I was a Verizon Wireless customer for years, perfectly happy with my old flip phone and my month-to-month basic plan for $32/month. VW called me and offered to upgrade me to the 21st Century, telling me all about the great new smartphones and data plans. Sorry, I can't afford that. I spoke to them again, and they told me about a new plan coming out. I spoke to them a third time, and learned that (a) I was due to upgrade to a basic smartphone for free (Motorola Moto X), and (b) my new monthly service for a very basic data plan wouldn't cost me any more per month than my current el-cheapo plan with text overages. Really? Will my current corporate discount really apply to bring the monthly cost down to my current plan + text overages? YES! Please check on that...are you sure? YES, it really will! $45/month for 250 MB data less the corporate discount (about 20%) is $36/month (plus taxes). Great, sign me up please.
And so they did. And the helpful Verizon Wireless woman also told me "don't worry about your first bill because it will be a combination of the old plan and the new...your real bill won't appear until the next billing cycle." OK, no problem, I understand.
But no...it was too good to be true. My bill arrived and I've learned that the corporate discount can't be applied to this plan. The VW rep had made an error. We're very sorry. OK, so let's undo this transaction, because I'm not going to pay that much every month. I mean, I could get Page Plus service (over the Verizon network) for $30/month all-in with TWICE the monthly data (500 MB). Please reverse this upgrade.
Oh, we can't do that. You've waited longer than the 14-day window allowing you to get out of this plan.
So the Verizon rep made a mistake, but now they won't undo the contract. I'm on the hook for two full years unless I want to pay approx $350 to buy out the contract. No, they won't take the phone back, either, because I waited longer than 14 days. Yes, I did. Because YOU told me not to try to understand my bill until the second billing cycle. Oh, well, we can put you back with your el-cheapo flip phone and basic plan, but the smartphone and 2-year contract can't be changed.
CAN'T. Meaning that they CANNOT correct their own error. The part that they don't understand (or don't care about) is that there would be no contract had they lived up to the terms of the plan that they sold me. And that I would have immediately returned the phone within the 14-day window had I learned of this sooner...but they told me not to check the bill for a month and a half!
I finally had a long, painful conversation with a supervisor today (after waiting 8 hours for a promised call back yesterday that still hasn't come) who advised me that "no one at Verizon is going to undo that contract," but then proceeded to invite me to write to them at the address provided on the website. What's the point of that if no one will reverse this? Do you mean that SOMEONE might fix this error and put me back in the same shape I was in at the start of all this? Well, no. No one will do that.
So no one ANYWHERE in the corporate hierarchy has the authority to put things right? It was VERIZON's mistake, after all. No, no one will do that.
For Verizon Wireless, "CAN'T" means "WON'T" and "customer service" means "we don't care." That's why I'm now in correspondence with the state Attorney General's office and the FCC.
