Hello,
My brother passed away (over a year ago now) and a little while after that, I contacted Verizon to close his wireless account.
I was told that if I return his device, there will be no money owed on the account and they would close it. Verizon sent me the return box, and I returned the device. I confirmed with the tracking number that it was received.
A couple months after that, I start to get calls from a collections agency that I owe all this money to them for several of my brother's past bills.
Now for the better part of a YEAR, I have been trying to get this resolved, and I am truly disgusted with the whole situation.
It is absolutely absurd that a company as big a Verizon does not have a department dedicated to dealing with family members of deceased customers.
Every time I call and finally get to a live person, they promise me that THIS time everything is taken care of, but then a little while after that, I get another call from the collections agency.
So far, I have:
Talked to multiple customer reps who assure me that they have taken care of the situation, but they never do.
Emailed (multiple times) the requested information to [email address removed per the Verizon Terms of Service]. The original email says I would receive an email response within 72 business hours, and never get one.
Faxed the same information to 1-866-801-3412. Never got a response.
The last few times I called up, I recorded the conversations and have the proof that these people are telling me that they are taking care of everything.
Now what I NEED is for someone at Verizon to tell the collections agency that there was an error and tell them to STOP calling me. That's it. That's what needs to happen.
If any employee reads this, PLEASE get me in contact with someone who actually has the ability to take care of this. Not some random customer service rep, because I've already been through that song and dance more times than I can count.
I'm getting my stimulus check in 2 DAYS, and if I don't get a resolution to this, I'll be buying my new Galaxy S21 from another company that hopefully has a little respect for people who are dealing with the loss of a loved one.
Thank you for reading.
I sincerely apologize you have gone through this experience for such a long time without a resolution. We want to get this resolved for you asap. Please share with me some details on the last call that you placed? Also, confirm for me have you spoken with our Financial Services department who handles the collections (866 266 1445)?
Please don't post any personal information about yourself or your family member on this public forum.
I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.
I will call that number as soon as I can tomorrow. What other information do you want?
It would be best to contact our financial services team on this matter to make sure that the billing is taken care of and the account is closed out. Just to make sure were you able to speak with the financial services team for review.
Hello, the account was closed a year ago.
I called that number, and when I input the account number, I received this automated message:
"Our records indicate that your account is currently place with an outside collection agency.
You account has been place with Deceased Credit Management. The agency's telephone number is 877-326-1531. Please note, while your account is placed with the outside collection agency, Verizon is unable to directly handle this account. Any disputes, including fraud claims or bankruptcy requests or questions, should be directed to the outside collection agency for assistance. Please hold while we transfer you..."
I was then immediately transferred to the collections agency.
This is no help at all.
I already explained the situation to them, and they don't care. All they want to do is harrass me and try to get money.
It was Verizon's fault for sending the account to collections in the first place, so I need to speak to someone at Verizon who can help me with this.
Like I said in the original post, someone at Verizon needs to tell the collections agency that they made a mistake and the account should not have been sent to collections.
Can you connect me with someone else at Verizon who can help me with this?
THANKSFORNUTHIN, we want to make sure you receive a resolution for your concern. Regrettably, we do not handle accounts that have been placed with a different credit agency. If you are disputing the charges on the account please our Recovery department in order to disrupt this charge. They can be contacted by dialing 800-852-1922 Mon-Fri 7:00 AM - 7:00 PM CT.
The exact same thing happened when I called that number.
When I input the account number, I received the same recorded message and I was immediately transferred to the collections agency.
Is there someone that I can speak to who can help me directly with this issue?
Verizon needs to tell the collections agency that there was an error.
