my business had 22 phones with Sprint that I was considering switching to Verizon based on my initial experience with them. But I was reconsidering based on what was currently happening. And her response was to relive my sister's horrific death again? All over $100... oh, wait, I forgot to mention it was now $200.00. They charged me for the month after she died too! I told her forget it. I would pay the stupid bill and hung up on her. And I did, except I couldn't do it online. They had closed the account. I couldn't even pay it at the machine in the store. It showed a zero balance. I actually had to again relive my sister's death by speaking with the local store rep. All because the people at Verizon Wireless pretend to have a conscience and be concerned about their customers, but they are really cold-hearted liars. I haven't seen my credit report yet, but if there is anything negative on it, I will be contacting my attorney.

I reviewed our data usage for the past 2 years and we never exceeded 10-12GB of data usage. But within the first 2 billing cycles, Verizon indicated that our usage exceeded 18-20GB of data usage. This is impossible. Our average cell bill went from approximately $175 (+/-) to excessive of $350+ in total cell bill expense. I do not agree with the outrageous and erroneous data usage. I do not agree that we had to incur an expense to cancel the contracts due to the fact that Verizon failed to add the equipment insurance to the account like I requested and have always have. I refuse to pay the excessive expenses associated with data usage that has never been historically repetitive for at least 24 months.

Today, I spoke with another customer service rep and he said he would reduce the early termination fee by $105 but said if I spoke with his supervisor, they most likely would waive the entire fee. His supervisor said that she was willing to waive $60 and that all other previous offers were "off the table". I am switching to another cell service provider.

I told them to disconnect and give me money back on the phone. "Oh, we can't give you your money back on the phone ($145.00). You're 4 days late from that and it will cost you $175.00 to disconnect." I talked to a customer service person on 3-15-13, who had a pulse, and helped me some but wouldn't bend on reversing the disconnection fee and credit on the phone. I do everything to help them save money (paperless all in one bill). I have Fios and home phone. I'm out $170.00 now and still can't get them to even consider giving it back. What a ripoff this company is to people. I'm just old school. I think there should be customer service. I guess they will not miss me when I go.

On one of the secondary lines, the Droid Razr phone had to be returned in the first month of service due to the phone screen locking into emergency call only. A refurbished phone was sent out as a replacement after several trips to the local Verizon-owned store. The refurbished phone also had several problems and after several trips to the Verizon store, it was replaced with a refurbished phone. This happened two more times and I now have a fifth phone that does not work correctly. Now that the phone has been down for the fifth time, the person using this, my fiancee, refused to use it and decided to transfer her line to T-Mobile.

After trying several hours on the phone to get the out of the contract on that number and not having to pay the early termination fee of $190, I was not successful with my efforts. I then proceeded to explain all of the difficulties I was having with my phone and tried again unsuccessfully to get out of my contract completely without paying over $500. This was also unsuccessful; however, after speaking with a gentleman named Mark, he apparently tried to make thing right. Mark stated that he could send me a new phone out with an early upgrade fee without extending my contract. I agreed to this and thought it was settled. I was wrong.

I received my new phone in via FedEx and after reading the fine print, it was evident that if I activated the phone, my contract would have been extended for two years. This was unacceptable to me so I called and spoke to Mathew, employee number **, and he stated that he could do nothing except try to get me another refurbished phone. I tried to reason with him to let me out of my contract without paying any early termination fee for all of the trouble that I went through and for Mark lying to me about the contract extension. This also proved to be a futile effort.

I would just like to be released from my contract without an early termination fee and return the two phones that do not work correctly. I do feel that Verizon's customer service has really dropped the ball with me as someone who has been a customer for well over ten years. I believe strongly that Verizon did not honor the terms of the contract and all I want is out.

I called the store 15 minutes later and played dumb, asking them if they had the iPhone 5. Lo and behold, they said, "Yes, we do." I said let me speak to the manager. The manager already told me he spoke with the Hicksville manager and couldn't give me an explanation why I had to waste gas and drive to a further location. Totally unacceptable. Since I didn't want to purchase the bundle package, this ** salesman didn't want to be bothered. I really don't know why I'm making this complaint because nothing will be done anyway.

On 2/26/13, I called Verizon and talked to another pleasant person about the questionable $9.99 charge, which I thought was unrelated and which looked like a change on our standard monthly fee for Verizon services. We had made some changes which were coincidentally $9.99, a standard extras increment, but not in time to be on this bill. Instead, I was told it was from the 551-63 number and it is listed as a sex site. Why am I not surprised. The Verizon person removed the charge as a one time favor, along with a word of caution about what I click on or download. And why should she believe I hadn't initiated the transaction.

When I finally put two and two together and went over the calls from this 551 number, I called Verizon again and talked to another pleasant person. We went through removing the block, sending out another stop order and reinstalling the block on the scam number for all the phones on our plan. Normally you should receive an instant text reply confirming a stop order. After 2 tries in 2 different ways, I had received nothing. She sent a stop order from her station and did receive a confirmation. She also made sure all charges from this scam were credited. Otherwise, I would have received another bill for $9.99 from the February try.

At $10 a minute, I don't want to get texts about artichokes or anything else, so I followed up by registering a complaint with Verizon against the scammers. Not that it will solve anything, but at least I have established a track record. At $9.99 a month, it can be easily overlooked (missed) as a normal recurring charge, until you finally figure it out.

4. The scammer has my number and could keep this up by changing their origination number. Hopefully, by responding aggressively, they will be forced to move on.

Then, I received the letter and I personally wanted to let you know that it is not correct. First of all, Mr. John ** says that this was due to an "equipment replacement" and therefore, falls under their policy that it had to be returned within ten days for us to be credited. It was not an "equipment replacement" at all. I had gone into the local Verizon store located in Dickson, TN to speak to someone about the air-card we use to get the internet where we live. We have been paying $60 a month for years and suddenly it had failed.

They were going to replace it (which they did) but then a young associate at the store, Dillian **, suggested we try something new. He offered us what is called a "Hot Spot". It allows for you to have up to five pieces of equipment on the internet at the same time. I informed him that we had received something many months ago (but not that) and it was supposed to deliver 4 G of power but that it had not worked where we live. It would not support any other equipment and it constantly kicked us offline when connected to our desktop computer. We had had to return it to Verizon to get back our old air-card. And what had really upset us was that because we couldn't use it, our bill, which dropped to $50 a month if we used, it went back up to $60 even though we wanted to use it but couldn't.

Mr. Dillian ** explained that the "Hot Spot" was altogether different and could very possibly work for us. He offered to order one for us and reluctantly I agreed. Within a couple of days, I received only a faceplate and battery. I took it immediately to the Verizon store (even though it is 25 miles from our home) because I could not figure out what it even was. He apologized and told me they had completely sent me the wrong thing but that he would contact them immediately again and straighten it out. That box they had sent me went right back to them as we mailed it back within a couple of days after receiving it.

A couple more days went by and we received the very same thing again and again. Now we had two boxes of something that was completely unusable for us. I again went in to the store and Mr. Dillian ** got quite upset about this (I wish someone would contact him so he can tell you himself). He kept apologizing and he boxed up boxes for me to send back, which I did that day! I asked him if he could send them and he said he couldn't. Since we live a distance from town, I put them in the mail that day. It would have been stupid to hold on to them and mail them later.

Then, finally, I received the right equipment. The only problem was that a charger cord was not included. I called Verizon and was first told that I would have to buy one! I told the associate that I had never heard of such a thing, as you couldn't use the equipment for more than a couple of hours without one. She tried to get me to pay her almost $25 for one but by this time, I was pretty upset, as you might imagine. When I told her I would just send it back, she finally agreed to send me a cord. Mr. Dillian ** had given me his email address, which I thought was very considerate, due to all the trouble I had already had and told me to contact him if I had any problems connecting it, after I received the right one or not. I wrote and told him about the cord and he told me that if I would come in to the store, he would give me one.

I went back to the store and he gave me a used one, and unbelievable as this may seem, it was frayed and wouldn't work! I again made a trip and he felt so bad for me, he gave me a new one. Then I received a new one from Verizon and insisted to him that I return one of them but he refused, saying I deserved one extra because of all the trouble I had had.

So the equipment was not replacement as Mr. John ** would like you to believe. And immediately, when Verizon texted me saying I would be charged for it, I called them and was told that they had received the equipment back on November 12th and there had been an error made in something to do with the digits, so it hadn't been credited to me correctly. But they again notified me that I would be charged. This happened about five times, over a period of a couple months and each time, after being placed on hold for anywhere from 20 minutes to over an hour, they would find the error, apologize, and admit Verizon made the error, not me. But despite all of this, they still took the money from our account. If they did this to many others each month and kept it the same amount of time that they kept mine, they could do quite well on just this! I am angry that they misrepresented what happened and turned it around to look like I made the error.

Last night, I went on the internet and found that I had received a letter basically informing me that if I tried to switch carriers now, I would have to pay a large fee to the new carrier because of my conduct with Verizon. Nice touch. We have been loyal Verizon customers for years. We have never missed a payment, despite the fact that at times our bill has been over $350.

I wanted you to know what the truth is in this matter. Thank you for your help in this matter, although I guess there is nothing else that can be done now.

Yes, it appears if push comes to shove, Verizon will apparently care enough to make amends... I have to give them credit for that... but they still deal with a too-big-for-their-britches mentality, and need to somehow steer the company spirit back toward a humbler, customer oriented, earn-your-business environment. Soon or later, their competitors are going to catch up... and if they are to continue leading the market, they will have to bend, and become less rigid and more competitive.

Original Review: Feb. 12, 2013

I was a loyal customer of Verizon Wireless and their predecessor (AirTouch Cellular of California) for nearly twenty years (since 1994). However, at the end of 2012, I reached an end of my patience with a variety of issues. Most especially what I believed to be their price gouging overcharges and incompetent customer service, and decided to end my long term relationship and take my business to one of their more reasonably priced competitors.

I detest change and would have preferred to remain a Verizon customer, and made several good faith attempts to resolve these billing grievances with Verizon by communicating with their customer service representatives and by personally visiting and speaking with agents at two of their Verizon stores in Middle Tennessee. But none could explain nor seemed to have an interest in investigating why my billing had continued to rise despite my decrease in usage in recent years nor why I was billed more than $70 per month for a plan that supposedly had a base fee of around $40.

No one in this present market should be paying $70 a month for a legacy flip phone that makes only about a dozen short duration local calls a month, receives only a handful of texts with no access to the web. However, this was my case and it seemed that the strategy of their representatives was not to assist in helping me lower my costs, but rather to upgrade and up-sell me into even higher cost plans and contracts. Meanwhile, I became fed up with this all and made the switch to a new carrier, which apparently overlapped three days into their next billing cycle. So after already being thoroughly irritated with Verizon's overcharges, I got my final bill from Verizon which again was another overcharge for an entire month (27 days) for which I had no service from Verizon!

