I recently became a Verizon customer, and I'm already extremely dissatisfied. I brought my own device when I signed up for service, planning to upgrade once I was sure Verizon was a good fit for me. I decided it was and went online to upgrade my phone, but at checkout, I was being charged the full price of the phone with no explanation. I decided to look into it another day when I had more time.
A week later, I wanted to pay my bill early, but my bank account was now ineligible to be used. Confused, I contacted customer service and was informed that I was on cash-only status due to a returned autopay. I understand that non-payment can make a customer appear as a liability for future payments. Having managed a store for another cellular company, I've seen customers leave with outstanding bills and unpaid devices. However, being restricted after a single missed payment, which I paid within a few days, is absurd.
I had the money in my bank account, but due to a fraud alert, I had my personal banker freeze my account. We resolved it the following day. This restrictive practice and the refusal of customer and financial services to lift it have led me to start the process of switching to a new carrier. Verizon, please do better.
