I have been a loyal Verizon Wireless Customer for over 20 years. For over twenty years I have *never* had a single late payment or any difficulty with Verizon Wireless.
However, when I tried to trade in and upgrade to a new phone online 18 months ago, I was informed that I had a past due notice that had been attached to my account since my last upgrade (although not visible online to me).
After trying to get to the bottom of this matter by spending: 18 months calling and being passed from Verizon Wireless department to department on the phone; told to remedy the problem in a store; being sent by the stores back to telephonic Verizon Wireless alleged customer service; and well over 80 hours on the phone with many helpful (and some unhelpful) Verizon Wireless Representatives in the (i) Customer Service, (ii) Sales, (iii) CORT, (iv) CORE, (v) Fraud, (vi) In House Recovery, (vii) ERC, (viii) Financial Services, and (ix) IT Equipment Departments. I have been unable to remedy the problem.
Along the way, I discovered that Verizon Wireless had erroneously attached a past due notice for over $900 to my account. The account in question was issued before I was born. Apparently, someone at Verizon had misread and/or - in their computer a social security number from that account holder's original paperwork that was one digit off from the paperwork and, thereby, in error entered my social security number.
After 18 months attempting to resolve the issue, it is still showing up and I am still unable to get a new phone. I am at my absolute whit's end.
I am caught in Verizon Wireless customer vortex and cannot get out. Even the rep at the store for me today felt badly and said this was crazy but that there was nothing she could do.
I would like to stay with Verizon, but after paying every bill on time for over 20 years, I am not sure what to do! My credit score is great (with all 3 Bureaus), and I could easily open an account and trade my phone at a T-Mobile.
Does anyone see a way to resolve this matter without spending another 100 hours on the phone? I work full-time and am law school at night I barely have time to shower, and simply do not have the time, money, or bandwidth to get Verizon to offer actual customer service and remedy the problem that they themselves created.
PLEASE, PLEASE HELP! BECAUSE I AM TRAPPED AND JUST CAN'T GET OUT!
