Unauthorized charge of $1,166 15-hour call with customer service Verizon won't refund or take responsibility

aminshj2010

URGENT: Immediate action needed! Verizon has charged me $1,166 and kept my trade-in phone. Despite 18 calls over 7 weeks, totaling 15 hours, they refuse to take responsibility and issue a refund. Act now to resolve this!

The level of frustration required for a customer to write here is immense. This is completely unacceptable and warrants serious legal action, which I am actively pursuing.

My name is Mohammad Amin Sharifi Jabali.

On January 21, with the help of a Verizon Wireless chat agent, I upgraded my prepaid Verizon mobile plan to postpaid Ultimate Unlimited to finance a new phone. At the same time, I applied for financing a new iPhone 15 Pro Max 512GB through Verizon, intending to pay for the device in 36 monthly installments with no down payment. My old iPhone 13 Pro Max 256GB was traded in for $1,000 off the new iPhone, making the new device price $199 to be paid over 36 months, which is $5.52 per month. Therefore, my monthly payment was calculated to be the mobile plan price (after discounts) plus $5.52.

The first payment made on January 21, posted on my Wells Fargo account on January 23, was $162.77, which included activation and related one-time fees. The financing agreement from January 21 reflects these payments and terms. The second agreement from February 9 reflects the monthly payment stated in the first agreement before applying a $10 student discount and a $10 auto-pay discount.

To summarize:

• Ultimate Unlimited Plan: $100/month
• New Device: $1,199
• Trade-In Credit: -$1,000
• New Device Monthly Payment After Credit: $5.52/month
• Student Discount: -$10/month
• Auto-Pay Discount: -$10/month
• Bring-Your-Device Discount: -$15/month
• Total monthly payment for the plan and device before taxes: $70.52

  Verizon charged me the following amounts:

  • January 23: $162.77
  • February 29: $83.56
  • March 29: $66.17
  • April 30: $20.52
  • May 22: $120.84

    In total, I have paid $291.09 over the four months of February, March, April, and May, averaging $72.77 per month.

    On April 18, Verizon charged me an unauthorized amount of $1,166.55 (transaction details attached). Since then, I have contacted Verizon 18 times, spending a total of 15 hours and 19 minutes explaining the situation to various departments, but I have not received a refund. The agents were unhelpful, provided misleading information, and failed to follow up as promised.

    Here is a log of the 18 calls made to Verizon's support:

    • April 18: 1 hour 32 minutes
    • April 19: 57 minutes
    • April 19: 5 minutes
    • April 20: 2 hours 6 minutes
    • April 24: 13 minutes
    • April 27: 9 minutes
    • April 29: 15 minutes
    • April 29: 20 minutes
    • May 6: 2 hours 3 minutes
    • May 6: 13 minutes
    • May 11: 1 hour 41 minutes
    • May 21: 49 minutes
    • May 21: 43 minutes
    • May 21: 1 hour 5 minutes
    • May 21: 46 minutes
    • May 23: 1 hour 10 minutes
    • May 23: 26 minutes
    • June 4: 46 minutes (Financial Service: 866-266-1445)
      
      Total time actively seeking support and clearly requesting a full refund from Verizon: 15 hours, 19 minutes (call log available if needed)

      All calls are recorded by Verizon and I have a right to access them for legal purposes. I noted names and IDs some several agents I talked to:
      

      
      

      Grace (Financial services)
      

      ID: *****
      Monique (Customer services)
      

      ID: *****
      Marifer (Customer services)
      

      ID: *****
      

      
      

      I urge Verizon to refund the unauthorized charge and take responsibility for this charge and the poor customer service that forced me to spend 15 hours on the phone without resolution.

      I categorically reject any offer from Verizon other than a full refund of the unauthorized charge. This includes any form of credit applied to my Verizon account. The complete amount of $1,166.55 must be refunded directly to the original form of payment in my Wells Fargo account.

      I request Verizon, and Consumer Right Organizations treat this matter with the utmost urgency and seriousness and promptly refund the transaction to my account without any further delay.

      Sincerely,
      Mohammad *****