multiple unauthorized changes to our cable plan which resulted in an $80 monthly increase in our mon

[Maze1]

We have filed an FCC complaint against Verizon for multiple unauthorized changes to our cable plan which resulted in an $80 monthly increase in our monthly bill.

We have been a customer of Verizon for over 20 years, with six cable boxes for our TVs and a plan that has cost $270/month consistently every month. But suddenly things changed in July 2022.

On July 9th 2022 I called Verizon to request a new cable box and remote to replace ones that were not working properly. The representative convinced me to exchange all boxes for new models with extra features, at no extra cost. After the installation on July 14th, I called tech support because I could no longer get HBO, a channel we have watched frequently for many years.

When the technician came back a few days later, he was unable to get HBO back on. He called into his tech support to help him reset. He was told that it was taken off my plan by mistake and that they would put it back on right away. However, he did not tell me that, as I found out afterwards, the reason I could not get HBO was because someone had changed my plan without authorization. The new plan has a different channel line-up which excludes HBO (now it would cost me an extra $15/monthly to add) and eliminates a $15 credit that was part of my previous plan for years.

I believe that the lady who originally scheduled the replacement of my cable boxes also changed my entire plan without telling me, probably to get extra bonus. That’s the only way this could have happened.

As a result of the unauthorized changes, my July bill (which came around month-end) was almost $20 higher, even without HBO. It increased from $272 in June to $ 290 in July. With HBO, the next bill would increase another $15 to $305.

To add insult to injury, on July 14th l received an email from Verizon an estimate of the August bill where they added another $30 for a DVR service I never ordered. This brings the August estimated bill up even more than the $305, with a total of $336, without HBO.  Adding HBO, their August bill estimate would then total $351, compared to the monthly  bill of $272, representing an $80 per month increase,  without ever requesting any changes.

When I called Verizon initially to understand why my July bill increased (and learned that the August bill will be even higher) I was told by the first representative that it was a mistake by the person who originally added HBO back. He put me on hold for 20 minutes to see if he could fix it. He came back to tell me that he could not put me back on my original plan because it is no longer offered, and the new plan does not offer the $15 credit nor does it include HBO. He then transferred me to his manager (“Ricardo”) who also told me it was not possible to put me back to my previous plan and he forcefully and rudely implied that I did request the change! He told me that they sent me an email with the new changes and, since I didn’t call to question them, I must have approved them (a ridiculous claim). I told him that Verizon sent me several emails (which I found very annoying) but the first one I received (shown at bottom) showed an even lower estimate ($252) than what I was paying before ($272) and was happy with it. I did not approve anything else and did not pay attention to many of the others because I knew I did not request any plan changes.

Afterwards I went back to look at the emails I received from Verizon and found that I received 4 emails on July 14. The first one (shown below) showed and even lower estimate of $252, which as an estimate was good). Then, a few hours later on the same day I received 3 more emails (which I found to be very annoying). Reading the last email in detail, I noticed that it had a different and much higher estimate of $336, excluding HBO, or $351 with HBO.  They sent this estimate without any approval on my part.

My wife and I have continued to call Verizon customer support with no avail. They all tell us that they can’t put us back to the old plan, even though they had no problem moving us out to make more money.

We request that our plan and charges be put back to where they were in June 2022 and that Verizon refunds any payment we made since June for services that were and unauthorized.

[LawrenceC]

Hi Maze1,

Your issue has been escalated to a Verizon agent. Please check your Private Messenger Inbox for a message from a Verizon Support agent. You can find your Inbox by clicking on your username at the top right corner of this page and then clicking the envelope icon that appears at the top of the menu. Response times may vary. Please continue to check your Inbox for a reply from a Verizon agent. Please direct all correspondence concerning your issue to the agents who will be assisting you privately.