I strongly disputed the validity of this final statement I received for $70.63 on the grounds that: (1) Verizon provided no services or wireless access to me for 27 days of the 30-day billing cycle that they falsely billed me for; (2) my previous service contract(s) with Verizon expired several years previously; and (3) their overcharges and billing abuses are a common practice, and the very reason I chose to end my long history with Verizon Wireless to begin with! I will be pleased to pay for the 3 days of valid services they rendered me during which my transfer to a new carrier overlapped into their billing cycle. But it is fraudulent to demand payment for 27 days, in which no services were provided or contracted.

I am truly amazed at Verizon Wireless! Their loyal customer of nearly two decades cannot get answers to his simplest requests. Then becomes outraged by their billing arrogance and pulls the plug on their services. Then how does Verizon seek to remedy this situation or even possibly lure this long term loyal customer back into the fold of the faithful? By of course slapping him in the fave with another overcharged bill for 27 days of service he didn't receive! Can you see a slight discrepancy here? Or some type of unfairness that might just aggravate a customer further who was already ticked off by Verizon's deafness to his concerns?

Unfortunately, it seems to me that greed, exploitation, unethical marketing and sales tactics have become the common business model for Verizon Wireless. During a time that Americans have struggled for their economic survival (losing their jobs, homes and their very lives), it's a strange irony that Verizon has posted record earnings. In fact, at the peak of our nation's worst economic recession, your website boasted of your historic 4th quarter profits. It appears that Verizon's great success has less to do with the quality and integrity of your service, but rather their continued attempt to skirt anti-trust laws to monopolize as much of the wireless market as they can get by with and to exploit those who have little choice but rely on their services and pay noncompetitive prices.

Verizon has done quite well riding on the backs of gullible teenagers who've been locked into unmanageable long term contracts, on the seniors and elderly whose existence relies on fixed incomes and making phone calls to their doctor, and on laid off employees who've had to make tough decisions whether to buy groceries or to pay their Verizon bill. A little bit of reason and genuine customer care and service would have gone a long way to resolve this petty issue, and would have retained a customer who has more than proven his worth as a desirable patron.

Thus far, my repeated letters and emails to Verizon have brought no response. They only continue calling and harassing daily for their invalid charges. If Verizon can see fit to make appropriate corrections on my final billing, I will be happy to comply and pay my bill as I did for 19 years.

I have been calling Verizon and tried, in good faith, to solve this problem. All I get is being transferred from one line to another without any help whatsoever. They did tell me about my excellent credit history with the company, and that I had to call the collection agency because that wasn’t their problem. The the collection agency tells me they were the ones who placed my name on their agency, so they have me calling back and forward from one company to another. Only one person told me, once, that she would send me a letter stating my excellent credit history with Verizon; but the letter never arrived.

I called again only to find out that they had no intentions of sending any letter. This company knows that they made a mistake with my name and social security number, and they don't want to help me clear my credit so I can buy my house. Plus, they would not give any information about the person who really owes the overdue amount even though they know that overdue account is not mine. I don't know what to do anymore. Is there anything you can do to help me solve this problem? Anything will be greatly appreciated.

I called Customer Care and explained what was explained to me in the store by the sales rep (14 days, just pay restock fee of $35). The phone rep said I should have read the customer agreement. I explained that the customer agreement wasn't given to me, just a short blurb on the receipt explaining the return policy of 14 days plus restocking fee. I asked for my customer agreement several times and called different reps and none could provide me a customer agreement. One explained that they can't just send me a copy. The overage charges, as explained to me, were because I signed up for 10 GB plan, and since I used 8 GB and cancelled early, they converted me to a 5 GB subscriber and charged me 3 GB in overages.

In essence, I signed up for 10 GB, but Verizon can get more money from me if they downgrade me to 5 GB plan without my permission and then charge me 3 GB in overages. The phone reps said it was all in the customer agreement but the handful of reps I've talked with cannot furnish this elusive customer agreement. Am I crazy? So I went to two different Verizon stores and asked them about trying out some products. Both sale reps told me the same as the first, just return within 14 days and only, only, pay the restocking fee. I made sure to clarify with them both if there were any other fees and they said no.

I called Customer Care again to tell them about this and they said Sales reps can say anything to get a sale but that was not true. I have this statement in an audio recording as he gave me permission to record our phone conversation. Does this sound like bait and switch to you? Sales reps basically have no accountability for deceiving customers just to make a sale? And Verizon can have you sign an electronic screen saying you agree to the terms without really providing you the terms of agreement? And they can use their top secret way of calculating final bills to maximize profits, even if it means changing the data plan you initially signed up for so they can charge extra overages?

I wish this was the end of my six months debacle. I paid the final $68.09 on 11/21/12 because I wanted it to be over. Done, right? Well, believe it or not, they recently sent me to collections because I ignored a letter that stated If you have paid, please disregard this bill. I called them today about this collections notice (1-23-12) and they have notes of me talking with a phone rep about paying the final bill. I have my credit card statement to prove I paid it. Essentially, the phone rep wrote the notes about me paying the final bill, charged my card for $68.09, but did not credit my account.

Now after 6 months of this fiasco, I'm in collections with Verizon. What started out as me trying a product for 14 days and returning it for just a restocking fee of $35 has led to countless hours on the phone and paying over $135 and still being sent to collections. Can someone help provide some justice here (sorry for the long post - just wanted to be thorough)?

I did and the bills kept getting bigger and bigger. I called again, talked to CS. This rep did some changes that would help me. It was wrong; this went on and on. I kept calling. I finally made my last call to Verizon and repeated my story once again. Finally, I said to her, "I am not running a business; these bills cannot be correct. I needed some explanation on usage." And I went on to say, "It would be cheaper for me to be charged the early termination fee for both phones and have my service turned off!" Verizon rep told me that she would have someone call me back. I never received that call. I am not trying to get out from paying my bill but someone needs to explain where all this usage came from.

Now, my account has been turned over to a collection agency charging $329.15 + my bill for $2,157.77. I had already explained that I would be needing a payment plan to get Verizon paid but, "Jesus", what they are doing isn't right. My quality of life is not too good these days due to my illness but reading this letter from the collection agency makes me sick!

The interesting thing is that every time I would call and talk to an agent, they would agree that it should be easy to change it back, and say they would call me and let me know when it was fixed. Then no one would call, but the notes on the account would say I agreed to such and such. I never had. So they would close it out. Basically they seemed to have a policy of lying.

I am countering it by not paying the increased rate which I did not agree to. They also add, on every bill, "little" charges for overages that didn't occur and are within the plan, which I'm sure add up for them but are a nuisance for people to call about every month. After 10 years, I am not going to remain a customer. I have only a few months on my last contracted line. The other two have expired.

I called many times and was put off or never got through to anyone. I finally reached a CS rep on 12/22, who looked at my account and could see my frustration. She agreed I should not have to pay the early termination charges of $149 since it never held a signal. I received my bill today by email and the early termination fee was there. I called Verizon and was assured my account would be credited. Later in the day, a supervisor called to tell me he had denied the credit and a contract was a contract - even though it had never worked. I had to mail back each unit until it became silly.

They would work in town, but not where I live and it was plain it would never work. I was told on one of my many phone calls that a new 160' tower would be built in my area sometime soon. Really! And that helps me how? I suppose I should have terminated after the first one did not work, but they promised me they would get one to work. I am currently looking at another carrier as Verizon's customer service is awful.

I received a lot of incorrect information from the start, and then to add insult to injury, I was treated like the scum on the bottom of someone's shoe. If I am able to find a phone company that fits my needs, I will be leaving Verizon. I guess this is the appreciation you receive after being a loyal customer for so many years. I just hope that Verizon can see how poorly their customer service is being rated by so many and make some serious changes. Hopefully, leaving this review along with others may assist them in taking steps in a different, more positive direction. This is not the way to run a business no matter how large the company is.

Today, I received a text that I was being charged an additional $348.00 for the use of my phone (which still isn't working properly!). Immediately, I called Verizon customer service and spoke with a rep, to whom I asked for a supervisor and was transferred and he explained that there was nothing he could do to assist me with the bill. I have been through this 2 times before and was not familiar how to turn off the cellular data and paid the bill, but this time I am not willing to be screwed for the amount considering that I took all the precautions & steps not to get overcharged! I easily could have bought a calling card and used pay phones that are throughout Toronto or a relative’s phone, especially since I called for troubleshooting and was not even told then that I needed to make any changes!

When I asked why not the $695, I was told that $209 and $214 was $695. When I said it wasn't, the lady started talking to me like a child and had me write down the numbers which still did not add up to $695. When I said it totaled $423, she growled and hung up on me. So I went to the store to talk to a person face to face. They checked it out and saw what happened and agreed that we should have $695 refunded (that took 2 hours), so still no refund. So I contacted my credit card company and they put a temporary hold on the $695. Thirty days went by and the credit card company reinstated the $695 because Verizon claims they did not receive the return, the return that the store employees acknowledged they received. Now we sent it back using the label that Verizon provided with FedEx.

The tracking number says it was delivered. However, because Verizon chose to use the Smart Post service, the address does not show on the proof of delivery, which they obviously knew when claiming they did not receive the package. Every contact with their customer service has involved lies, deception and premeditated fraud. And on top off all this, my phone still drops calls. The amount of time I have spent trying to correct this has way exceeded what is proper. And Verizon wouldn't even offer to replace the screen protectors we wasted on the first phones. They wanted me to pay another $35 for 2 cents worth of plastic.

So now that I have lost an entire hour of pay, they give me a hard time and tell me that they aren't sure even by me making a payment arrangement that they won't disconnect my service. ** is wrong with this company? Seriously, I have had this account since 2003 - almost 10 years! While you are giving away phones to new customers, I can't even get a break on making a payment arrangement.

I am beyond mad and your company couldn't care less because they know that either way they screw you. If you have a phone you pay - if you cancel your account, you still are accountable for the ridiculous fees. I guess maybe I should sign up for the Obama phone. Oh yea, you have to be unemployed to receive that. Lol! I am frustrated that when my internet doesn't work or my calls get dropped, I am not entitled to a break - you can still charge me - no matter if the service is good or not. I see a check box you can check if you would like an attorney to contact you. Really? Is that a scare tactic or is it there because so many people are complaining? The sad thing - the people reading this are just trying to make a paycheck. The owners, CEOs, don't really care as long as the cash is being counted!

I took it back the second day, and they updated it and told me it should be fine. It wasn't. I have been to a dozen Verizon stores and talked to their customer service reps dozens of times about the problems I have with the phone. All they ever do is update it and tell me it should be fine. Last month, when I told it to the Verizon store and told the young man that it was good for nothing beyond duct taping to a railroad track and letting a train run over it. He checked it out and told me it was defective, but unfortunately, my warranty was expired and there was nothing he could do to help me.

I had 450 anytime minutes/month plan which met my individual needs. When I got a job last September that put me in the community all day every day and on the phone a lot and out of town a lot, I called Verizon and changed my plan. I was supposed to get 900 anytime minutes/month and the female canine customer service associate, who screwed me big time, told me that in order to keep my GPS (about which I also complained at that time), I would have to get internet access - which I don't use and didn't want on my phone because their service was just changing and I could no longer have GPS without internet access. She asked me if I wanted paperless billing and I told her absolutely not because I have not ever been able to successfully log into their website.

