I am incredibly frustrated with Verizon's customer service. I have been trying to resolve an issue for months now and every time I connect with a representative at Verizon, it seems I'm back to square one. From my experience, Verizon's various departments (billing, finance, returns, customer care, etc..) do not have a system of effectively communicating with each other.
Earlier this year, my phone stopped working. As far as I know, I did not do anything to damage the phone (I didn’t drop it, get the device wet, etc..). Verizon agreed to send me a refurbished phone providing I return the unusable device.
The device got lost or misplaced by UPS and Verizon changed me about $400 as a “device not returned fee.” I talked to a representative and confirmed that I did indeed mail the device back and provided the tracking information from UPS. I also spoke with UPS and they also confirmed that the device could not be found. Verizon said they would connect with UPS to confirm this information and remove the charge from my bill.
While the issue was being resolved, one of the (many) reps I worked with enrolled me in the “Stay Connected Plan” which was created for people experiencing financial hardships due to COVID. This was not the case for me but the representative assured me that I needed to be enrolled so Verizon would not disconnect my phone line. FYI, I paid my regular bill but refused to pay the $400 “device not returned fee.”
I did not want to be enrolled in this program to begin with and have tried multiple times to be removed from it. It also looks like I”m still being charged the $400 but the fee has been deferred due to the plan.
Every time connect with someone at Verizon I have to re-explain the situation. In other attempts, I haven’t been able to connect with a real person. For example, one day I decided to give the online chat feature a go but the representative couldn’t help me. He told me to call Customer Care instead. I tried 611 (Customer Care) but kept getting cycled through the automated service. This went on for probably about an hour before I gave up.
I just want my plan to go back to normal and to make sure I’m not being charged 400 dollars for a phone that I did not lose. By the way, the “trade-in value” of the phone is estimated to be $80 by Verizon. What a scam. I have literally spent HOURS trying to resolve this issue and am frustrated to a breaking point. I would love to completely cancel my account and go with a different service provided. Additionally, I feel like I should be compensated for all of the wasted time and energy spent on this case.
Despite being a multi-billion dollar company, Verizon doesn’t provide adequate support for its customers. What a disgrace.
FYI I was just put on hold with customer care for about 40 minutes. I eventually got to a representative who was both kind and helpful. She seems to have cleared up the issue but I need to wait for the next billing cycle to make sure everything has been adjusted correctly. Fingers crossed it works this time.
