Verizon: It's the Network...of Thieves

I've been talking about posting this story for a long time, but with 10 months of ammunition, it took a long time to gather all the information and write it in a cohesive way. If you have an hour or so to kill and like getting fired up about corporate consumer service ineptitude, read on...

I bought a Verizon cell phone in August 2004. I got great reception, loved the phone and its features and was content with keeping everything status-quo on my contract. It was the third contract I had signed with the company, and had appreciated the reliability and quality of service for many years, not just on my mobile phone but my home phone service. I had been with other carriers previously, and none had met all my requirements and expectations as satisfactorily as Verizon.

I’m one of those loyal customers that brand marketers salivate over. I will not only remain loyal to a service that treats me well, but I will testify to my satisfaction and an vocal and active in recommending products I like to friends and family when they are in the market for similar products. Likewise, I will not keep silent when a company proves it’s not worthy of my loyalty and support.

My saga of how my faith in the consumer/vendor relationship began to crumble begins In May 2005, when I moved to Long Beach, California, but kept my New Jersey phone number. I reasoned that most calls I would be getting would be from my friends back home, and I figured that the adjustment to my being thousands of miles and several time zones away would be difficult enough without making anyone memorize a new phone number too. Besides, my number had been mine for a few years, it was easy to remember and mnemonize, and my life was changing so fast that I craved the stability of a phone number that would remind me of my 732-area code roots. I did, however, dutifully change my billing address to California, to make sure my responsibilities would not get lost in the shuffle.

Phone phonies
All was, relatively, well until I moved from Long Beach to Culver City, California, on July 29, 2006. In preparation for the move, I tried to arrange for Verizon land line service to be transferred to my new place, and was told it wasn’t available in my area, so begrudgingly, I had to switch to another carrier. I rarely used my home phone because I had my trusty Verizon cell phone, and as the only reason I needed a house line was to get DSL access for my computer (which was cheaper through AT&T anyway), it was no big deal.

I let go of my Verizon angst until December 2005, when I decided that it was time to upgrade to a new phone. While I was at it, I figured it was high time that I joined the ranks of the 310-Nation and get a local cell phone number too. I went to a Verizon store and was told by a service rep that it would be easier to first call customer service to have them do an “EZ-Move” switch to a California account before I bought a new phone.

When I called Verizon to get the process started, I was told the account would be open until the end of my billing cycle, which was December 6. My new phone number was activated immediately, and I thought that was the end of it. I was informed that in order to change the number, Verizon had to change the branch that billed and delivered my service, and this meant that I would need to transfer my account to the California branch. They explained that I would have to again pay activation fees and pre-pay for a month of service. This made little sense to me, but I was told that in 6-8 weeks, I would receive a check from Verizon refunding my original pre-payment from my first contract. I figured this would just about balance out, and that I wouldn’t miss the extra expense for the few weeks before the refund arrived.

What wasn’t made clear at this point was that by changing my phone number, and thus the account, I was voiding my eligibility for the company’s New Every Two phone discount—because in essence I was opening a whole new account (not just transferring my account to another branch) and would have to serve the term of this new account. If this, and all the implications that would follow, had been clearly outlined and explained, I would NEVER have agreed to do all this. The reason I did it in the first place was that I wanted to buy a new Verizon phone and get a Cali number, and I wouldn’t be able to afford the phone I wanted unless I was getting the $100 New Every Two discount.

This begs the question of why I should have been made ineligible for the company’s loyalty program for continuing my service with the same company UNDER A NEW FUCKING PHONE NUMBER? I had been a loyal customer at that point for over four years, had paid every bill on time, and had not only recommended the company to friends because I was (mostly) pleased with my cell phone coverage, call quality and contract options, but also purchased additional Verizon products (local and long-distance calling, in Long Beach, for example) as well.

The plan goes all pear-shaped
With the phone number changed, I figured I had some time to do some research on my next phone purchase to get exactly what I wanted. There were also rumblings of an iPhone coming out soon, and as a big Apple fan, I wanted to leave the option open for a little while in case that was a feasible alternative (or even a true reality).

A month or so went by, and friends told me they were still getting my voice mail if they called my old number, alerting me to the fact that the account had not actually been closed. I called Verizon, asking them again to close the account. I was on hold with the customer service center for over an hour, despite the assurance by an irritating robot that my approximate waiting time was 15 minutes – this message played for over 40 minutes) waiting to be helped. I explained the story, they told me the account would be closed, and that a credit would be issued to me for the unused portion of my monthly service (you see, Verizon makes you pay for a whole month of service in advance). Since my service should have been terminated at the end of the billing cycle for the month of December, I should have received the entire 59.95 monthly fee back. At the time, they told me that the refund would take 6-8 weeks to arrive.

