After converting to FIOS for Phone and Internet, I received a past due notification that my service would be suspended if I didn't pay my bill by March 30. I had not been checking my bank statement to see if the payments were being deducted, so this came a a huge surprise to me since my payments for the past few years have been automatically deducted from my bank account.
I spent over 1 hour on the phone with Verizon and was transferred to 5 different people trying to get someone to explain (1)why Verizon stopped accepting my payment via ACH deduction from my checking account and (2) how do I pay my bill to avoid suspension.
Not one person was able to explain why the deductions stopped except to say that I was given a new account number and would have to apply for automatic ACH deductions all over again and it would likely take 60 days. They told me I could either make the request on the back of my bill, or go to the Verizon.com website and make a payment.
I then requested to pay my bill over the phone to avoid suspension and was told that they could not take a payment over the phone, but would connect me with a service that could with a $3.50 charge.
I went to the website and attempted to request AutoPay, but was told to try back later because they were experiencing difficulties. I found that they were also having difficulties with other links on their site. I tried again 2 days later and received the same message. When I tried a few minutes ago, the autopay and several other links continued to be down.
- I had no choice but to use the $3.50 payment fee option to avoid suspension.
- I still have not been able to re-apply for direct ACH payment deductions.
- Yesterday I received a call from a Verizon-funded research caller who asked if I was satisfied with my recent communications with Verizon. When I tried to explain the litany of problems I encountered, he completely lost interest. I have no confidence that my comments were even passed onto Verizon!
- Verizon never notified me that I would have to reapply for my payment option.
- Verizon has never explained the reasons for the extended time frame to correct their website services.
INCREDIBLE!
