I signed a contract with Verizon as a new customer, choosing and receiving a Samsung 25+ phone. However, after thinking it over, I decided to cancel the contract because I wanted to wait for the new iPhones that are about to be released. A Verizon employee told me I had 30 days to cancel without any charges. I confirmed this in three different Verizon stores, and everywhere the employees assured me that I indeed had 30 days.
I picked up the phone after 3 days, and within 10 minutes, I returned it to the store. I never transferred my number to the Verizon network. Two days later, I called to close my account, but the employee had trouble doing so, and my account was not closed.
Two weeks later, I received an email from Verizon saying there was no activation on the network and asking if everything was okay. I called again and had to speak with 5 different departments just to finally close my account. In the end, I made sure to ask if my balance was zero, since I never used the service and canceled within the 30 days. The employee confirmed it was done.
Over a month later, it turned out I supposedly owed $176. The bill was never sent to my mailing address as I had provided — somehow, it ended up at my parents’ address. The phone was sent to my correct mailing address, but the bills were not.
Of course, they sent my account to collections, and my credit score dropped from 790 to 640. I have never had a late payment in my life. Now I’m trying to buy a new car, and because of my lowered credit score, I can’t get a good interest rate.
Customer service is terrible. It turned out I don’t have 30 days to cancel — only 3 days — and my account is considered active from the day I signed the contract. The problem is, I couldn’t even use the Verizon app or access my account to check my balance since I never transferred my phone number to Verizon. I repeat — I never transferred it.
The representative I spoke with told me to go to the store and speak to a manager about the 30 days. I went, but of course, the manager couldn’t do anything. So now I have to pay $176 even though I didn’t use a single second of their service.
I was a Verizon customer a few years ago, but after this, I will never go back and will warn everyone I know.
