Me and my family have taken numerous vacations to international locations through out the years. After our first international vacation and the first mishap on my part with the additional charges we incurred, which were excessive, I have learned my lesson. I have spoken to Verizon Wireless Customer Support to educate myself on how to prevent these excessive International Charges.
We traveled to Turks & Caicos and when we arrived, I personally set all 4 phones on my account to prevent any potential International Charges. Here is what I did, I put all 4 of the phones in Airplane Mode, turned off the Cellular Data and turned Wi-Fi Calling on. I have followed the same steps on several other International Travel Vacations with not one additional charge than my normal monthly bill.
From this vacation, I had an additional $238.00 in International / Roaming Charges. This is extremely frustrating. I am 52 years old and have been a Verizon Wireless Customer my entire life except for 2 years. This was because I moved into a new house and there was not a cellular tower which resulted in poor to no signal. Once they built the tower I switched back to Verizon Wireless.
I have read several other Community Messages Post where others were offered 20% off the charges. I called Verizon Wireless Customer Support (8/10/21) and spoke to Kay. After going over everything I did to prevent the International / Roaming Charges she agreed that I should not have incurred the charges. She told me she was working her best to take care of the charges and had to discuss with her Supervisor to see what would be approved.
The initial offer was that Verizon would cover 1/2 the cost. Knowing I have done the same procedures to each phone in the past and incurred $0.00 in charges, I told her I was frustrated to hear the response from her Supervisor. If I was in the wrong, I would own it!!! But I was not! She then went back to the Supervisor and when she came back on the line, Kay told me that her Supervisor approved the full amount and that my account would be credited.
Kay sent me a confirmation email that "we (Verizon) will cover the charges for International & Roaming Minutes total of $238. this will apply for the next billing cycle. I am a happy customer.
14 minutes later I received an email from Verizon Wireless with an update on my recent conversation. When I opened the email I was shocked as to what it said. The email stated "We wanted to let you know that your credit for $238.00 has been requested and is pending approval. Look for a separate message with an updated status within 48 hours." If I have an email stating Verizon is covering it, why did I receive a subsequent email saying my credit is pending approval.
Hoping there will be no further issues.
It means the credit was pended to a supervisor and not approved on the spot. Credits get audited and a rep can get in trouble for crediting even a small amount if it was deemed a non-legitimate credit.
If that gets audited, it can be interpreted as you knowingly used service and want Verizon to cover it vs paying for an international package like millions of subscribers have done before you.
Until that time frame passes and you see an adjustment, I wouldn't say you're getting a credit or denied by the person above a Care supervisor.
I get you were trying to avoid a huge bill, but if service was used and provided, payment for service isn't unexpected. Chances are your phone is what betrayed you. Look into Wifi Assist on iPhones and check to see if that is turned on. A lot of international charges when you were on wifi ties back to that Apple feature.
richieb06, we understand the concern regarding charges that you should not have incurred. Regarding credits, larger credits over a certain amount do require additional approval. However, rest assured if you received confirmation that the credit will be approved including via text then this will soon reflect on your account. Please let us know if you run into any issues.
*Joshua
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