I stopped getting bills, but Verizon sends little pre-recorded reminders. So every time I got one of those, I pushed the button to be connected to automatic payment system and paid the minimum amount due with my debit card. My bills have all been in the $85-$95 range, which matched the amount of bill I was expecting and I do use 411 a few times most months when I'm driving and need to make a business call. Today, as I was driving through the rural countryside (2 counties away from where I live via GPS), my phone quit working altogether. I couldn't even call Verizon on it. The next little town I went into, I asked for directions for a Verizon store and was helped by a very nice young man who went onto the Verizon site and informed me I owe Verizon $389 in overage charges. He got my phone working for me again. It had been suspended for a non-reason completely unrelated to the overage charges.

When I called Verizon, the customer service associate who helped me today informed that while I had indeed called Verizon on September 4, 2012, the only thing that was changed on my account was that my GPS had been linked to internet service. I had been given unlimited text messages which I did not ask for and I had been given paperless billing, which I adamantly declined when it was offered to me. He put me on hold to find out if he could remove any of the overage charges I should not have had and returned to say he was informed by his supervisor that he could give me a $30 credit if I agreed to the next step-up plan - which was 900 anytime minutes per month, which I was supposed to have had since early September anyway!

There's more. When I decreased my plan to 450 anytime minutes/month in September of 2011, it was because I almost never used the phone. I had initially requested they decrease the minutes in July of 2011, and in September, it had not yet been done. At that time, they claimed to have no record of my requesting a decrease in minutes. Although they did have a record of my July 2011 call, nothing was noted about my wanting to decrease minutes - which was the only reason I called in July 2011!

When she explained the situation, CS was willing to help only with replacing the Samsung flip with a refurbished or pre-owned iPhone for $349 (due to using my upgrade which I paid $30 for!). She explained that she can't assist, so I asked for supervisor. Gladys, the supervisor, explained just the same that she can only offer a pre-owned Samsung flip. I then explained that when I purchased the phone from Verizon, I didn't ask for a broken, refurbished, or pre owned phone. I purchased a new and working one. Again, I explained that I am not accepting a pre-owned or refurbished Samsung flip (and wouldn't have this issue if I bought an electronic device from anywhere else!). I was willing to accept a pre-owned iPhone if it can be insured and lessons were available. Gladys said I'd have to pay $349 due to use of my upgrade (on the broken phone!). I'm irate and offended after being with Verizon for over 25 years.

When I spoke to a supervisor (Salvador), he informed me the additional fee was for "reprinting my bill." I also spoke to Asi at Verizon's Executive Offices in regards to this matter. Though claiming to "understand" that they were charging me for 26 additional days despite not providing any service, they both were very dismissive towards my request to prorate my account and bluntly stated this is what Verizon does and there was absolutely nothing they can do about it. They prorate your account for a partial month when you first sign up with them, so why do they not have the same practice when you cancel your account? Despite clarifying and waiting to switch my carrier after my contract term was up, they still found a way to charge unfair and inappropriate fees. I should not have to pay for over 3 weeks of service that was not provided to me, especially when I was no longer in contract.

I would like someone to contact me directly so I can either get a replacement ASAP or get me out of my contract. I'll be sending this via the online account management tool as well and will be sending this out to several consumer advocacy sites. There are simply too many options out there regarding competitors and I simply pay too much a month for this level of service. Hugely disappointed. I can also be reached at **. Thank you. I sincerely hope that Verizon stands behind their products and service level.

After talking to multiple employees at Verizon, I was told that they would not replace the phone since "no one saw it happened here" and that "they were not responsible for the condition they sell it in." If it was something I noticed at the time of purchase, they would have been able to replace it, possibly. Nobody we spoke with was able to help us. Considering that the value of the iPhone is $649, one would think that one can expect the item to be in mint condition when purchasing it. But Verizon or at least the manager doesn't see it the same way. He had even stated that since he's not willing to consider replacing the device, he would not even consider giving any compensation to show that they actually valued me as a new customer. Verizon, you have not only lost me as a customer but everyone in my family.

Well, no surprise here. Gen X and Millennia failed yet again. No call back and I have no working Blackberry. I have been a customer of Verizon over 15 years as far as I can estimate. It is all very hopeless. I'm thinking of giving up and going off the grid. It's not worth the time out of my life to deal with products that do not work or babysit people who do not do their jobs well. They have no follow through or concern for customer satisfaction. The replacement phone arrived without the critical Verizon computer card, battery or a backup. It seems odd to take a card from the corrupted Blackberry and insert it into the replacement. Nothing was explained to me at the store when they ordered the replacement Blackberry.

When I got a landline phone via Verizon, the problems also started, with calls from a 206 area code that was from disconnected Verizon phone numbers. This also continued to the point where I was discouraged from even using the landline wireless phone. I tried to explain that I had never had this problem before importing my cell phone number to Verizon to another carrier, and that I had retained the same cell phone number for over 10 years. I told them repeatedly that I believed the problems were directly related to people who worked for Verizon in Orlando, Florida who had been connected to my family. I placed many complaints with customer service, to no avail. I briefly changed my cell phone number but changed it back the following day as I did not want to lose contact with people who may still have my phone number.

I then decided that I had had enough of the crap and changed phone carrier services, as well as attempted to import my landline phone number as I changed that carrier service also. Verizon told my new carrier service that the landline phone number had been imported, but it had not and I had to change that number in order to change carriers. Verizon never investigated my claim of harassment by my so-called two family members, who worked for them in Michigan and were relocated to Orlando, FL where they continue to work for Verizon. Verizon does not want to take ownership of their customer-harassing employees who are disgruntled and use their position at their jobs to harass family who are customers over unrelated family issues.

Long story short, it has been a nightmare. We have had huge bills because of text message overages. Each and every month, we contact them in hopes we can resolve these issues; and every month, we are told by various customer service representatives that they see the problem, they will fix the problem, and we'll see it on our next billing cycle. Almost every month, we are disconnected. Some months, we are charged double connection fees on each of our three lines. And as of this date, 10 months later, we have only been credited $150 which is 25% of two months' worth of overage of text messages.

Yesterday, I spent a total of five hours on the phone with four different customer service representatives. Finally, when I talked with one representative named Ian, I thought I was getting somewhere. He agreed that we had not received numerous phone calls over the months from supervisors, that he could not understand why we had not been pro-rated on these charges over these last months, and that he was sure this could be resolved. He placed me on hold for 20 minutes, saying he would like to review this account once again so he understood everything correctly.

After 20 minutes, Ian returned to the phone. He seemed much different and less understanding. And he advised me that we were offered a 25% adjustment back in May and we accepted the offer and that's the offer we're getting! I told him we were not offered anything, that someone made an adjustment on our account was unacceptable to us, and that's why we had called repeatedly trying to resolve this matter. He stated that we did not call in June or July. I agreed that we did not call those months. I went on to explain to him it is not my job to make monthly phone calls that can last anywhere from one to five hours to resolve a problem that I did not create! I reminded him that in the last 10 months, we have made payments totaling $2806.21, including an electronic payment of $471.21 which we had not authorized; that in 3 out of 7 disconnects they had doubly charged us on each phone line for reconnect fees; and that they had charged an extra $9.99 line fee each of the 10 months. We ended the exhausting phone call with him again telling me he was very sorry but there was nothing more he could do for me.

Again, in 10 months, we have paid them $2806.29. And they claim my balance, as of today, is another $750.00 and that if I want to be reconnected, I must pay at least $408.80 to be reconnected! That would be a total of $3556.00 of charges for basic cell phone service with data in a 10-month period. This translates to $356.00 in monthly cellphone charges when our bill should run at $182.00, including taxes. I am tired. I am frustrated. Is it their intention to wear us all down? Please someone help me! I have no idea at this point what to do? Thank you.

They blame the manufacturer, but Verizon refurbishes their phones on site at Verizon centers, some of which may have techs from the manufacturers, but are all rebuilt phones. These phones are supposed to go through a "100-point inspection" and some have been so bad they have been defective immediately upon activation, rebooting, overheating, you name it. They cannot stick behind their equipment and I think every consumer really needs to look before deciding to go with Verizon. They may make things look all nice with their "coverage and plans, etc." but when your phone has a glitch, good luck!

I told him I did not feel comfortable about taking another phone like I had since this was the third telephone. But he stated that he could do nothing else for me. I asked if I could speak with anyone else and he stated that another manager would tell me the same thing. He stated that I signed a contract and I should understand how it works. I asked if I could voice my complaint to someone higher and he stated that this there were no other options. I have been a customer in 3 states with Verizon; for 15 years and up until this time I have not had problems. I plan to cancel my service as soon as I can and try to find a telephone to use until that time. I am a business professional and I need my telephone. No customer service at Verizon.

Quite possibly you may be thinking why? The number one reason is trying to get you to reverse these charges is a horrendous process. Why is that? When you know where we live, the towers we are using and all of the other information at your disposal. Only after I closed my account did someone actually attempt to reverse the fees in order to get my business back. When I asked whether or not it could be done automatically, I was informed no. Therefore, I continued to move forward with another company that does offer this service. It is my hope that you will take this payment as a settlement and let us sever our ties to each other. I have offered previously many months ago that I would pay only what my prorated usage was, but that was not sufficient and not one Verizon employee would provide that amount. Is it really all or nothing?

I will own my negligence in not sending this letter earlier, but I was frustrated and fed up with your customer service reps and managers who promise to return a call and then fail to do so, which in turn means I need to waste yet another hour and much more, going through my issue from the beginning with another rep and manager. Not to mention that my last conversation with a customer service rep was when a manager was due to call. Yes, your manager did not call as I was told they would so I tried to contact them again. Not even 8 hours later, I was told that I am in collection and that no employee at Verizon can assist me. What! How can that happen in just 8 hours when I was not even one month over at the time?

Now onto collection with no forewarning and notice in the mail stating who is responsible of taking this payment, although I am still getting bills from Verizon which is very puzzling. With that said, the payment is being mailed to your offices and will become the responsibility of Verizon to ensure that the payment is processed or handed over to the appropriate department or collection agency. I have no idea who to send my payment to as I have two different agencies and Verizon.

History: I added a phone line some years back and received a Motorola phone, which was replaced too many times due to the phone having issues and not for misuse or mishandling on the operator's part. I believe this was even confirmed when I was informed that the phone only malfunctions in that way when it was damaged due to water. Thankfully, I was able to resolve that issue. So the phone is replaced numerous times, with each time I am asking your customer service rep that this in no way is extending my contract. Not a problem Ms. ** as it is being replaced. Now onto phone #2 with the assurance that it would not extend the contract for that line and into another round of phone issues, Cosmos? A bit unsure as it was quite some time ago, but I am sure you have the phone name.

I remember this conversation clearly as I was driving back to Vermont and had to pull off the interstate in order to complete this call due to the awful coverage we have in Vermont. In order to switch out of one phone, we used the other phone line's upgrade. Then as more time goes by, yes, this phone malfunctions, doesn't work and issue upon issue so we upgraded to the Trophy with the same assurances. We have had to continuously switch and upgrade phones as the performance of each phone failed within a short period of time. I have spoken to numerous customer service reps and have records of many of those, but it is surprising to me that your notes in my account reflect an unnerving story. This is not from me being dishonest. So what then? My word against your rep?

