Excessive fees, verizon, you've lost a customer

I have a family plan with six lines. The contract is up 8/10. My son decided to go on is own and went with a different carrier. The early termination fee on my bill is $130!!! With one month to go on the contract? This is ridiculous and should be illegal. I've been paying Verizon over $300 per month for 23 months but I am so mad at their business practices my family and I will go with another carrier when my contract is up 8/10.

Accepted answers

Jax_Omen

Unfortunately, Budone, you're the one who's wrong here.

brian823, you absolutely *can* do what you want (reactivate the line with a new number, fulfill the remainder of the contract, then cancel once the contract is complete). However, most representatives do not know how to do this. They have to call their credit team and have the credit team manually reactivate the line with a new number, set the contract to the remaining duration, and credit the ETF. It *is* their policy to do this upon request, but they seem to be awful at actually following that policy.

Tell the rep to look up the policy for "Reactivating a Line After the Number Has Been Ported"

All comments

rcschnoor

First of all, if your contract is up on 8/10, your ETF should only be $120.

Second, Verizon's ETF is spelled out in the contract and has been the same for quite some time. The ETF is ALSO a LOT smaller than the subsidy you received when purchasing your phone. For example, the ETF on a smartphone starts at $350 and drops $10 each month you complete on your contract. The subsidy on a 16 GB iPhone 5, for example, is $450. Even if you do pay your ETF of $120, you would still be ahead by $330.

IF you sign a contract with another provider, you WILL have a similar ETF.

Good luck. It's only a little over 2 weeks more to go, then you can choose a provider which will better suit your needs.:smileyhappy:

budone

It use to be the ETF never dropped over the life of the contract. Yet we all knew that also and still signed up for cell service.

Ya do know the ETF's are exactly the same with all others except tMobile where you pay full price for a device.

brian823

I offered to just continue paying the $40/month for his line instead of the ETF, and the Verizon service rep refused to allow me to do that. Is that spelled out in my contract? This is just ridiculous.

rcschnoor

Without your son porting his number back into your account, I can understand why you were not allowed to do so.

If he were willing to port his number back into your account, you should be able to have your ETF refunded.

Verizon_Support

Hi brian823,

You are a valued customer and we want to serve your wireless needs for years to come! I am sorry to see that you are considering a switch at the end of your customer agreement. Are you experiencing any service issues that are prompting you to switch? If so, I'd like to address those concerns and restore your confidence in our network. I also understand your discontent regarding Early Termination Fee (ETF), I am a consumer too and I am not always happy about unexpected fees. However, ETF is clearly noted in our customer agreement, please visit this link http://bit.ly/1hw817 and scroll down to section: What Happens if My Postpay Service Is Canceled Before the End of My Contract Term?

Please consider our superior network reliability and extensive coverage before you make a decision to switch.

Antonio_VZW

Please follow us on twitter @VZWSupport

brian823

"Without your son porting his number back into your account, I can understand why you were not allowed to do so.

If he were willing to port his number back into your account, you should be able to have your ETF refunded."

Antonio, I would like to have a new number assigned to that line, reestablish service retroactively, pay the normal monthly fee, and have the ETF removed. Or you can just remove the ETF and be done with this. How this is handled will determine whether I consider remaining a Verizon customer. Thank you.

rcschnoor

After your son ports his number back into the system, It will be very easy to assign another number to the account.

Until that is done, though, it is unlikely the ETF will be waived. If your son would have determined the cost for leaving prior to completing the contract, maybe he could have waited until he would have fulfilled the entire contract.

Good luck.

brian823

Yes, my son should have waited, but since when does a recent college grad listen to his father? I will not port the number back, as I'm sure that will just cause more problems. Besides, as far as I'm concerned, I no longer have any rights to that number.

To be clear, I do not want to terminate my service early. I want to complete my contract. I asked verizon to assign a new number to that line, but they refused. I find this odd, because they had assigned a temporary number to me two years ago to get my business before I could port my number. So they will assign a temporary number to get my business, but not to keep it! As a business practice, I find this absurd. Haven't studies shown it costs more to attract new customers than to keep an existing customer? Yet, verizon will lose me as a customer rather than find a fair resolution. I'm not terminating my contract early, verizon is terminating it. Just to get another $130 out of me.

Antonio_VZW writes "You are a valued customer and we want to serve your wireless needs for years to come!" Actions speak louder than words, verizon. I do not feel valued.

brian823

Verizon,

Will you please help me with this?

From Jax_Omen:

Tell the rep to look up the policy for "Reactivating a Line After the Number Has Been Ported"