I figured my refund would be on the way eventually, and as there was nothing else I felt I could do at the time, I didn’t really give it any more thought. However, in March 2006, I found out, in a rather inconvenient way, that my account had still not been closed. I received my regular bill, and not realizing that the NJ account had not been closed, I assumed the bill was for my Cali account, and paid the bill. A week later I got another bill from Verizon and realized that the first bill was for the account that should have been closed. So I called to find out why they were still billing me.

When I finally reached someone, I explained the story again, and was told that the account would be closed immediately. I was also told (again) that I would receive a credit for the bill I mistakenly paid and that the balance of my original account would be credited. I was told by representative Robert DeLeon on March 16 that it would take 10 business days for the request to be processed, but after that I would receive a credit to my NJ account for the now 3 bills that I hadn’t paid (on a supposedly cancelled account) in the amount of $246.17, and that I would be sent a check refunding my upfront payment and for the extra payment, in the amount of $164.11.

Sure enough, I checked the next morning to make sure my NJ cell number was no longer activated. It wasn’t. This was the first good sign I had in five months that they were finally taking care of the problem.

But they weren’t. On April 22, I received a statement that said that my previous balance (for March 2006—now four months after the service was to havebeen cancelled) of 82.06 had not been paid. The statement reflected an adjustment of $242.78, as well as a credit balance of $160.72 (both numbers differing from the amount I was told the month before), but it also noted that there was to be a surcharge and other charges of $179.43, leaving me with a bill of $19.02.

I steeled my resolve and called again, reaching Jim (operator # 3565. I asked for his last name, and he said he wasn’t allowed to give it to me. Guess no one told Robert DeLeon about this). I frustratingly recounted the lengthy details, and was told that the charges were due to an early termination fee for the NJ account. Once again, I explained that as far as I was concerned, I did not terminate the account, I merely switched a phone number. And regardless, my contract was over as of August 2006. He checked their records and found that my contract had indeed been up (though his date was October 2006—making it a 2-year and 2-month contract, but at this point, I wasn’t interested in negotiating that particular point). He could not find a reason why I would have been charged for terminating a contract -- even their own records showed that I hadn’t terminated before the contract was up.

However, instead of saying that the charge would be eliminated, my account credited and a refund issued, I was told he would submit a request to have all this done, and it would take ANOTHER 10 BUSINESS DAYS to review. I lost it at this point and conveyed how this was not acceptible. He said all he could do was schedule a courtesy call on the 10th business day to let me know the results. I was to receive a call at 2 pm on May 10, 2007, telling me my fate, which hopefully would be that all charges for the past five months were credited and a complete refund was being issued IMMEDIATELy.

My mind raced with revenge plans should things not go according to what I was told. I would contact the Better Business Bureau and register a complaint; I would look into filing a small claims court case; I would start making picket signs and park myself in front of the busiest Verizon store I could find and sing protest songs about my plight… In anticipation, I did take step 1, and resolved that the minute I receive the refund that was due to me, I will be heading to my nearest Cingular store to order a new phone and new service.

I eventually cooled off. My complaint to the BBB was registered and I was told that Verizon was informed about it. I felt a little better that I was no longer just sitting by idly while the corporate screwing machine continued to turn.

Before I knew it, the middle of May came and went. I never received a call from Jim. So I tried to call him at his extension. I left several messages over the course of the next week, none of which resulted in a call back. So I started again, this time, reaching Matthew at extension 2010. I gave the same story, and received the same basic answer. I was told another bill had to generate on June 6, which should reflect a credit of $176 and change. The bill would be viewed by the 11th of June and I should receive my refund a few weeks after. Matthew also gave me his phone number and extension, but this time, I was given a reference number for my case. I had asked for this several times before (because it would keep me from having to do 7 months of recaps every time I called), but I was told they didn’t have reference numbers up until this point.

I continued to play the waiting game, but on June 6, a complication arose: My cell phone died. While taking it out of my bag to make a call, it practically disintegrated in my hands. A pin came out, releasing the top half of the clamshell. I tried to put it back together, and managed to get the phone back on the hinge, but this caused the screen to go completely dead. The phone part still worked, but without the ability to see what I was doing, it was useless. I can’t survive without my cell phone, so I decided, refund or no refund, I needed to get a new phone ASAP. And this meant going to Verizon.

