Verizon Not Honoring My Lifetime Free HBO/SHO Promotion

[jjs123456]

Years ago, Verizon Fios offered me an HBO/SHO promotion - free HBO and Showtime for life, as long as I maintained my service with Verizon Fios.  I accepted the promotion.  Often, as I discussed my plan with representatives over the succeeding years, they confirmed that I would retain this promotion as long as I kept my service with Verizon.  If I left Verizon and later returned my service to Verizon, I would lose the promotion.  I have not left Verizon since getting the promotion.

Now, I am trying to manage the escalating cost of my plan - it seems I get hit with a price increase a couple of times a year.  I was offered the same plan I have (a Triple Play with Extreme HD TV, gigabit internet, and a landline, although the current Extreme HD TV package drops a few channels my existing Extreme HD TV has).  I would get a price reduction (back to my old price) if I signed a two-year commitment, and that price would be locked in for two years.  I asked several times, and each time the Representative told me that I would retain my free HBO and Showtime for life promotion.   When she sent me the order, I asked one more time about retaining the promotion, because I did not see it on the order.  She then acknowledged/realized that I was not keeping the promotion.  She tried to get a Supervisor to address the issue, but she could not get one before her shift was coming to an end.  She was going to call me the following Monday, but I never heard from her again.

I called again and got to a Supervisor.  She offered me a totally different package, a Mix and Match plan.  The content was similar and the price was very close to what had been offered to me on the first call., but there was no contract and no price lock.  I also lost my lifetime HBO/SHO promotion. - I was paying for them in the plan.  When I asked, she told me I could still get the package that was offered to me on the first call, and it would include my lifetime free HBO/SHO promotion.  I opted for this to get the price lock.  Although the Supervisor told me several times that I would retain my lifetime promotion, when she sent me the order, it was not included.  She then acknowledged that she had misspoken and that she did not have a way to honor my lifetime promotion.  She told me she was escalating the matter to "On Shore," but it turned out that the transfer was really just to a first-level representative in the US.

I called back the next day, and again got to a Supervisor (?).  She claimed that my promotion was never a lifetime promotion and that I misunderstood.  During the call, she told me that she used to be a Supervisor, but she no longer is.  Then, she claimed she is a Supervisor again.  Multiple times, I mentioned that she could listen to the recorded calls to confirm what I was saying.  She insisted that she could not do that and claimed that no one could.  That was odd to me, because in the past, many Verizon personnel have been able to do this.  I suspect she was not really a Supervisor, since she admitted this to me at one point.  Maybe that was why she could not access the recordings of my calls.  In any case, what was most insulting was that she repeatedly insisted that I was never told that the promotion was a lifetime promotion.  I pointed out that she was not on any of those calls and that I was.  She continued to insist that she knew what I had been told on many calls.  That was highly offensive to me.

I have not been able to retain my lifetime HBO/SHO promotion if I agree to a new two-year agreement or if I sign up for a Mix and Match plan.  This has been very frustrating.

I was also told that the issue is that I am signing a new contract, but that is inconsistent with what I was frequently told - that I just had to stay with Verizon.  It also did not explain why I could not keep the promotion with the Mix and Match plan that did not include a contract.  I was also told that the issue was that I was changing my TV plan, but in the initial offer with the two-year contract, I was keeping the Extreme HD TV package.  This did not make any sense either.

I am getting the runaround with no one willing to honor my lifetime HBO/SHO promotion.  It has been very frustrating!  As things stand now, I am either stuck with another price increase or losing my lifetime HBO/SHO promotion.