I am appalled with the lack of professionalism and training your customer service reps and management has shown to me over the past months. It saddens me to see, understand and have firsthand experience that due to the society we live in, that you can't believe in a person's word. I am an honest, middle-aged, married woman and would not lie to you in order to avoid paying my bill. On the other hand, I have been trying to pay my bill, telephone/online and ironically, you are sending me bills saying I can do so. I know that I can't as I was informed this by a Verizon customer service rep, but for a laugh and lesson in frustration, I did so and was unsuccessful. Why is Verizon still sending normal Verizon bills? Are you confused yet?

I am requesting that you accept the payment enclosed, which I sincerely hope covers my prorated usage before terminating my account with Verizon and if you determine that my usage was over that amount, please send a bill directly to **.

Moreover when I called within a 30-day window, I had asked them since they suspended my line for $41.00 and charged me $60.00, could I have a credit for the reconnects being this was my first occurrence and I never had adjustments or used my phone renewal credit. They stated no. Then I asked the gentleman, could he just put me back on the 1400 minute calling plan and reverse my contract end dated for the two lines that didn't have phones upgraded. He stated that he would. With that being done, I would have been able to cancel two lines in June of 2012. I called in May to verify the change and they stated it didn't happen and I would need to go to the store to present my photo ID to discuss adding changes on the account.

At this point, I was upset because previously they had made all these changes without it and then they had the audacity to tell me to go to the store and speak to somebody else, because they say I agreed to the promotional plan (they also noted by the account was protected from making changes over the phone). I went to the store in Maple Grove, MN. They told me they couldn't change anything and I had to discuss my issue over the phone with customer service (even though the manager there agreed Verizon screwed me over). So, I spoke the Verizon Wireless at the store and they put me on the phone with loyalty. I asked them if I could have the promotional plan back with the 5 family and friends and adjustments since I took a higher calling plan (for nothing) (thinking the guy would keep his word about reversing my contract dates).

Again, Verizon said no because it was a one time thing. They could not offer it again but they could put me on a lower calling plan which didn't make sense, because it was the same amount as my grandfather's calling plan. So here I am in debt paying for a calling plan that I can't afford and a company that lied multiple times. I truly don't understand why Verizon wants to change my contract dates on the lines that haven't had phone upgrades and I'm paying for minutes I don't need. They are trying to keep me under contract because of their precious churn and revenue and it's not right. I would also like to state these call centers that are outsourced continuously lie and don't add proper documentation to their accounts. Even the guy Brandon from loyalty was rude and catty about the whole issue.

I'm not sure what kind of service Verizon is offering nowadays. I even upgraded with one of my lines in December 2011 to a basic Pantech phone, which has been replaced once and it still power cycles and loses memory. I really don't want to keep my agreement with Verizon until March because I'm very dissatisfied.

I spoke with someone at Verizon, and after going back and forth for about 45 minutes, she said that they were going to void the early cancellation fees. I reconfirmed what she said by asking her. "So I can go ahead and cancel the line and I will not be charge an early termination fee?" and she said yes. I went ahead and cancel the line and transferred it to a different carrier, and now that I got my bill, I got a $120 charge. I consider that is completely unfair since I was told that I was not going to be charged. Apparently, the person I spoke with did not write the notes about our final conversation. I will have to unfairly pay $120 for terminating the contract 2 days before the final date, even though I was advised that they were not going to charge me that since the termination was due to a poor reception in the area.

After checking out the phone, I was told by the Verizon staff that the phone “fried itself”. However, since I had purchased insurance and with the warranty, I would be sent a like new replacement. The replacement arrived on Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012 and after charging the phone, the phone started overheating and going into the cool down mode. And this continued until I called customer support on October 22, 2012, and after describing the overheating and cool down mode to the technician, he read me the page where some manual said "Replace the phone if it is going into overheating mode/cool down." So, I received the third Droid 4, second "like new" phone and after charging the like new phone, I attempted to put the back cover on and discovered the back cover did not fit this second like new phone.

And this phone is a business phone, so as I prepared for my trip, I stopped at several Verizon stores, in an attempt to have their technicians put the back cover on the phone. The staff at the store did attempt to get the back cover to fit to no avail. And they all offered to sell me a holster or something to hold the phone so the back cover would not fall off.

On October 26, 2012, I called customer service and after being talked over and being argued with, I spoke with a supervisor, who said she could send me a cover or I could go to a store and pick up a back cover there. I requested the back cover be sent to me, since I had already attempted to get a back cover at the stores I had gone to. Apparently, the customer service staff is not taught to listen to what customers are telling them, since I told both staff I spoke with on this call, that the store staff told me they do not carry back covers. So, I was told the order would be processed and I would receive it Monday, October 29, 2012.

On Wednesday, October 31, 2012, I call technical support and asked why the back had not been shipped to me. So this person pulled up my file and started questioning why I had not been given a "new" Droid 4, since I had experienced the overheating issue with the first two phones. I was told there is a policy that states a "new" phone is to be given in these circumstances. I was given a store to take my like new phone to and that I would be given a "new" Droid 4.

That was not the case; I went to the Verizon store in Carson, CA where I was badgered by the manager ** and told technical support should not have told me that and that the only way a new phone could be given is if there was evidence of the battery melting or smoke. I explained to the rude and condescending manager that the Droid phones that had overheated and been returned per Verizon policies and that I was instructed to come to a Verizon store for a new phone. The manager told me that would not happen and he would fix the back cover so it would fit, in the back room. Interestingly enough, the manager did not use the tool to remove the back cover, and then he told me he would fix it but had to take it in the back room. I refused and told him I believe I still own that phone, don't I? He acknowledged it was my phone and I told him to just give it back.

So now, I go home and call customer service and get a person, who pulls up my file and starts telling I should not have gone to the store and that new phones are not given out at stores. This person did not listen to the reason for this call, which was to inquire as to why the back cover was not shipped to me. Literally, this person talked over me, around me, berating me and then told me I should have tracked the FedEx package myself and told me the back cover was not shipped because of Sandy.

I asked her if the notes said the FedEx tracking number was given to the customer, and surprise, it had not been given to me, so I could not have tracked it myself. She also told me she knew I was frustrated, and I asked if she thought I was frustrated why she was badgering me, arguing with me and talking over me. I asked to speak with a supervisor and she refused to allow me to speak with anyone else. One last thing, just now, November 1, 2012 at 11:15am Pacific Time, I received the back cover and it was shipped from Fort Worth Texas as Standard Overnight mail leaving Fort Worth Tuesday, October 31, 2012.

They are just putting the word out there. Don't believe a word they say. They lie shamelessly, put fake extra service fees that they cannot explain on the bill, pass you around to "managers" that are just other employees, and they purposely under-educate said employees so that there can be no resolution because the people you need to mediate through are either unwilling or unable to make decisions that could solve something. But they sure still want my $120 monthly, even though I can't do anything with their service as my phone burned up in a fireball. My next filing is with California's Department of Consumer Affairs.

Avoid Verizon if at all possible. Their network is crap and they try to limit tethering so that you cannot use their unlimited data plan in a way that is convenient without also purchasing more hardware. After I file all the complaints I can, I will see about moving to Cricket. At least they are upfront with all charges and it is a way better deal at $40 a month for unlimited service.

I was asked if I really wanted to speak with the supervisor. I said, "Yes," and was told to wait a minute. Then a few minutes later, the same lady was back on the phone trying to tell me that it wouldn't do any good to speak to her supervisor because he says this and in the background I hear him talking about me! Frustrated, I said, "I hear him; put him on the phone," and I told him how rude that was. Still I didn't get what I should have - instead I was told that I should push the #min keys and pay more attention to my minutes. And this is not the first horrible experience I have had with Verizon.

So once again Verizon, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, has found a way to rip off the little guy. It's bad enough they use and abuse their employees and have failed to negotiate fair contracts across the country. Now, despite their record profit over the last several years and the enormous bonuses they have given to their key executives, we have to pay even more money. They jacked up their basic fees. They increased data costs. They force you to buy smart phones because they offer nearly no other option and what is offered is garbage. So much for not being a monopoly. It's past time that the feds step in and review the practices of Verizon, look into their financial statements, and do something to protect the consumers and the staff of Verizon!

Hahaha what crock of **. So today spent 45 minutes on the phone with the Einsteins that work and they said it takes 7 to 10 days to process? Process what? I can have money direct deposited in my account in 24 hours - what is the difference? None. They are all run by computers and with moron data entry clerks clicking buttons, it’s **. You people need to ask yourselves; ever had anybody locked up or even you yourself and how aggravating it is not to be able to talk to people you need to. No way would it take that long. I just want prepaid fast money. Well global it’s not over. You have to be violating some type of FCC regulations for what you are charging, so I will be filing a formal complaint with them. Quit lying to people during rough times and making a butt load of money off hard working people who make this country who we are and we are not all perfect.

So, I called them back and explained what I wanted and what the first woman said and "Dan" told me that they had a contract with Apple and they could not release the iPhone 5 yet for upgrades until Apple "okays" it. I asked him several times what date that would be and he never answered me! He told me he could sell me today any other phone except the iPhone 5. I asked to speak to the supervisor, and again got the run-around and was assured that he would call me! No call from either supervisor!

A couple of days later, I again called Verizon. This time the gentleman was very accommodating. Oh yes ma'am, absolutely we will give you an upgrade for being a great Verizon customer! I asked him when I would be able to go to the Apple Store to pick one up, and he said he needed a few minutes to get it into the system. I said that's okay, I probably won't go until Thursday (the next day)! He chuckled and said it will be in the system by then. Have a nice day and enjoy your new phone! I went to the Apple Store the next day, a 45-minute drive and was told that I could not get the phone since my upgrade day was November 22! I tried to call Verizon but sat on hold for 20 minutes and still no rep answered!

So the next morning I called Verizon again! I got a rep that told me that yes, it showed I was given a "supervisor’s upgrade" but that upgrade was to be ordered and sent to me and right now they are back ordered for up to 8 weeks! I explained that that was not what was told to me, and she said, "Well, that is what I am telling you!" Then, I got angry! A long discussion insured, get me the upgrade I was promised. I want to go to the Apple Store and pick up the phone like I was told! Can't do it! Then, I asked to be released from my contract of all lines so I can get the phone. No, can't do that either! So then I asked for a supervisor; busy, "I can sell you another phone!" I don't want another phone.

I called about the iPhone 5 and this went on for another 10 minutes back and forth! Then, I demanded to talk to a supervisor! A supervisor got on the phone. I explained what I wanted, either to go to the Apple Store and use the upgrade I was promised to pick up a phone or release me from my contract on both lines, without penalty! She said she couldn't do it, and that I would have to wait! I was angry and told her she can't do that legally if the rep told me I could get the upgrade! We went around and around on this and then she said your account says that you are not entitled to an upgrade until November 22, 2012!

At that point I knew that she had gotten rid of any notes of the upgrade off my account, and that there was nothing I could prove otherwise! I told her that was illegal and immoral and hung up the phone! I have had nothing but problems with Verizon in the past year or two, such as double billing, changing the terms of my contract, increase of bill, not turning services off and billing me for them! Each month, I go over my bill and have to call them and have them correct it, sometime $20, and sometimes more than $60. I don't feel that I should have to honor my contract with them if they don't honor what they tell me. Four reps, four different stories in a week! I feel like my hands are tied, and I don't know what to do!

