No support for elderly man

[corrie_groth]

Apparently email complaints are not accepted and customer service has proved to be unhelpful so I’m leaving my concern here. I have been a Verizon customer for more than 20 years and am just livid about a recent experience. 

My friend is an 82 year old war veteran. In early May he experienced a medical emergency and still isn't able to go home. He had to have two procedures from a severe brain hemorrhage. He has no local family to help him and was moved to a hospital an hour from home where his friends are. After surgery he tried to access his phone with shaky hands and a shaky memory he managed to lock himself out of his iPhone permanently. Apple confirmed with me that the only thing that can be done about this is to factory reset it but to do that we need his Apple ID which he of course does not remember. I can't help him reset that because he doesn't know his Gmail login. In fact, we can't reset any logins because you either need a text or email verification for those and he has access to neither. 

I attempted to call customer service from the hospital on speaker phone with Bill. I thought if he could add me as an authorized user I could go to the store in person and get his phone issues straightened out. He currently has no way to contact anyone in his life  as there is no phone in his rehab room. We weren't able to do anything because he could not remember his four digit pin number. When I asked what other options he had I was told he had to physically go into a Verizon store for help. He is hooked up to a feeding tube and can’t walk on his own yet. Heck, he can’t even swallow water. This isn't possible. I asked, do you mean to tell me that if he wanted to close out his account he can't because he is physically unable to travel? You will still continue to charge him for an account he can't even use? He has several medical issues that prevent him from doing anything and is now without communication. Customer service continued to put me on hold, transfer me to other departments, and eventually no one came back to me sitting on hold and I hung up. 

I had an idea and tried to contact my local store to ask if they would accept a Facetime call with Bill if I was instore in person with his driver’s license…but with Verizon, you can’t actually call a store and talk to anyone and I certainly wasn’t going to sit through customer service again. I arranged for someone to sit with Bill while I physically went to a Verizon store with his driver's license. I offered to Facetime with him so that they could see him, talk to him, and compare him to the driver's license that I provided in person. The staff was very nice and apologetic but said they could not help unless he was there in person. He is on a feeding tube and currently unable to walk or travel until it is safe for him. They also informed me that his Power of Attorney could add me to his account which is his son who lives in Texas (we are in Michigan). 

You are a technology company. In 2025 I can buy a house, go to court, work a full time job and even get a medical diagnosis without ever leaving my house. All of these things can be done virtually. I wasn’t asking anyone to take my word for it. I was asking them to confirm his account virtually, with in-person proof of identity. I am just appalled that this man with failing health is getting charged for services he cannot use. I’m now very nervous about how my own aging father who was recently diagnosed with the precursor to dementia is going to be treated when he has an emergency. 

My friend Bill is sitting in a medical center alone and scared about his future. He can’t even reach out to anyone.  

I’m currently trying to reach his son who is a traveling officer in the Navy to ask him to find his POA papers, and hopefully go to a Verizon store in Texas to add me to the account so that the two of them can start facetime again. Bill hasn’t been able to use his phone since around May 14th and today is June 5th. 

I have always bragged about my experience with Verizon but this situation makes me furious. I feel like the elderly are being taken advantage of in some of the most traumatic times in their lives. 

Do better Verizon. 

[SynthpopAddict]

I'm sorry to hear about your friend, and can understand your concern.  But unless you have power of attorney and provide the paperwork indicating it, it's not possible to close out someone else's account or make changes.  Phone number theft is actually becoming a common sc*m, where a criminal somehow gets enough of a victim's personal information to convince their phone company to transfer a phone number to the crook, so then the crook can get into everything else in the victim's life.  If you do get in touch with your friend's son and he has POA, he will need to contact Verizon concerning his father's account.

[vzw_customer_support]

Hello there corrie_groth. We are sad to see that your friend is sick and we are happy to assist you here. I will be sending you a private message. 

-Erica