Leaving Verizon after 20 Years due to

[SoonToBeForemerCustomer]

I've been a Verizon customer for nearly 20 years, but after a final futile attempt to resolve my issue with Customer Service, I have decided I will never do business with the company again.

I was traveling to Las Vegas and my phone didn't make it past TSA at LAX on the way to Vegas. I immediately reported my phone as lost. While in Vegas, I went to the Verizon store to resolve the issue, and decided to pay off the remaining $316 on my old phone and upgrade. (. My phone was insured with Asurion and I elected not to file a claim, because insurance mails the phone to your address, and since I was traveling away from my family I needed a phone immediately.)

Everything was smooth until I had to deal with the most unhelpful department in the whole company, the safety department. They asked that I scan my identification and take a picture to remove a safety hold that was placed on the account after I reported the phone lost. And therein lies the problem.

My license expired the day I went into the Verizon store, March 7th.  I was aware of this and I renewed my license at the DMV, which provided me with a paper up-to-date license to use as identification until the plastic version of my license arrives in the mail. As it was the 7th, at first I scanned my plastic license....which the safety department refused to accept as they viewed it expired. "No worries" I thought, I then scanned the temporary paper ID that was issued by the state....and unfortunately the Verizon safety department does not consider such identification as valid. Although the Department of Homeland Security and every state in the Union considers an ID on paper, with a verifiable barcode on the back of if, as valid,  the company I've been loyal to for two decades does not. 

I have a security hold on my account until my plastic license arrives in the mail sometime in the next 30 days, so in that time I do not have access to my phone. Asurion could replace my old phone for a 189 dollar deductible but after the horrible service I received from the company, I've decided that I will never spend another cent with Verizon again. My paper ID is valid, it is scannable, and every authority and business in the United States recognizes it as valid, save Verizon. I also had my old plastic ID which verified who I was. This would only be mildly inconvenient if the company didn't have any problem receiving hundreds of dollars from me while I was trying to upgrade. I was traveling on a budget, I'm out 316 dollars for no reason and I still don't have a phone. 

I've been a loyal customer for years, I've paid my bills promptly and until last week I would never dreamed of not using Verizon until this horrible experience. I hope no one else finds themselves in this situation because you will receive zero help from the company.  I can do nothing until the plastic version of my license arrives in the mail, so I will be sitting my mailbox waiting for it until it arrives and I can cancel my verizon account. I've attempted to resolve this 4 times with customer service, and thanks to the security hold I cannot even cancel my Verizon account, even though my bill and phone are completely paid for.  Over the years I have paid tens of thousands of dollars to this company in bills and at the time I needed help the most, they treated me like I wasn't even a customer.  I am frustrated an disappointed that the company has treated me this way.