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Ridiculous ETF for switching from one Verizon service to a better, cheaper Verizon service

I have been a Verizon customer for a number of years. A year ago, my job situation necessitated a static IP address at my home, which Verizon FIOS only offers through their business service so I entered into a 2 year contract. I bought Verizon's Quantum router. My job circumstances have changed and I no longer need a business account or a static IP address. I don't want to leave Verizon, I just want to switch to a residential service. I called today to ask about this and my first question specifically addressed the early termination fee. I was told by the Business Rep, before she transferred me to Residential that there was no problem with this since I am staying with Verizon and the termination fee would be waived. I then spent 40 minutes with a Residential Rep setting up a new account - which interestingly offers double the speed I get with the Business account for almost 1/3 the price. When that was finished she transferred me back to Business to finalize the termination of that service. To my surprise, the Business rep, who was not the same person I spoke to originally informed me that the ETF would not be waived and in fact came to a grand total of $830! When I told her my entire phone call (at that point coming up to an hour) had been predicated on what I had been told by the first business rep, that since I was staying with Verizon, the ETF would be waived. She apologized which was nice but told me since the rep didn't 'write it down' in the notes she was looking at it wasn't valid. She was able to change me from a static to a dynamic IP address and eliminate one of the two phone lines I had with the original contract, bringing down my monthly bill from $240 to $170. I then had to transfer back to another person in Residential to cancel the new contract I had just spent 45 minutes putting together. While I understand ETFs, I am very frustrated that this seems to be applied in a very arbitrary way - if I had only been transferred back to the first person I talked to, it would have been waived, but since I got someone different that promise evaporated. I also find it very hard to understand why Verizon Business is charging me $170 a month for one phone line and 75/75 internet, when Residential was prepared to offer me the phone line and 150/150 internet for $89. There is something very wrong there. Needless to say, I will be looking at other options when my Verizon contract finally ends in a year!

Comments

CRobGauth

Business accounts are higher for several reasons:

1) Usage is expected to be higher. Residential accounts typically go long periods of the day with little to now usage. Business accounts are busy a good part of the day.

2) Business accounts offer a SLA. They get guarantees on restoral (typically).

I can understand the rational of saying I am switching from one account to another and not being billed an ETF. On the otherhand, I can see Verizons point that you did benefit from the lower contracted rate so they need to make their money back.

As always, the most frustrating part is being told one thing (no ETF) only to have it turn in to another (ETF).

machita

Thanks - I understand that to an extend, though 'residential usage' in my family tends to be 7 hours daily (morning and post-work) and higher on weekends, with multiple people using simultaneously - and I'd think business accounts would not be much more than that, since it'd presumably be maybe 8-9 hours on average weekdays and very little to nothing on weekends. For a larger business, yes there would be a difference, but the package I signed up for last year was advertised as 'perfect for small businesses with 1-5 staff) - in my case it's just one.

Bizarrely, same Business Rep who refused to waive the fee also first denied that Residential offered 150/150 and when I told her that was incorrect and she could look it up on Verizon's homepage, mumbled, 'well I worked there a long time ago, things must have changed'.

And yes, I find the totally conflicting position of two separate Business Reps very frustrating, especially since the first one's position led to a more than an hour long call setting up and then having to reverse the switch from a business to a residential account when the second took the opposite position and wouldn't budge on it.

It gave me the distinct impression they're not all on the same page at all.

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