I thought it was done at that point. Normally, I do not look at my bill and pay every other month in full any balance. I didn't notice the continued monthly charge for the cancelled service. When I complained about the continued charge, they stated I would receive a credit. I then noticed an early termination fee for the home phone service of $175! I called customer service yet again and they said it was a store issue and only they can credit.

The customer service rep tried to contact the store then advised me to go into the store. I went into the store where I purchased the service and spoke with the salesman who agreed with me and asked for time to work out the specifics but I should get a credit soon. He also asked me to bring in the equipment I was given. I did so promptly. I checked back in a week, no progress. 2 weeks, no progress. I paid my last bill minus the $175 early termination fee. I am getting late fees for this. I agreed to phone service at $9.99. They did not provide that service as agreed. Verizon then monetarily penalized me for not accepting their new terms and charged me for services they did not provide after the service was switched to another carrier.

One should note that Verizon management gives absolutely no authority to the phone techs and service representatives to solve these issues. This comes from my own experience and the statements from the employees. A person might think this is sour grapes on my part, which would be true except for one important detail. Verizon records all conversations in an effort to cover up all company errors with one simple statement at the end of your encounter with the employee. "Considering that the actions that were discussed today take place, would you say that I (the Verizon Employee) resolved your issues or concerns?" You can request the recording if you wish. You have my expressed and implied permission. Good luck getting this without a "Federal" court.

To be fair to Verizon, this time my call was limited to only two technicians and 2 hours of my precious (to me, but not to Verizon) time. Ah, but back to my personal experience. Verizon has promised to express me another one trillion check point tested factory certified; Gnome engineered Dreaded X15 or whatever phone. I will post when it arrives and fails to work.

One more tidbit, Verizon requires me to return the defective phone in their prepaid return labeled box. I know you find this impossible to believe, but there was no label or prepaid postage in the box I received, stolen my Cell Gnome I should think! Any ideas from anyone on how to handle this mess?! I am filing with the FCC. But I am sure they will ignore this as that is what they are best at.

So I decided to go to a Verizon Wireless store in College Park, MD on Tuesday, September 11. I could not go on Monday because I had school all day and I work also. Well, when I arrived to the store, I talked to this guy who I told him my problem with the device. He switched my sim card to a new one and started testing the phone. He came with the conclusion that the phone they sent me was a defective phone. So he then placed another order for another refurbished phone. It came the following day. I had the phone for a couple few days until I realized that the phone was not receiving good signal, but was way much better than the first phone because I could least make and receive calls. So on Monday, September 17, I made another call to Verizon Wireless and I spoke to a lady named Jessica who said she was going to send me a refurbished phone along with a new sim card and was going to make a follow up with me on Thursday, September 20, at 4pm.

The third refurbished phone came on Tuesday, September 18, along with the new sim card. I opened the packaged and realized that the sim card they sent was way too big to fit on my phone. So then, I called Verizon wireless again and explain what happened again. The person I spoke to said that he was going to send me another sim card that could fit my device. I received the sim card on Thursday, September 19. I came from work after that and decided to test my phone with the new sim card. Well, I realized that even with the new sim card on my phone, the device was not working at all. It was exactly like the first refurbished phone they sent me. I was angry and frustrated because of all the problems I had encountered with Verizon. Well, I gave them another call and talked to a lady. She then sent me to technical support where I spoke to a man who told me that he knew what was going on. Well I asked him what the problem was. He finally said that it is something to do with a software update. He then asked me what I wanted to do and I asked him what my options were. He said that I could switch to a Motorola Razr or some selected phones they had except for an iPhone or Samsung 3.

I told him that when I signed a contract on the end of December of last year, I bought a Samsung Galaxy Nexus, in which had more features including NFC than that of the Motorola Razr. He kept telling me the same thing about something to do with an error on the software, so then I told him I want to talk to the technical support manager. The manager gave me the same response. So, I told him that I wanted my contract to end with Verizon Wireless. He told me that the fee for early termination is $270. Well, I asked him if they could give me a discount for all the troubles I’ve been through and not receiving good services. He told me no because it has something to do with their software error. I told him I spoke to somebody in the past week and they were going to refund me. He said he was going to investigate the person who I spoke to and we ended our conversation.

Then, I decided to go to a Verizon Wireless store and he saw that the phone was not working properly. I told him that I spoke to somebody before coming in here and that they pissed me off so I decided to terminate my contract. He looked me up and realized that I still had service until my termination on October 19. I told him I no longer want to terminate my contract because I don’t want to pay $270. He then told me that I need to call them back and there’s nothing that they could do.

So, I called Verizon wireless and I decided to take the Razr phone instead. I don’t believe that anyone should have to go through what I’ve been through. First, in the past few months, I had been spending $130 to $250 for every single month to be receiving this kind of service. Second, I was going through so much for the last three weeks without anyone giving me a direct solution. Third, I have spent money buying another case for a different phone and gasoline money as well. There are notes and calls that representatives from Verizon Wireless have monitored or recorded. I recorded down all the series numbers of all the phone they send me including sim cards.

I have the extended two-year warranty for the phone, which Verizon refuses to honor without additional charges, as the said unit is still under factory warranty. This at face value seems reasonable, along with verifying the account holder, payer and password. The store rep verified the ship to address on the speakerphone with the Verizon account representative repeating the entry of said address and a delivery time of three to five days. After a week, I returned to the Verizon store and was told they could do nothing about this unless I paid additional $100 to purchase a new smart phone and promised to call about this and make sure the phone was shipped. No phone came.

On the 14th of September (11:10), I received a phone message VZW 900-080-004004 as follows: "Please return defective device to avoid being charged full retail, which may exceed $500. Disregard if you have already shipped device back." As I had not received any phone, I called the VZ technical support which put me on hold for 30 minutes. The recording advised to go online and try live support, which I did, while on hold for an additional hour. The online support could do nothing but sell new phones, odd I know, but that was their statement.

After 1 pm, I was routed to another number to get help. I explained the problem, had a lot of difficulty finding out any valuable information other than the phone was shipped then returned and they would be charging me more money to send another unit. I asked for a supervisor. Same thing. Then, I asked for a supervisor's supervisor and finally they determined it was shipped to the wrong address. It's about 3:30 now. They offered to express another phone to me on Monday the 16th which they did after carefully repeating the correct address to me.

Guess what? Yes, you are right. They shipped it to the wrong address again. Okay. On Wednesday, the 19th and still no phone, I called and I am told after an hour and a half that another will go out to the correct address. Fine. I am waiting patiently when again I received a repeat of the above message. So, I called. I can't get a straight answer but most likely, they have not shipped the unit. I suspect they are hoping I will give up and pay for a new phone! Can anyone help me? This is a company with over $300,000,000 in fines for deceptive practices.

By then I was so angry with all the lies. I can't believe this happened. I have my phone connected with my private business and to tell you the business I lost because of this phone is the least. I even asked them to let me go to a store and buy one. They told me that I couldn't because I already purchased one with them. If I could have cancelled my account with Verizon, that would have been the time, but as you know the fees are way too much. By the way, I still have no phone!

The rep claimed there was no change and they can shut it off after a certain period. I asked if there was no change in policy, why were there so many phone calls for $60 that’s two weeks past due and also why was my account never shut off before for greater amounts that were not past due for very long? She said it was all computer automated. I then asked if there was a recent change on how the computers decide the shut off and call volume.

Again, they said no. I kept citing my payment dates and their multiple phone calls, but all she did was repeat that it was in my contract and that they could shut it off after a certain period and blame the "computers". I did not dispute that I was past due and that they had the right to shut it off and I do not mind paying the bill, but all I wanted to hear was if there was a new policy on past due accounts. Clearly, something different was going on and I had all the evidence on their site and on my phone, but they would not tell me.

I felt insulted that they refused to acknowledge any change and also feel that 5 phone calls a day for an account 2 weeks past due for $60 is extreme. That seems like something a collection agency would do after hundreds of dollars and months, if not years, past due. All I wanted was a straight answer from a company that I have been a loyal customer of for a decade and have paid over $10,000 in service and phones. Again, I am not mad that my phone was shut off. I understand they had the right (although 2.5 weeks past due is unheard of to me). I just want them to be honest and explain why now and never the last 10 years.

The "new" phone arrived over the weekend, but it is not a new phone. It is a "certified refurbished phone." I spoke with several Verizon representatives this afternoon and learned that the company policy is written in cement. You cannot have a new phone unless you return a newly purchased item within the first 14 days. After that, you will receive a "refurbished" phone if your phone fails. That is according to Verizon's contract with Motorola, according to the company rep.

But there's more; the refurbished phone I opened today had small bits of trash trapped inside the cellophane wrapper on the surface of the replacement phone. That certainly creates confidence that a replacement from the same factory will work, doesn't it? I explained all of this to a resolution specialist at Verizon and received the same answer; you will only get a refurbished phone, not a new one. She's sending another one out, presumably from the same factory that packed the one that has trash in it.

“After reviewing your account, I do see you spoke with a supervisor regarding what was outlined in your email. I do regret to inform you that once your number is ported to another carrier, the remaining balance is forfeited due to disconnection of service. If you require any additional assistance, please respond to this email or contact a customer service representative at (888)-294-6804. It has been my pleasure to assist you today. Have a great day!” I have done research and now know that this practice is illegal in California.

Upon contacting the Pooler location the next morning, I was first boggled at the automated answering service (certainly not user friendly!). Customer service was not factored in when choosing this type of answering service. Upon finally getting in touch with a human and after asking him to repeat his name twice, I still don't know what it was or I would certainly reveal it. Maybe English should be a requirement in order to work at Verizon. Upon explaining to this individual what had happened to my phone, I advised that I had several question concerning my plans before I committed to them. He immediately advised that I would have to come into the store to have the questions answered.

I attempted to explain that these questions were to help me decide upon which phone to choose and how this would affect my account since my wife was also on the plan and wished not to upgrade her phone. Again, I was advised I would have to come into the store to have these questions answered. Now we are back to my original complaint (no customer service!). I’ll spend the remainder of today looking at other wireless companies.

Although we explained to the Hodgkins, IL Verizon rep that it did not get wet, he didn't care to hear it. His attitude was unprofessional, careless, and one of "I don't want to hear it" which was pretty annoying. They refused to take the phone back due to moisture on the inside. How can Verizon refuse to accept a phone back due to moisture inside the phone when the phone was not checked inside and outside by both consumer and sales rep for possible defect? What proof do they have it wasn't defective when sold to my niece? How fair is it to accuse the consumer of "wetting" the phone when it was not? Wouldn't it make business sense to protect themselves and the consumer by reviewing the phone to consumer at time of purchase?

Now they claim no refund and if my niece decides to send the phone back to Verizon to review and if it shows there is moisture, they would charge her for service. Really, Verizon? How can you claim great service when your policies are ineffective and it doesn't show your commitment to the consumer?

