Autopay Discount

[russhexahedra]

Does anyone know the best way to get in touch with an actual level 2 support person or leadership?

I’ve had my phone with Verizon for over 20 years, and had moved it to a new account in October. Since then I have to use the chat feature EVERY month to get my auto pay discount as a credit. Every month they give a different excuse. The most frustrating part is they keep me on the chat for about 20 minutes before they resolve it. The last person actually asked me to keep the chat open for 5 business days, no lie.

They typically try to claim that my bank account is actually a debit card and can’t be used for the discount. Though it is 100% a checking account with a routing number. I do not have any credit or debit cards stored on my account.

Last time they tried to claim that my specific bank (one of the very well known national banks) is excluded from getting the discount. I made a claim that it sounds like false advertising. They were suggesting I open an account with a different bank. When I pushed back they recommended I remove my checking account and add it back. Which is exactly what they recommended last month.

I keep telling them, I can’t keep reaching out every month. I will start looking at other carriers if they can’t fix their billing. The chat people keep promising they will fix it and won’t let me speak with anyone else. Then I keep having to waste hours of my time every month just to get the credit.

If anyone knows a better way to actually get this escalated to someone who actually cares about customer retention, that would be amazing. As I’ve noted, I’ve been with Verizon for decades and it’d be sad to have to switch because their level 1 support refuses to escalate the ticket properly.

I’m willing to try the phone system if that would get better results. I usually avoid that because I’ll be on hold for about an hour and it’s hard to squeeze that in between meetings. I can also go to a Verizon store in person, but I’ve heard that’s frowned upon since they are really there for sales not support. Or if there’s even an email address or something I can reach.

I’ve also heard at some communications companies that making a note of reaching out to my congress representative triggers an escalation. But I doubt I’m going to write to them to complain about my phone bill, lol. I’ll just switch to a different carrier if I can get them to cover the termination fees and remaining device costs.

[russhexahedra · Accepted solution]

In case anyone else lands here that was having the same issue. I did end up trying the chat function just one more time.

The person I spoke to this time was more committed to ensuring it was fully resolved. During the process of them fixing it, I got a text message from Verizon stating I signed back up for paper/mailed bills. Then shortly after I got a message saying I signed up for paper free billing again.

I’m assuming that had something to do with the fix, as now I can see the autopay discount on my next bill estimate (for the first time ever). Last time they had just suggested I delete the bank account and add it again. But maybe you also have to stop and restart paper free billing again, too.

[vzw_customer_support]

So sorry you are having this much of an issue with Auto Pay, I am sending you a private note now.

-Jaquetta

[russhexahedra · Accepted solution]

In case anyone else lands here that was having the same issue. I did end up trying the chat function just one more time.

The person I spoke to this time was more committed to ensuring it was fully resolved. During the process of them fixing it, I got a text message from Verizon stating I signed back up for paper/mailed bills. Then shortly after I got a message saying I signed up for paper free billing again.

I’m assuming that had something to do with the fix, as now I can see the autopay discount on my next bill estimate (for the first time ever). Last time they had just suggested I delete the bank account and add it again. But maybe you also have to stop and restart paper free billing again, too.

[SynthpopAddict · Accepted solution]

My suggestion would have been to delete the autopay and all your stored payment methods, then sign back up for autopay and add back in the payment method.  If it is a direct ACH transaction from a checking account, there isn't any problem with card expiration dates/CVV number changes when you get a new card, so I'm surprised it took that much to get your autopay working again.

As a side note, if an autopay transaction declines for any reason whatsoever, the system cancels your autopay and you're not allowed to sign back up for 6 months.  Maybe that's why you were having a problem for a while?  Anyway, sure hope things will run smoothly from here on out.