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Where should I file a complaint?

I have been a loyal customer of Verizon Wireless since I can remember. We have used Verizon Wireless as the provider for our home phone line, our cell phones as a family, internet and cable. I have never encountered any issues until these past couples of years. It all started a little under two years. We needed to install cable and internet to our new home, and after scheduling an inconvenient and appointment between the hours of 8AM and 12PM, they still had not arrived at 1:30PM. Somehow, after being on the phone with Verizon FIOS for half an hour, they were offended that we needed to reschedule. We as a family were not happy with the unfortunate interaction, but left it aside as an ugly situation due to circumstances, maybe possible stress on the side of Verizon reps. I tell this small story to explain that services have gone downhill for many years now.

In November, we experienced the worst situation we have ever encountered when it comes to a reputable company. My mother damaged her phone beyond repair, and we had to fix it. We were aware that it was going to cost us a serious penny, since we had no upgrades available. We went to the Verizon store in the Burlington Mall, a representative of Verizon Wireless, not a third party. They told us there was nothing we could do, unless we paid the phone at full price, and were unwilling to provide other options or further research of our account to find an easier way. We left the store unhappy.

The next day we went to a Premium Verizon Wireless retailer, a third party actually, in Woburn, MA. The rep patiently listened to our situation and was helpful. She gave us the option of the Verizon Edge, so we could pay it off in installments. I honestly cannot understand why we were not given this option in Burlington, MA. My first question was, was this going to impact my February upgrade. I was told this was not going to affect it, that the Verizon Edge was a plan apart from upgrades, that in a way, it is a trade, that I would give them an old, working Verizon phone of mine, and they would send me a new phone with a plan. Unfortunately, we were not able to get the Verizon Edge because of a technicality; we paid all our Verizon services as a bundle plan, and apparently that forbid us from getting the Verizon Edge. We had to go home, call Verizon FIOS, separate our plans. We headed back out to the retailer to get the phone, and when we filled out all the information, the woman was still not able to get it. She called customer service, and she was told that while we are eligible for the Verizon Edge, we had to file it ourselves, not the retailer. Again, we headed home.

I called Verizon Wireless, and spoke with Nick. He processed the Verizon Edge plan, and again, I asked various times, will this affect my upgrade in February. I was reassured various times that this plan was not connected to the upgrades, and that I would still have my upgrade. He processed the Edge, and I paid for overnight shipping, reassured that i was going to get it in two days, one day to process the product, and another day for it to be sent. I was perfectly fine with this, and was grateful that after fighting for another phone, we would finally be seeing progress.

Two days later, nothing.

I called Verizon Wireless again, and spoke to Rose (or Maria, I am not sure, she gave me one name, but another name is on record). She told me that the phone had not been released, that it was in Fraud department, and that it would take weeks for it to be released. After arguing against this process, that I had paid for overnight shipping, answered various personal questions, and argued that I had not been informed of this, I was told the next possible step to hurry the process was for a representative in the Fraud department to contact me; I agreed with much skepticism. India then called me, a representative at the Fraud Department. I further answered various incredibly personal questions, that made me feel incredibly uncomfortable (not eased by the fact that she contacted me, not the other way around). After a horrible situation, that escalated to aggression on her end, I got further annoyed that she would A. Speak to me this way, and B. ask very personal questions that do not seem relevant to the situation or even with the capacity to be confirmed. We hung up, and I immediately called Verizon Wireless to confirm that India was a Verizon employee and that it showed up in my record. Kimberly said she was, and while she promised that I would get the phone the next day, it came the next week.

But the headache didn't end there. I had done my best to comply with their terms, and after so much inefficiency, Verizon doesn't stop there. The idea of the Verizon Edge is to trade it for another Verizon phone. They were supposed to send me an address label to send my old phone back, and they also couldn't do that.

Since then, we have had few interactions with Verizon, but none of them pleasant. We asked two reps at separate Verizon stores information about the International Plan- no one could seem to give us concrete information; I asked about getting my screen and battery fixed (while I was paying for insurance)- and they wanted to charge me $300 for just the simple crack on the screen (and Apple was going to charge me $100 for the screen, and the battery for free since the serial number indicated that it was a defective batch of batteries); and the worst, a confusion as to why I could not install the Internet Security- which took me days to fix, and only after insisting and insisting.

As you can see, the service that we have received has been pretty bad. I wish this was all I had to complain about. I mentioned earlier that I had an upgrade for the month of February. My phone was not/is not lasting more than 30 minutes after being charged to 100%, and unfortunately I was not on time for the free battery guarantee that Apple was offering. I went down to the Verizon store in February, again, in the Burlington Mall, and was told that I could not get my upgrade because of the Verizon Edge. I could not believe that this was happening, because I had asked various times, having little faith in Verizon, and being proved right. John made excuses, blaming the third party retailer who I had mentioned helped us make this decision; yet she never processed anything, she helped us and gave us more information than the Burlington location was ever willing to give us, and her information was confirmed by a Verizon Wireless Customer Service rep (Nick). He was unwilling to help us, or look further into the account.