Therefore, Verizon keeps charging me for a phone that I don't have because I am told by several customer service reps that they can't fix their mistake on their end, that it has to be corrected by the warehouse to which paperwork has been submitted twice and still nothing has been taken care of. I've emailed and called and every time, I'm told there is nothing else that can be done. I need help dealing with this company that has no communication between service and warehouse. They have offered me no number or email to warehouse. I am not going to pay for a phone that I have the receipts for returns for. Please help!

I felt a need to check on this because I'm often given different amounts for the same bill. If I look on their website, it will say one amount, but my statement will say another amount. And if I call a representative, they will tell me something else. I complained to a representative about this in June & they said they would note my complaint and that a supervisor would call me back within 72 hours to get the matter resolved. Yet, no supervisor ever called me regarding this.

Anyway when I called to check my July bill balance, the automated system showed I had a zero balance. I didn't believe this could be correct so I spoke to a representative who confirmed that my balance due for July was indeed 0. I believed I had some credit due, so I asked the representative if this was correct because I had paid my past due balance plus had some credit. He said that was correct. I don't believe that he checked this at all. I was told that I had no payment due until August.

Over the weekend of July 7th, I began getting calls from a collection agency. I spoke to them on July 9th. They said I owed Verizon a past due balance of $146.27. I didn't understand how that could be. On July 10th I called Verizon and spoke to a supervisor, Miss **, in the collections department. As it turned out, the $146.27 was the amount that had been due on my July bill. The July balance was zero because when I paid the collection amount in June, Verizon applied it to my July bill even though that bill had not even been sent out yet. So in reality, the amount of my July bill was turned over to a collection agency before it was even due. I have a letter from the collection agency dated July 5th. I asked Miss ** to take my account out of collections & she said she wouldn't unless I made an arrangement to pay my July bill.

At this point, my July bill was only 2 days late. I no longer had the funds to pay for July. After being told balance was 0, I was no longer prepared to pay. After several messages back and forth between me and Miss **, I was able to make her realize I paid the past due amount and my July bill was in collections before the due date. I had a voice mail from Miss ** stating that she was going to take my account out of collections and send me a paid in full later. 3 weeks have gone by and I still haven't received that letter.

Last week, I called again and spoke to Renee. She said that there were no notes in my file regarding that letter. She said she would send one out. To date, I still haven't received it. I would like to be able to apply for credit and have worked very hard to repair my credit in the past few years. I am afraid that this has hurt my credit rating and I want my paid in full letter. Most of the time I call Verizon, the representatives are rude and interrupting me. The collections department is only open during business hours and it is very hard for me to make phone calls from work. The representatives at the regular business office can't help me with anything that has gone to collections. I feel like this issue will never be resolved. This is the worst customer service I have ever had.

The obnoxious salesperson named Brian tried to blame the other carrier for not telling me this could happen, and then told me I should read my contract. I never cancelled my son's iPhone and paid them $150.00 last month like always. They keep telling me the plan is tied to a number, not to a piece of equipment. I knew my son's actual phone was still under contract but not my actual number. How do these people sleep at night? They had my 16-year-old daughter in tears by their unprofessional conduct and their accusatory ways. Brian and Skyye, you two should be ashamed of yourselves.

Unfortunately, our phones were stolen this week, my car window shattered. I had to pay $200.00 to replace our phones and $200.00 to repair the window. I don't even get a break from having my phone. No, Verizon wants more money instead. They keep calling and calling for money when I don't even have a phone. I am so sick of this company. They don't care about the customer. Everything is automated. They don't care. I would never recommend this company to anyone. They are the worst wireless company. I’d go to Metro PCS, if I were you.

I was charged the early termination fee and it was directly taken out of my checking account. When I called them, they said they had to wait 2-3 weeks before they can send me a check back. I called them 3 1/2 weeks later and they still haven't sent anything. The CS rep said the request would take another 2-3 weeks before they sent out my check. That wasn't good enough for me since they should never had taken it out in the first place. The CS rep said they could put in an expedited request which would take them 24-48 hours to look at. She said if it was approved, they would send my check out. She could not guarantee that it would be approved and that I would get my check right away.

This is absolutely ridiculous! Why should I have to wait for my money that they should never have had in the first place? I talked to a supervisor and she had no empathy whatsoever. She could care less about me or my money. Verizon Wireless has very poor customer service and business practices. I will never, ever do business with them again. I will also be cutting off my home phone service from Verizon. This company is a far cry from Ma Bell. I will be calling them in 48 hours. If they don't send me my money back, I'm contacting my attorney.

I told them I was not sending in any more money until my credit went through so they put the account on hold and made notes. They shut it off anyway. The account is dinged now. So basically, they are doing away with 3G devices and going to 4G. That was another misleading expense. We bought two new netbooks that were 4G because we were told by the persistent sales person they will work in our area; they don't. They will not drop to 3G and keep us online, they search for 4G.

So several phone calls later and buying some devices that I can't return, I was allowed to return them - giving me the credit. I am disabled - I rely on my Internet service and phone to communicate. I live out in the sticks, 30 miles from town. This has not only been a problem but has caused a great deal of added stress to my situation. I talked to a rep yesterday and I am currently waiting for a supervisor's boss to call me in 24-72 hours. So, I am paying for a two-year contract on a netbook I can't use nor get replaced. And the tablet is out of my price range - I can't use the upgrade nor put it on my account. Or, I can get charged for early termination of $300 or so.

It just doesn't seem like customer service is your strong point. I am amazed that the people who rely on 3G haven't received notification that replacement devices are not going to be available, but we will work with you to satisfy your needs. You find out when you call and then are overwhelmed with the cost of new devices, no promotions, assistance and nobody can make a decision without a supervisor having to call back - if that happens.

Verizon should have a new slogan - "Welcome to Verizon. How can we make your life difficult?" They also have young people who are not trained in service and understanding. It is as if they are immature, they answer the phone with an attitude and get personal satisfaction from holding the power. I believe that these are the people that got beat up in high school and have found a place to work where they have "power" to make others miserable. It's truly sad. If I don't get this issue resolved, I am pulling all four of my devices from Verizon together with my small business lines. I have written to BBB and got on every forum I can find - Facebook and Tweeter to spread my good cheer and my Verizon customer service experience.

So, they advertised a free upgrade. They used the term free upgrade over and over. When pressed on issue, then it's called a "fee that's tied to the line." In the same breath, they justify it by saying that the money goes for workers to keep up-to-date with technology and stuff. And they go back calling it a "free upgrade" because if you look at your bill, there is a "line charge" already. If it's a line charge, there is a charge on the bill that is called a monthly access charge. It's just a complete circle. So in my eyes, they advertise free upgrades - which isn't free at all. When pressed, they call it something else - so then it's a double charge.

I went back to the store the week of 06/25/12 and told them I wasn’t happy with this phone. I advised the salesperson of the issues with the phone and he told me it’s a bottom line phone and doesn’t hold a charge. I asked him why did they sell it to me and why weren’t they honest with me. He said most salespeople want to make a sale. I spoke to manager there, and got a different phone, another LG, which I liked. He credited my account and advised me on my next bill, I will only owe $81. I asked him if he was sure about that, and he said yes, he credited my account and will only have to pay $81. I wrote this on the receipt as he was telling me this information. I told him I don’t want any surprises on my next bill. He reiterated I would only have to pay $81.

For the past two weeks, I have been having issues with this new phone. People can’t hear me, I can’t hear them, I hear my own voice echo when I talk, when I texted twice, the bar went down to one bar which meant the phone was going to die soon. On 07/24/12, I went back into the store. I told them I am having issues and am very upset. I spoke to **, the manager, who gave me to ** the salesperson to pick out a phone. He said there are not many phone choices, and I don’t know what to tell you. He said I have to pay for internet service with any smartphone. I told him I did not want internet, as I have internet at home and at my office. I told him I want to be able to text. He said I don’t know what to tell you. I went back to talk to ** again and told him I needed a phone. He kept telling me you have to get internet to get a better phone.

I told him I have been a customer for over 8 years and this is how they treat people, and now I am locked into a contract. I told him I wanted a refund, to cancel my text messaging and to get me out of the contract so I can use another provider. He said, no, he can’t get me out of the contract. I reiterated I wanted out of the contract. He didn’t care, because they got their sale. He told me I don’t know what to tell you. I told him I was going to return the phone and use my old one and had him cancel my text messaging which I really needed.

I went home and went online and saw my next bill due 08/15/12 is $228.40. I called Verizon to try to get them to transfer my contacts; they couldn’t, so I had to go back to the store. This was my 5th time in this store and I spent almost 2 hours there tonight with no outcome. He pointed out on the bill that I should be also credited for. I asked him to credit this amount now. He said he would but I don’t think he did. I told ** that the other manager told me my bill would be $81. He printed the bill out for me and went through it. He talked so fast, I couldn’t keep up with all the mumbo jumbo on the bill. I told him I am not paying for this 2nd phone. He told me I can’t take it back. I told him this phone doesn’t work properly and I don’t want the same phone. I told him when my boss called me today he couldn’t hear me and I couldn’t hear him. He said I can’t take it back. I told him I was leaving it with him, which I did, along with the cord and walked out.

All I wanted was a decent good phone that didn’t die right away and could text message. Now, I am stuck with a $228 bill. They have unethical business practices by not telling folks the truth about a phone. I wouldn’t be in this situation if the 1st salesperson told me the phone I was buying didn’t hold a charge at all and that it was a low bottom phone. From there, I could have made an informed decision. They are not honest and I feel I was deceived to get me into a contract.

On Friday, July 20, I drove over to the Verizon store (7820 Wormans Mill Road, Frederick, MD) to have them once again fix the internet issue and explain to them the problem I was having with people not able to understand me. The Verizon rep had gone in to another room and called my phone and she had confirmed, yes, there is a problem with hearing me and I sounded garbled. I have contacted Verizon in regards to these problems. Their fix is to switch out my new phone for a refurbished phone. I brought this phone brand new. They said since the 14 days have passed, this is the only thing they are able to do for me. I was not able to get to the Verizon store for the reason that I was in the hospital and have proof of this and I had a trip schedule June 30th to July 7th. I had explained my situation with Verizon.

Three days after the purchase, we received a phone call saying they did not charge us for one of the phones. When we reviewed the receipt, we found that we were overcharged $50.00 for one phone, and $30 for a car charger that we were told came with the 2nd phone. The 2nd phone was not on the receipt. When we tried to resolve this, we requested to return the accessories as we would not have purchased them had the associate not given us a false "total balance". They refused. The associate then called back multiple times changing ways to "correct" his mistake, all of which would cost "an additional $150 - $50" to us, if we returned all the accessories, but paid a restocking fee (which was more than some of the accessories).

I requested to speak with a supervisor since the employee is the one who failed to accurately tell us our total and could not correct the situation. The associate gave me a number for the manager. The next morning when I called the number, it went to voice mail. It did not have a personalized voice mail, did not mention Verizon Wireless, and was full. I was not able to leave a voice message because of this. I then contacted Verizon's Corporate Office and learned that the store that we upgraded at was not a direct store.

