Are prepaid Verizon wireless customers treated like garbage?

[nakas999]

Good morning- recently I decided to switch my cell service back to Verizon after being with Straight talk for several years. Keep in mind that I used to have Verizon as my cell carrier but switched, since even with light usage, my bills were $80-90 a month. So I figure I will go prepaid and save some money. Apparently, that seems like a BIG mistake. I wanted to port my old # and put in the request at least 5 days ago... supposed to take 4-24 hours... still waiting after FIVE days!!! To make matters worse, I cannot make or receive calls on my new and old cell phones. I've tried calling but the issue has still not being resolved. WHY AM I PAYING FOR A NONEXISTENT SERVICE??? Note there are two customer service numbers, one general number and one for prepaid... yeah, this is looking like a fantastic relationship already

[Ann154]

Why haven't you turned off the old phone? With it on, it might be preventing the port from being completed.

Otherwise I would suggest calling the VZW customer service at 1-800-922-0204 from another phone and ask for them to check on the port to If there is an issue.

[nakas999]

actually, the first customer service rep told me the same thing... I shut it off for 5 minutes as she suggested- no changes. Then I shut it off for an hour and a half- no changes. Now it has been off since last night and when I turned the new phone today- no changes.

[japetty]

Tell a CSR at VZW the next time you talk to one and it sounds as though you will be talking with at least one more maybe more, that you have not had any/0 service for how many ever days you have not had service and they should prorate your next statement with that.  I know when we have service interruptions where I live and we do have service interruptions here in rural New Mexico often because there is not redundancy to our any kind of service in this community.  They keep saying they are getting it but it is the same story every time there is a service outage we get prorated for the outage.  I will say that you may want to try turning your phone off again and taking the battery out and give it about 5 minutes put the battery back in and turn it on again.  If that don't get any changes I would go to a VZW corporate store and have a talk with them about the lack of service.

[japetty]

Sorry to be off topic

BTW nakas999 did you give up your Straight Talk service for bad service or some other reason.  A friend of mine is talking about porting his number over to Straight Talk from VZW.  I suggested he get service with Straight Talk while keeping his VZW service for a month or two just to see if the Straight Talk service will suffice for where he lives, works and plays.  He has not done this yes...but it could be a money issue?

Good Luck with getting your VZW service working ASAP

[nakas999]

you know, Straight Talk supposedly runs off of Verizon towers so they should have similar coverage areas. I really wanted to go back to Verizon since they offer a prepaid service (which I am regretting now) but more importantly, their selection of telephones are pretty weak (unless I am willing to pay $550 for an iPhone) But aside from several dropped calls in a year or two, I was pretty pleased with the service

[nakas999]

thank you for the suggestion, I will ask that they prorate my service since at the moment I paid for 2 cell phone services and cannot make a call out of either!. Unfortunately, the battery is not removable

[Ann154]

nakas999 wrote:

thank you for the suggestion, I will ask that they prorate my service since at the moment I paid for 2 cell phone services and cannot make a call out of either!. Unfortunately, the battery is not removable

Prepaid plans don't have access to prorated services, if I'm understanding the Customer Agreement correctly. The link to the Customer Agreement is on the bottom of every Verizon Wireless web page.

[japetty]

Just took a look at the Straight Talk site and on the CDMA side of things my phone is not available for service from Straight Talk.  I see what you mean about available phones from Straight Talk.  Nothing I would really want.  Guess I will just stay with VZW for a while longer.  If I was a at&t or TMOB customer with GSM just about all phones work with their service.  A couple of dropped calls is not a bad record.  Thanks for your information.  As said above they may not pro rate but I would think if you complain enough they would give you a new start date when they get your phones working.  I hope this don't turn into another one of the horror stories from VZW that I have been hearing around here.  I wish the best for you.   Good Luck

[madstoppotsdam]

yes they are.  Second class customers,  Would never do again had I known that.  May still leave Verizon after 20 years because of that.