I got home, called Customer Service, spoke to Terrel, and he gave me my February upgrade again. The next day, I went to a Verizon store (not a third party) in Boston, and again, another issue. I was told they could not do anything, that the Verizon Edge plan was connected to my phone number, and that I would have to buy out the Verizon Edge plan to upgrade my phone. The problem is that the Verizon Edge is on my mother's phone, not mine, and I don't understand why I am having problem after problem with this company. I again called customer service, and spoke to a man who said he could not do anything. He admitted that the Verizon Edge was processed incorrectly, and that there were two possible outcomes as to how this mess was created:

1. That the individual that processed it selected the wrong phone number (which would be probable since our phone numbers differ by one digit)

-But then, the fact would be that Verizon made a big mistake that they are unwilling to fix themselves.

2. My mothers' phone number was not eligible for the Verizon Edge plan, and mine was, and the rep decided to choose that one.

-But then, this would mean that Verizon made an assumption for my plan and my finances that they should not have.

I immediately asked to speak to a manager, and was transferred to Alex. After an hour of him asking questions, proposing options that he later realizes are irrelevant, promising to replace my brothers' and my phone at no charge (we both have batteries that after a year were not lasting more than a few hours and have gotten worse since then) and apologizing for the mess that was created by a Verizon employee back in November, he was able to fix it.

As of right now, I am waiting for the phone. i am expecting it tomorrow, and hope that it will actually arrive tomorrow. I also am wondering if at the end of the billing month, if I will be charged for the rest of the Verizon Edge plan (close to $500) that I was promised I wouldn't; but as you can imagine my confidence in Verizon is very low right now. There is also the issue of my brother's phone that cannot be fixed since it is outside the one year warranty and has an unfortunate crack on the screen. I was also hoping to fix my current iphone 5, and give it to a family member, but this morning I woke up to see my phone is barely charging now.

The headaches, stress, and anger have been accumulating. I have needed my phone for work, and it will randomly die in the middle of the day. The service that Verizon has provided has been absolutely horrendous- between the Verizon certified first party stores, to the Verizon Wireless Customer Service phone line, and even the online chats I have had. Furthermore, the products that I have received from this reputable business, my iphone 5 and my brothers' Samsung Galaxy, have been failing for a year, right after the one-year warranty unfortunately. Furthermore, these representatives have constantly been telling me 'I don't know,' and instead of asking themselves to a higher rep, they shut me down as they can't do anything, and unless I fight to speak to someone else, it will not get done. I do not understand why the employees, both on the phone as well as the reps at each location, are unwilling to help a customer. I myself work in customer service and would never speak to a customer the way I have been spoken to, and would help as much as possible; we go to these locations for help and guidance for products and services, and yet if it is not simple, they will turn me away. I am an unsatisfied customer; my family has been unhappy with the services. I am stunned that service has turned for the worst. After months of horrible service, I have been compelled to file a complaint. Where is the best place to file a complaint since there is no email. I will be submitting something to the BBB, but within Verizon, I want to file something to point out flaws that were never there.

Comments

Snn5

With the BBB.

Momma23dogs

1. You are correct to be annoyed at a broken appointment for installation of service. They should have called and apologized.

2. When your mom broke her phone and you had no upgrades, you knew it was going to cost you. You own your car, you own many other things. If they are broken, lost or stolen, you have to replace them. It is not the responsibility of the store you purchased YOUR stuff from, to replace it. No discount, nothing.

You got an honest answer from that first Verizon associate, why did you try to get around it?

Because your lines were still under 2 year contract adding a phone on Edge, means you were upgrading as "early Edge". Which is why you had to turn in a phone. The phone has to work, so mom's phone didn't qualify

With Edge, you can upgrade after 30 days and paying off 75% of the cost. So, it never effects your ability to upgrade (but for a 30 day delay and the $$$$ to pay off a portion of the phone, and turn in the phone the Edge plan is paying for)

Call it Edge, but it's a LOAN at 0% interest. The original Verizon employee is looking better every minute.

3. After 3 failed tries to use your debit card to take money out of your bank account, the ATM machine swallows your card....fraud protection. Same here. With the introduction of installment phone purchases, fraud purchases are a new problem.

4. Nobody but Apple repairs an apple phone. If Apple were charging you for battery and screen, it would indeed be a $300 bill. Typical is $100 for screen and $200 for battery for older iphones. You got a courtesy as a customer a big company wasn't going to get.