When I asked how he was able to claim to be a direct store when they were not, corporate was unable to help me. I then asked how I was to correct this, and was told that I could return the devices to relinquish us from the contract (14 day grace period). I then attempted to reach the district manager of the indirect store, Larry **, in which he said he handled corporate and indirect stores. I explained to him that his employee made claims that it was a direct store, failed to give us an accurate price and was now expecting us to pay for his mistake. I asked why he, Larry **, was trying to penalize a customer who did nothing wrong for a failure on his employees part to do his job accurately, especially when the employee was misleading his customers and giving them false information.

I told Larry that we just wanted to return the phones and accessories for a complete refund, but that Robert ** was trying to charge a restocking fee. I told him that if he needed to recoup the restocking fee he should get it from his employee as he is responsible for his failure to do his job, not the customer. Larry agreed to give a full refund. I requested he send us written confirmation that he would be providing a full refund for the merchandise. He never sent that confirmation. Because of his employee’s failure to give us an accurate total and his failure to rectify the situation, we are now in limbo trying to figure out what to do. Verizon Corporate says they cannot help at all.

This store has the Verizon sign and logo and looked no different than the Verizon store that we had gone to in the past. There was no indication it was third party and we were specifically told they were a direct store and misled to believe that they were a direct store. They answer "Verizon Wireless" and left messages from "Verizon Wireless". When I asked the corporate office how the customer was supposed to know that it was not a direct store if the store was claiming to be, I was told that it would be on the receipt. When I asked how we were to know “before” we made a purchase, corporate did not have an answer.

Everything before our purchase led us to believe they were a direct store. It wasn't until I contacted corporate that I was told to look at the receipt to see that the store is actually an indirect store. Larry also confirmed that it was his other employee, Ladonna, who had called us and claimed that the store we had previously used was not a direct store. While speaking to corporate, I found out that the store Ladonna told us was "indirect" was actually "direct" while the store she sent us to was actually an indirect store. We do not know what to do without it costing us extra money, whether it be to cancel, eat the ridiculous restocking fee, and possibly not get a full refund, or what. At this point, the indirect store is not communicating clearly what to do as they tell us one thing but do not honor it and will not provide written confirmation.

It is now July 14, 2012 and I am still waiting to have the feature returned to my plan. I have been in constant contact with customer support to ensure that my concern does not fall through the cracks. I have talked to a number of customer reps and received varying responses on how it is being handled. If Verizon truly takes/maintains accurate notes during phone calls with customers, their notes will reflect the inconsistent advice/support from Verizon customer support. To date and as a result of this error, a 2GB feature at $30.00 replaced the Global Unlimited Data feature on my plan. Then, the 2GB was replaced by unlimited data for US/Canada, which currently remains on my plan. I paid $730 for my phone (Motorola Razr Maxx Android 4G LTE). I am now in possession of a new phone which gets no signal in Afghanistan, in addition to a plan that does me no good nor one that I requested. Where is the logic in all this?

The impetus for my joining Verizon with a plan to include the Global Unlimited Data feature was so that my family back home (stateside), could maintain routine/immediate communication with me and assuage any worries about my well-being since I am in a war zone. Losing this ability has heightened stress levels on both ends, mine because of having to deal with this matter that is due to no fault of my own. Currently, I'm told an inactive pricing request has been submitted to restore the Global Unlimited Data feature. That is fine and good, but I have been told this on two separate occasions. The first time resulted in a response from Verizon that they declined to return the feature. I pushed the issue and a second inactive pricing request resulted in the unlimited data for US/Canada showing up on my plan and currently remains on my plan.

Bottom line is that Verizon has acknowledged their error and has told me over the phone and in email correspondence that this error would be resolved and they would return the Global Unlimited Data feature. However, they cannot specify a timeline for resolution. Two weeks into this, I feel that I am getting the runaround now. I cannot even get their representatives to respond to my correspondence. I am asking for assistance in resolving this matter fairly and for Verizon to return the Global Unlimited Data feature back to my plan.

On 7/13, this morning, I received the phone. I activated it. I called customer support to switch back to my unlimited data plan. I am told (by Undrea) this is not possible. I am outraged. If it was not possible, I would have kept my current phone. I also would not have wasted my time. Additionally, Undrea could clearly see (based on Ester’s comments on my account) that I called specifically asking about my data plan, but there was nothing he could do. I told him I would send the phone back and keep my account the way it was. He was gracious enough to waive the restocking fee. This afternoon I walked into the Verizon Wireless store on 42nd Street (in Times Square, NYC) to return the phone. The representative (Ellyn) explained that although I will receive a credit for the amount I paid for the phone, Verizon will not return the upgrade fee.

How am I being charged an upgrade fee for an item I have returned? Why should I have to pay an upgrade fee when Verizon's representative (Ester) misrepresented the upgrade policy concerning my account? If I had been given the correct information, I would not have ordered this phone. To financially penalize the customer because a customer service rep did not provide the correct information is unacceptable. I would like a full refund.

I was also told if there is a problem with the phone, I can return it for free which changed, after signing, to a charge of 25% restocking fee (again, my mistake for trusting the rep and not reading the contract). The store, of course, took the salesperson's side of he said/she said but I also had another person with me who witnessed this. I can't do anything for me now but I want to warn all buyers to go through only Verizon online if you want a Verizon phone and not a store because they work on commission and will say anything for the sale.

After my contract is up, I am changing to what all my friends and the rest of my family have changed to for more service for a cheaper price. All of these people used to be Verizon customers too for many years and had warned me not to go back but I ignored them, so again my fault for believing in Verizon.

I have shut my phone down numerous times and I have rebooted it too. This is just stupid; I've never had so many problems with a phone as I'm having. And people on the phone, some tell me they can run a diagnostics without me having to turn off the phone or call on another. This phone also heats up when charging and when not. I bought a new home charger and it doesn't charge but half way in 5 hours. I’ve tried other smart phone home chargers and they do not work with this phone as I was told it would. I feel like I’m getting a royal screwing and I’m tired of it. This phone, I also was told after I bought it was on its way out and there had been many complaints on it. There better be an honest person in this damn company that that will me some good. PS: I'm not just angry, but very dissatisfied.

After several calls to different representatives and management, we finally chased down the last of the credits. I thought we were done. To my chagrin, we were not. The following month (billed June 12, 2012), a brand new equipment fee appeared on my bill. This time for $439.99! That's where the issue stands today. Among the people I have spoken with to get this resolved are: Jeff in Rochester (supervisor/management team) on May 17, 2012, Joseph (employee badge ID**) on May 21, 2012, Ryan (unknown employee information) on May 22, 2012, Jim in Indiana (employee badge ID**) on June 18, 2012 and among many others. They have a lengthy list of our discussions on file.

How to resolve? Refund. Reverse the ** charge! I had to call 5 or 6 times to get this resolved and I'm more than pissed about it. Treat your customer right, credit me for all the time and anguish this has caused me. When someone buys a phone, they are not looking to buy a problem too. Upgrading a phone should not be this much of a hassle. I used to have great things to say about Verizon. Thanks to this, that has been diminished to next to nothing. I want credit for my time. I intend to be heard.

Are you serious? A multimillion dollar company like Verizon doesn't have the capability to back up data from the phone? Why is it that if I call an attorney, they can pull up every text I've ever sent but Verizon cannot back up my data? So their solution is nothing! They can't back up the data, so they blamed me for not fixing their problem. So now they want to continue charging me for a data plan that I can't use because the device they sold me doesn't work! Verizon wireless is not here to provide a service.

They just want to make money at the expense of the people. Let's face it. They don't provide service. They hide behind their lawyers and tie you into unilateral contracts. They don't have to provide service because their contract says you're screwed for 2 years, whether or not they provide the service you contracted. Did you know that they have the right to change your plan at any time? Whether it charges you more or less, they have the right. They also fail to inform consumers properly and there's an amazing amount of misinformation shed at the stores because salespersons continue to work on commission. Service? Who cares?! They got their spiff!

I'm facing a situation where, for over three months, I've had spotty data service and now no service from Verizon. Their response? Buy a new phone. I bought their best phone 2 years ago. It doesn't work for data anymore. What did I do? I did the *228 that one of their stupid people recommended. Next thing I know, no internet, no GPS. Nothing! Now they say the problem is my phone. The phone is out of warranty and they want me to upgrade. Let me think about this. You want me to spend $400 for a new phone for you to provide lousy service? And tie me into another 2 year agreement that I don't want just so you can provide the service I purchased? Verizon's lack of service will not go unnoticed for long!

With my arrival delayed, I jumped on the train for my planned meeting at my apartment rental only to find my phone did not work, stranding me alone at 10 pm in a neighborhood I didn't know. No way to make a call, no knowledge of the transit available (since the Metro shut down after I got to my destination), and nowhere to go. Despite all my preparation, I found myself stranded and more than a bit freaked out! I finally made it back to the center of Rome and found a hotel room around midnight at considerable added expense. It took them 5 days and my sending them two more emails before they finally sent me the info I needed to make my phone work. Their excuse for all this - they were busy!

When I now call to vent and tell them they owe me for what they've put me through, they told me I'd have to wait for a supervisor to call me back in 24-48 hours. I've never been stonewalled and disregarded like this! They have yet to acknowledge their inexcusable and incompetent handling of this or apologize for my extremely stressful experience. If you think this is acceptable customer care, then this is the company for you!

I got a new cellphone this year and had even more issues than before. Upon having yet another phone sent to me (again, refurbished!), it was doing the same thing. I called this past week to find out the issue and solve it, only to be told about this Network Optimization. I just signed a new contract, yet I am being told now that this is under effect for those that are still unlimited. The manager was not helpful and extremely rude. She told me they are limiting the unlimited data that you pay for because "why give you data they could be charging you for?" So on my 3G plan, I now only get 2GB per month. When I questioned this, she told me to sign up for a 4G plan. 4G is not even in my area to get full access to 3G network, even though I cannot get the full 4G in my area.

They did not mention this at all during my new contract this past month nor did I receive anything in the mail about this. Therefore, I signed under false pretenses and I no longer wish to carry out my contract. If they knew about the network ** crap, why replace my new phones with refurbished phones for this issue if it was network optimization all along? They only care about the almighty dollar signs.

At this point, many people, including myself, are basically pressured into paying the monthly insurance fee. It is never disclosed verbally or in writing that the insurance is not with them (Verizon) and that there is a deductible. I have always believed that the insurance is through Verizon and that you pay for this insurance to get full replacement at no cost. So I have been paying $6.99 per month for years and now I am required to pay a $99 deductible. I can buy this phone at any licensed Verizon distributor for under $99. My damaged phone needs to be replaced at no cost or the monthly insurance fee for the life of this phone needs to be reimbursed. At Verizon, I spoke with Brett **, Aaron and Lewis **. They told me that I was informed of Asurion and that there was a deductible. They also said that Asurion always notifies the consumer about the policy details and requirements.

At Asurion, I spoke with Steven, Joey ** and last Keith **. They informed me that they did not and they do not send the consumer information on the insurance coverage or deductible requirements. They informed me that I can get the information at Verizon locations or upon request. The cellphone companies and their affiliates are scamming monies from all of us consumers on a daily basis. When you want to question something, you have to maneuver through an electronic obstacle course and then the representatives you’re lucky to speak to are all trained robots. My damaged phone needs to be replaced at no cost or the monthly insurance fee for the life of this phone needs to be reimbursed.