At first, I was tempted to use my phone insurance plan to get a new phone unit. This would have meant waiting a week for them to send me out a new phone, but at least I would not have had to sign any new contracts or give Verizon itself any additional business. I also thoroughly researched my carrier alternatives. I spent the whole day online at all the service sites, looking for a comparable phone to the Verizon models I was looking to buy, but nothing at AT&T, Cingular (which was still separate at that point), T-Mobile, Helio or Alltel had all the options I was looking for in the model type I wanted. So the choice was clear: go to Verizon and take another one up the ass, or spend the next two years using a phone that didn’t satisfy my needs for a new phone. By this time, my beloved iPhone had debuted, to the tune of $600. As that was out of my price range, I had no other choice.

So off I went to Verizon.

Complicating matters further was that it was now time again to deal with my eligibility for the New Every Two program. I knew that I had satisfied the terms of my contract, and therefore had satisfied the criteria for my participation – meaning that I should be entitled to $100 credit toward a new phone every two years that I have a contract with Verizon. Tricky part was to get Verizon to acknowledge this. With every call I had made about my billing issue, I inquired as to whether I was still eligible for the promotion. While some operators said it would be up to the individual branch (why the hell this would be, I didn’t know), the consensus was that the service center should be able to look it up for me and I should be eligible, as I had fulfilled the terms of my contract. Of course, their acknowledging this did not go far enough to get them to give me my refund, but I digress for the moment…

At the Verizon store, I selected my new phone, chose my new service plan, selected my calling options, and then pled my case to the sales rep. I told him that I should be entitled to the New Every Two promotion, and as he looked it up my contract, it only showed the terms of my new contract, from December 2006, which I hadn’t yet had for two years (though it was beginning to seem like a lifetime with all the hassles).

He said my only option was to call the service center to get things straightened out, at which point I lost my patience. I explained again how many times I had already spoken to them about this, and how they said I should be eligible, and that if I was not eligible, there was no way I would continue to do business with a company that was not going to honor the terms of its contracts and its promotions by signing a new contract. I then told the sales rep that he was going to have to make the call for me, right then and there, reasoning that they could tell me whatever they wanted, but if his computer didn’t reflect it, he wouldn’t be able to give me the discount. He agreed, and then I stood by for the next 45 minutes and he negotiated with the corporate office for me. He put me on the phone after a while so they could explain that they needed to speak to a supervisor to get the necessary data updated into the store’s computer, but that I was indeed eligible. Halle-fuckin-lujah! I waited another 30 minutes in the store for the computer to refresh with the authorization, and two hours after I entered the store, I left with my brand new, $279 flip phone for a grand total of $29 (a discount due to the new service contract I signed, my $100 credit and an additional equipment rebate they were offering on that model).

My first battle was therefore won. Step one to winning the war. Yes, I had to sign another contract to deal with The Network of Thieves for two more years, but my problem was never with the company’s phones, its reception, quality or services – only their billing processes. So I didn’t consider this to be a major concession. Especially when I started playing with my new the dual-flip Samsung SCH-u740, which I have grown to love as much as any technological device I have ever owned.

Back to the bigger battle, though.

On July 6, I received another billing statement for the old account, so I renewed my resolve and rejoined the fight. This time, I was told the account was finally released, but no check had been issued yet. I was given yet another service rep’s name (Cheyenne, extension 3543) and a follow-up date, and was told it should be another 2-3 weeks before a check was issued.

On July 26, I had still not received a check, so it was time to call again. This time, I reached Raleigh (ext. 2007), who profusely apologized for all the hassles and promised (like many reps who had come before him), to get the matter taken care of ASAP. Raleigh even gave me the name of his manager (Wakisha Montgomery, ext. 1150), and told me she would give me a call the next day.

Of course, no call arrived. Then, a few days later, I received my August statement. This one held a surprise. Instead of a bill, there was a credit that appeared, for $160.72, instead of the $176 and change (or 164.11 or $246.17…) of the last one. So now they were at least acknowledging that I was owed money, but they were nickel-and-diming me on the amount again. I hit the roof, and hit the phones.

After going through transfer hell, from department to department, I got a Financial services rep, Tiffany (ext. 3533) on the phone. This saucy little corporate drone told me that the original refund had gone through their department and was rejected because they had gotten the amount wrong. The bill now had to be RE-submitted to the refund department (why hadn’t they done this already, I thought. Would they have bothered if I didn’t happen to call again? ), and I was now looking at another 6-8 weeks of delays because another one of their brain trust had dropped the ball. Now, the $160.72 was less than my calculations of what I was owed, so again, I explained the situation, and this time, I got more assertive. I told Tiffany that this was completely unacceptable, that I wanted this settled once and for all right now, and asked to speak to a supervisor and to the refund department directly.