You mention a failing iPhone 5, take it to Apple, they are the only ones authorized to fix or replace your Apple phones. There is a good chance they will replace a 1 year old, failing iPhone with a more current device (don't expect a 6, but the 5S is a much better phone than the 5).

I Will stop there....

while I grant you have had some poor service, you also got honest service, but didn't like what your heard. You need to take responsibility for the cell phone mess. While the "authorized retailer " has some responsibility too.

In the future, to keep it simple....all customers must buy their own phones, one way or another. If you are still on a contract, paying for a phone, then you have to buy your own replacement phone or use insurance, less deductable, to do so. (Just like if it were a car)

nani22389

I want to thank you for the information. I will definitely rethink my words for further explanation. If they have given you the impression that the first, or second, Verizon rep are in the right, well I am going to have to explain myself better. We took responsibility for our actions. We entered the store with the idea that we were going to have to spend money. The issue I have had is that I asked various times, 'is there any way we can pay in installments? There must be some plan out there that will allow us to pay monthly.' I left angry because they insisted there was not. Using your car example, you don't usually pay for the car in one transaction, and I asked if there was any way for me to sign up for such a payment plan. After insisting and being denied, I found out that that plan already exists, as the Edge plan. And when we were going to process the plan, I asked various times if this was going to affect my upgrade. My issue is that Verizon says one thing, and then another. Verizon promises one thing, and then does another. And this is after you make them step away from their self serving ways. Further, when the Verizon rep told me a week ago that it was definitely a mistake on their part, and that the Edge was processed incorrectly, he insisted he couldn't fix it. It wasn't my mistake, why should I pay for it? Their unsatisfactory service is what I am astounded at. I am not quite sure if their reps are unaware of the correct information, or if it is customary to say and promise things to please the customer at the moment. There is a complete lack of concern for customers' concerns.

Momma23dogs

I Will clarify a few of my words as they left you with the wrong idea...

Since all your lines were under contract, no upgrades, the only way to replace the broken phone was to

1. If insured, use insurance to repair or replace (typical deductible is $150-200)

2. Buy a phone at full retail, used or new, from any source you like as long as it is Verizon compatible, no installments. As I wrote, the first associate was right and honest.

3. Edge was processed as "early Edge" and seems to have been processed correct, but they were wrong in saying it didn't effect your upgrade in any way.

The 2 year contracts on your lines at $40 a month is how you pay for the rest of your phones. They took your phone as a trade in and your upgrade to buy your mom a new phone on the installment plan.

Most people don't pay for their car in cash. But if you wreck it or its stolen, you have to use insurance to replace it and you still owe the bank the balance of the loan. As you now do on the phone. And did on the other phones that broke.

THis is why all companies switched to installment plans. It holds the customer 100% responsible for their phones.

There is no rule you have to buy a phone at Verizon, or Best Buy etc. you don't have to buy a new phone either.

I Bought my cars and my phones the same way...cash for an older model.

My cars were returned leases.

I just got a new, Galaxy S3 for myself on eBay for $219. Works beautifully. I bought my mom an iPhone 4s on Amazon for $300, also new. I did splurge on a new Note 3 almost a year ago. I have 5 phones, 2 tablets and 30 GBS of data and pay only $225 a month.

I'm not saying you have to do it my way, this is what works for my tight budget, I just want to let you know you have options. I also want you fully informed. All carriers work this way. And T-Mobile requires full payment, no installments, no contracts. Data and lines are ala' Carte.

Verizon_Support

I'm so sorry for all the issues you have had with customer service and our store locations nani22389. This is the experience we want a long time customer to have. This process should have been easier to complete and understand. I also want to apologize for the misinformation given regarding Edge. You can write us via the contact link a the top of this page. There is an address for our correspondence team where you can express all the issues you dealt with regarding your appointments and replacement options. I'm truly sorry about this entire situation and hope we can work on mending this relationship between us,

Kinquana_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @vzwsupport

susanjh

I just want to know where my $200.00 discount is?

Corporatecomplainer

Contacting anyone at Corporate office is not possible. Corporate is not interested in hearing from their paying customers. Verizon corporate will only use Postal Mail. Because it will take the longest amount of time.

So, with that being said, here is what you need to do.

Write your complaint and mail it to this address.

Verizon Attn: Corespondence Team

PO Box. 408

Newark, NJ. 07101

This is the office you really need to deal with. They will review your entire account including phone calls and any other correspondence you have have. THIS is the only department that will get back with you period. And, THEY WILL CALL YOU.

HOPEFULLY, this department will be inundated with Mail

[Deleted User]

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