Today, I come to find out through the FedEx tracking system that my phone won't be delivered today and that I would have to wait until Tuesday, 5/29/12. I called Verizon to speak to a representative about it, and they told me "Yes, your phone will be delivered on Friday. The warehouse did not send your phone when they were supposed to, and there's nothing we can do about it." They flat out told me to suck it up but in a more politically correct way.

I asked to speak with a supervisor many times, and that option was never given to me. The representative put me on hold while he spoke to his supervisor, and when I asked him again to connect me to the manager or supervisor, the representative told me he was on a meeting. I feel that Verizon is just doing what they want to do without any concern as to how their mistake or false promise affected me personally. The representative had the nerve to tell me that because the shipping was free, I had to just wait until my phone gets delivered (4 days later than the guaranteed delivery date that the Verizon representative gave me the day I purchased the phone).

If I knew the phone was not going to arrive by Friday, I would have paid for the expedite delivery myself. I was never offered that option, even though I asked many times. Cristina (who sold me the phone on Wednesday) told me "Your phone will be there on Friday, and you don't have to pay anything." I'm very upset as to how my case and problem was handled today.

In March of this year, I paid on the 24th and Verizon accepted the payment and sent me an email confirmation as usual. On the 31st, I got a strange call from a collection agency saying I had a delinquent Verizon Account and I owed $800.00. I only owed them $399.00 at this point, and the account was not delinquent! I immediately called Verizon Wireless and was told that I did not have an account with them, it was closed. They told me to communicate with the collections department. I told them that wouldn't work. They never could connect me to anyone so I sent an email and wrote a letter.

On April 5th, I got a notice from Experian (I use freecreditreport.com and pay good money every month to keep tabs on my credit) telling me that "potentially negative information had been posted to my credit." I looked, and it was Verizon Wireless! Verizon reported an account in collections, and an account that was over 120 days past due. This is a poor representation of me! I would never allow a bill to go unpaid for over 120 days! I contacted Verizon immediately and magically reached a department that could take a payment. I paid the entire $399.00 and asked them to change their credit reporting as it was inaccurate. The representative told me that he could change the report but that he wouldn't.

The next week, I paid money to see Equifax and TransUnion, and saw that Verizon had reported differently to each of them after I already paid the balance in full. They reported that I had a delinquent $699.00 account. I never even had that balance anyway. They reported different figures and account types to all three bureaus and two of those reports were filed after I paid the entire bill (which was never delinquent by the way, and was sent to "collections" after I received confirmation that my payment arrangement was still in good standing).

I am currently trying to dispute this with the credit bureaus. I am a recent college graduate and I am trying to be a model citizen. Verizon Wireless has effortlessly caused my credit score to drop from 714 to 644! It took me years to build that! I worked so hard, too hard for it all to be gone just like that! This is awful! I have created a petition online at: **. Please sign and show support so that attention can be called to this sort of thing and it will stop happening. People don't deserve this!

I contacted the store immediately and also went down to talk to management. I explained that I wanted to return the unit and that based on my needs, it was out of my budget and because it was not explained to me properly. I felt misled and so I was aggravated. The store management (Best Buy) apologized for the miscommunication but advised the only thing they would be able to do was return the unit.

For the service discontinuation, I was referred to Verizon. It took about a week for the store to put me in touch with someone at Verizon. A Verizon representative by the name of Jonathan called me. Jonathan was rather understanding , kind and patient, apologized about all the confusion, stated he could discontinue the service but asked first what my needs were and that maybe he could help me figure it out since I did indeed need internet service for my autistic child and personal business.

I told him that I needed the internet but couldn't afford anything more than the $50 that I signed up for with the understanding at that time that there was no limit to data usage. He noted that it was possible to put me on a larger plan and looked at my usage which averaged slightly higher than what the initial plan accounted for driving my costs per month up by $10 - $20. After he explained the plan and how it worked, I decided that based on my usual usage, it may work. On average my bills per month were $50-$70 on the high end.

In late March, I received an unusual bill of $186.47. Frantic, I contacted Jonathan and he did some investigating. I explained that the bill doesn't even make sense. My usage had not changed from previous months. He came back from investigating and indicated that he wanted to change my plan and that he would credit my account as a courtesy; he left a voice message on March 25th 2012 at 7:05 pm. His message indicated that he contacted customer care several times and for me to contact me to go over my usage.

Unfortunately at this time when he left the message, I was preparing for an international trip and was scheduled to leave the following week. Days prior to my departure, I had not used the hotspot and had left for Europe on April 3, 2012. The hotspot was with me but off the duration of travel. When I arrived in Southern France, I attempted to use the hotspot, but the lights lit up yellow and red and would not let me connect on my laptop. My return was April 18th 5pm. Again, trying to use the hotspot on my return home was to no avail.

Shortly after, I received an automated call saying that my Verizon service was in jeopardy of being disconnected (even though it was already off) and the current bill amount was $480! Now angry, I tried to contact Jonathan to find out what was happening and how my account continued to escalate without my use. His phone line went directly to voice mail and forwarded me to a new individual named Chris **. I immediately called the number and again was sent directly to voice mail with a message from Chris ** indicating he was out of the office and any emergency calls should be directed to Jeremy at **.

I called Jeremy's line getting increasingly frustrated and explained the situation to him, what I had been through and that I just got back into the country. He said he understood and that often the automated systems get it wrong, don't know what's current. He asked for my account number or phone number associated with the account and I told him that I would have to look for it. He said to text it to him and he would get right back to me. Within 5 minutes, I texted him with the information, specifically the following: "Thursday, April 19th 2012 2:27pm Bill ** on April 7th inv #** was reduced by Jjonathan and he made a plan change to accommodate usage; service is disconnected; I signed up for $50 per month. Account **. Phone number **. Very aggravating, help! I don't think this is working out for us. 2:34 pm (same day). I've been gone in an entirely different country and not using this service for two weeks. How the heck does $300 accumulate on the bill?

No response received from this text. I sent him another text an hour later asking if he received the information. He texted back that he would look into it that night and that he was in an unexpected meeting. At 9:16 pm that evening, Jeremy called me and told me he finally made it home, that the charges on the account were valid, that I had used 20 gigs of data within a one month period (some of which while I was in France) and there would be no credit and there is nothing he could do for me. I asked how is it data was used on my account while I was out of the country if I didn't use it. The only response he offered was that the data was used, "you need a password to use it" and that I would be held accountable for all charges and that they were valid. I asserted that this was ridiculous and that I would be filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. He said okay. At no time was my typical usage considered. At no time was any process to investigate fraudulent usage offered or advised.

Once I calmed myself I remembered that Jeremy was not the initial person who I was referred to and that I would double check with my actual point of contact Chris **. I called Chris ** and again got his voice mail, only this time, there was no indication that he was out of the office. I called him 8:30 am on Friday, April 20, 2012. My call was to explain the situation and verify the company's position that I am responsible for this data charges even though my hotspot unit from Verizon was off, out of the country and not used by me for at least a two-week period. I didn't hear back from Chris. So I called again and left another message followed by a text message stating the "no call back my response to my voice mail? Please advise. Thank you."

To this day, Chris ** has never called me back. In all this time, four days later, no one has contacted me in response to my complaint and indication that data has been used on my account and not by me. Verizon has not provided any customer care, service, investigative tactics, explanation, or otherwise regarding this situation. I am extremely disappointed with the handling of my account, lack of customer care, lack of response, concern and inadequate service and would like to be released from this agreement and outrageous charges generated by another source.

I am convinced that my service and data has been illegally accessed and Verizon proposes to do nothing about it. Customers are at risk of being taken advantage of and seem to have no recourse of action. My daughter and I have been without internet access for a total of three weeks but today, April 23, 2012, Monday I received a very timely invoice in the amount of $401.80. Incredible. I wish to be immediately released from this agreement and associated charges. Thank you.

I also have a complaint about the unit when I was using it, disconnecting service, etc. The service was always dropping and I could not get a reliable stream connection. When I called Verizon on the issue, they always just suggested I turn the device on and off, and reset. I had to do that repeatedly. Should I make a new complaint on that or can I add that to the existing complaint?

When I asked what will happen when this new refurbished (meaning someone else's phone that didn't work and got returned) phone stopped working, he told me I should buy insurance so I could get a new phone (same brand and model of course). If I had been responsible, that suggestion wouldn't be so offensive. I've since found that the Droid Incredible 2 stops working whenever Verizon updates the software because it cannot process the new software. Verizon doesn't let you opt out of the update either. I'm off to AT&T. I've been a Verizon customer for more than 15 years, not anymore. I used to have their landline service but the outside lines were so old (according to the Verizon repairman) that I couldn't hear anything.

The first bill was $165.11 and it had the bundle for $109.99 a month. This was too high, so I called and the employee said there was no offer for $89.99 but I have the ad. After numerous attempts to resolve things, it was never resolved, so we paid the bill. In April, when I called, I was told by a Verizon employee that we didn't have lifeline anymore because this bundle has digital voice and it goes for $109.99 so the bill was higher. We were never told we wouldn't have lifeline. She said she would give us a $20 credit each month for one year to make up for it. She gave us 2 credits towards the next bill (April bill was $152.07, credit was $48.46 paid $103.61).

Then the next bill came for May and there was no credit for $20. So, I went to a Verizon superstore in West Covina because they said they would try to help me. A clerk there told me to tell them I want "LEC" again (I think that was it) which is the type of service that we need in order to have the lifeline again. I called Verizon from the store and told the lady on the phone about wanting LEC and that I was supposed to get credit and that they were charging me too high and this lady said that there was no bundle for $89.99 and that our area doesn't support lifeline with this new bundle. She said that the reason I hadn't gotten any credit was because it takes time to get credit and I told her they had already given me 2 credits for $20 for the first two months but this new bill had no credit. Then she said the credit for $20 was only if we didn't want the Verizon prepaid card they offered and told me and that if I took the prepaid card, that was to compensate for the overpaying of each bill. She told me to read the ad that I had and said that this info was on there. I told her it was not on that paper because it isn't. She argued with me over and over so I said never mind and I hung up.

Two days later, I received a notice that we would be paying approximately $129 something for one year, but this contract is for 2 years not for one, that means after one year, we will be back up to $165 a month and it should be lower than our last contract because it was supposed to be $89.99 a month now and not $109.99 like before. We had to pay this May bill for $151.96 and the new amount will start next month. Last contract was $129.03/month, this new contract should be $20 less plus $8.50 for HBO, totaling $117.53 month. Then after the first year is over, without HBO it should be approximately $109.03 a month.

They only owe us approximately $67.99 but we shouldn't have had to pay that much. They need to charge us $89.99 a month for the bundle and not $109.99 and they need to give us lifeline back. It was working fine up until we renewed the contract, and they never told us that this new bundle couldn't have lifeline because it's a digital voice thing. We don't need digital voice. If they can't do this, we want out of the contract and don't want to be charged a huge fee for early termination. I could never get anyone to help me for the first 2 months so I was afraid to cancel for fear of being charged a huge fee.