My Mother died 1/17/2021. I took the proper steps laid out on Verizon's website (see link)
https://www.verizon.com/support/deceased-account-handling/
Verizon contacted me via email and asked that I respond with a copy of the death certificate and gave me instructions on what to type in subject line and what to type in the body of the email. As my Mother's PR, I had access to those documents and have now sent them 3 times to the email Verizon supplied to me: [email address removed per the Verizon Terms of Service]
One would think that my due diligence and quick response time would have resulted in an easy termination of her account. Sadly, NO. It is now 5 months later, and although I paid my Mother's final bill balance and have sent the requested legal documents on 3 separate occasions, contacted them by phone, by email and by U.S. Mail; they have turned her account over to a collection agency, even after telling me that her account was closed, paid in full and docs were verified. I will need to hand over to my attorney at some point. Trying to grieve the death of a parent and deal with this type of apathetic behavior from Verizon Wireless (after I too have been a loyal customer for decades, including our business phones)...well, it may just be time to find another cell carrier. I am so sorry that you are having to deal with this of thing. I dealt with over 20 different companies, closing accounts at the time of my Mother's death. ONLY VERIZON has created an issue for me. I hope you get things handled on your end. It is heartbreaking to try and manage this type of unnecessary aggravation when you are already going through so much. I hope the links above help you. If not, at least it creates a concise paper trail of your efforts if you have to dispute it in court. Best wishes. I am sorry for your loss.
dloinsc,
I am so sorry for the confusion. We know things are difficult enough with your mother's passing. If the account has already reached a collection agency, then we no longer have access to the account. You will need to dispute the bill with the collection company and they will notify our team and we will dispute the balance.
JenelleW_vzw
JenelleW_vzw,
There is no way to dispute anything with the collection agency.
They have no information about the account, YOU do. All they want to do is collect the money that you say is owed.
You are giving out false information. If Verizon sent an account to collections in error, it is VERIZON's responsibility to take care of it.
Verizon does not care, and just wants people give up, pay up, and go away. It's seems like an absurd way to do business, but what do I know?
Thank you, I'm sorry for your loss as well.
I jumped through every hoop they asked me to but received zero resolution to this.
Lied to by multiple Customer Service Reps who assured me everything is taken care of and I wouldn't receive any more calls from the collections agency.
With the amount of subscribers they have, they must have customers who pass away every day. Shame on Verizon for not having a proper service department to deal with this. Every other utility or subscription service that I had to cancel was a piece of cake.
I will be canceling my Verizon service shortly but have not had the time to do so just yet.
Hello, THANKSFORNUTHIN. It does worry us to hear that this matter has yet to be resolved, and we want to do everything in our hands to help. When reviewing our conversation, I don't see a reply to our last Private Note. I have sent another to further assist with his matter. Thank you. DavidR_VZW
DavidR_VZW,
I have responded to every one of the customer support messages that I've received, from multiple different people.
For some strange reason, they keep asking me the same questions and then they don't respond back to ME, just like you haven't responded back to me.
Absolutely ridiculous.
Probably if it's gone to collections nothing any of the reps here can do. If you had a lawyer that handled the estate your best bet might be to contact them for advice.
Thank you for letting us know, THANKSFORNUTHIN. We're sorry to hear that as we haven't seen any responses to our Private Messages. We're hoping to gets things working so we can ensure you have everything resolved with the account.
ZakC_VZW
Who knows if it’s even legit Verizon what if it’s some hacker trying to get info to steal an identity. That’s quite odd they don’t reply and I would be careful where u give ur info. Sorry for your losses.
Jane, we care for your safe and I know how importnat It's to have your information safe. Please send us a Direct Message to better assist you.
>Bris
Is there anything else I can do or anyone else I can speak to in regards to this issue? A supervisor? A manager? Anybody?
THANKSFORNUTHIN, a member of our management team cannot report an error when it comes to a balance written off to a collections agency. We regret you're unable to get through to our Recovery Operations Team.
Please mail the necessary information to PO Box 650051 Dallas, Texas 75265-0051 regarding your dispute. Disputes are responded to within 30 days on average. Thank you.
AlanS_VZW
What's the necessary information that I need to send there?
What is this address for, some kind of dispute department? Do they have a phone number or email address?
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