This is where it all almost became a nuclear war: Tiffany got offended and told me that the refund dept. did not have a number that consumers could access. She said that even she couldn’t speak directly to them, and that she had to send a request, by email, for them to review the account and determine the refund. I tried to calmly explain that this too was unacceptable for a publicly held company like Verizon to have branches of customer service that consumers couldn’t access directly, and that they were accountable to their customers and shareholders. I asked for their email address and to be copied on the email that she sent, so that I could prove that she actually did her job and sent the email (at this point, I was doubting that any of their reps were doing their jobs and were just doing what they could to get off the phone and answer their next call, striving to meet quotas that would keep their jobs from being shipped overseas, rather than striving to meet customer needs). This obviously pissed the minimum-wage-unskilled-labor-working Tiffy off royally. Instead of following the calm, diffusing-the-customer’s-anger tactic from her script, she decided to take it upon herself to vent her own frustrations with customers, screaming over my requests for proof and information with a condescending tirade about how I didn’t understand how corporations worked and that even if she had the info I was requesting she wouldn’t give it to me. She continued to rant and rage over my increasingly agitated protestations and assertations that I would certainly be bringing this matter to as much media (and legal, if necessary) attention as I could garner. When I realized she was just gonna keep screaming at me like I was a moron who couldn’t possibly understand how complex her $8/hour service job was, rather than dealing with the issue at hand, I hung up.

That was the final straw. It was August 2007—now 9 months after I had begun this maelstrom of bureaucracy and frustration. All I wanted was what was legally owed to me—not to be verbally abused and get into a pissing match with some dimwit corporate lackey.

So I called again, got Tiffany’s supervisor on the line, and registered an official complaint about how I was treated by their employee. I explained the situation again, told the rep (John Godfrey) about all the previous ineptitude, and how this particular behavior was rude, unacceptable and unnecessary. He agreed, apologized as profusely as the many before him, took down the complaint, and made a few inquiries to make sure that Tiffany had at least done what she said she was going to do – email the refund department. I was assured that the process was continuing as promised, and that a refund should be issued by the end of the month.

Now, most people would have been so disheartened by this whole ordeal that they would have simply given up at any of these intervals. And I must admit that in previous times, $160 didn’t mean all that much to me, and I may have just let it go and taken the loss. But unfortunately, I am not in a position these days to let even that insignificant amount slip away or of the mind that companies should be taking advantage of customers in any way, shape or form. And though I’m averse to bureaucratic nonsense and red tape whenever I can avoid it, I’m tenacious enough to fight for every last dollar and every consumer right I am due.

It’s with this tenacity that on September 14, 2007, with no refund arriving yet, I set myself up to continue to fight the good fight. I called Verizon again, and almost passed out from the shock of what I heard:

My customer service rep (Amber) looked through the system and triumphantly informed me that a check had been mailed the day before, and I should receive it within 10 business days.

Could that be it? Could the battle be over? Could 10 months of calls and stress and frustration be coming to a, somewhat anticlimactic, close?

The answer, thankfully, is yes. Though it arrived no less than 15 work days after my conversation with Amber, I finally received my refund for $160.

So what did I learn? Though I still dispute the amount that I was owed, I don’t have ready access to my old contract to verify this (I also don’t want to continue to drive my stress level to the boiling point with every call I make to Verizon). So the first thing I learned is to always keep all paperwork handy whenever you sign a contract. Keep copius notes of all your customer service dealings, including the date, whom you spoke to, what their responses were and when follow-ups are scheduled.

The most important lesson I learned from all this, though, is to get everything in writing to the best of your ability when you are entering into any contract dispute. And in this age of online customer forums and digitized customer service options, this sometimes means doing all of your business at a physical brick-and-mortar store, rather than using customer service phone numbers.

So ended my epic battle with the demons of customer service, but I’m sure it won’t be the last one I wage. Customer service in the digital age is becoming a lost art. Call centers are being outsourced to other countries to cut costs; or are being replaced by voice-response systems, click-to-call services, DIY-online help forums and other technological “advances”. These all might save money in the short term, but no one yet has determined the costs in terms of long-term customer satisfaction and loyalty. Any marketer will tell you that it’s less costly to keep a customer than to win a new one. And as responsive service becomes a thing of the past, many of even the biggest and most powerful corporations will be struggling to win over customers from the diminishing pool of those who have not yet established their loyalties to the competition. I hope stories like mine (and those of others who feel its important to speak up on myriad forums available to today’s empowered consumers) will serve as their epitaphs.