Does Verizon Wireless have a formal problem escalation procedure?

[ptmy12]

I have an issue relating to the balance in my Verizon Wireless prepaid plan I've been trying to resolve since 5/6/2020.  I've already called Verizon Customer Service 5 times at 800-922-0204 and 888-2946804 and got nowhere.  I'm on the phone with Verizon reps for over 3 hours including wait time each call.  Each call, problem is escalated to a supervisor.  Then I'm told the supervisor's manager needs to be involved, and that I would receive a callback from the manager.  But no callback ever comes.  When I called the third time, I asked to speak to one of the same reps or supervisor who helped me during a previous call.  I was told Verizon Wireless doesn't have a mechanism to transfer me, so I have to explain the problem all over again only to end up where I started (i.e., wait for a manager to call me back).  There's absolutely zero accountability.  When asked for their names, reps only give their first name, which is another convenient way to dodge responsibility.  I've gotten nothing but a polite run-around.

I've already drafted a complain to the Better Business Bureau but haven't send it yet.  Since my problem related to $640 in my balance I'm trying to recover, I thought I'll go through a formal problem escalation procedure first if there is one before sending the complain.

Does anyone know whether Verizon Wireless has such a procedure?  Also, if anyone who's been through this has advise on how to proceed, it would be much appreciated.

[vzw_customer_support]

We are truly sorry to hear of the difficulties you have encountered with trying to resolve the balance issue on your account. You can reach out to corporate by sending a letter to Verizon Wireless
Correspondence. Click here for the address: https://www.verizonwireless.com/support/contact-us/. 

CassieG_VZW

[ptmy12]

The hyperlink in your reply leads to the generic VerizonWireless page.  I'm not sure which address you're referring to.  Is this this one:

Customer Service

Verizon Wireless
Correspondence
P.O. Box 408
Newark, NJ 07101-0408

[vzw_customer_support]

Yes. that is correct. CourtneyM_VZW

[ptmy12]

To the Verizon customer support community manager who responded to me earlier: it's been closed to 3 weeks since I wrote a letter with explanation and request for help, and sent to the address recommended in your earlier reply.  I have not heard back from anyone.

Can you please help me follow up on this?

[vzw_customer_support]

Good morning, and thank you for reaching out. Making sure you get the assistance you need is vital. We're here to help. To begin, please send us a Private Message. - Justin

[ptmy12]

Hi Justin, thanks for your offer to help.  What's the purpose of the private message?   Also, how do I send a private message and to whom?  I logged into my account, but don't see a tab for sending or receiving private messages.

[vzw_customer_support]

That is a great question, ptmy12. I have sent a Private Message.

PeterP_VZW

[ptmy12]

I stumbled on to the private messages by hitting reply to this message.  I replied to that message.  What's next?

[Ann154]

The private messages are available on the Verizon Wireless Community forum and you can access them by clicking on the envelope next to your community profile picture in the top right corner of the community homepage. 

[ptmy12]

It has been over a month since I opened this thread requesting help after getting no where with Verizon telephone customer support reps.  First, I was told by Rep CassieG (please see earlier replies in this thread) I needed to send a letter via U.S. mail to Verizon explaining the situation, which I did without response.  Then Rep Justin told me I needed to send a private message here without providing instructions on how to actually do it.  When I asked, Verizon rep PeterP's answer was: "that's a great question."  Thanks to fellow customer Ann154, I figured out how to do this.  I sent the  private message indicating I still needed help.   PeterP responded asking me to confirm I had $650 balance in my account before the money was removed by Verizon.  I sent PeterP the entire letter I wrote Verizon Support explaining the situation in great detail.   No response from PeterP after that.  I sent another private message a week later to ask for status.  I got a reply from Rep GenevieveB saying I need to escalate via Facebook or Twitter.  I asked her what I need to actually do after logging in to my account in Facebook.  Again no reply.

Can a Verizon Rep please help with this?   Run-arounds and lip services are not helping.

[ptmy12]

I started this thread on 5/22/2020 requesting help after wasting days with Verizon telephone support reps getting nowhere.  Things looked promising here in the beginning.  Unfortunately, it's after two months, and I'm still nowhere.  Five different reps answered this post but provided nothing but lip service.  Each disappeared after one or two replies.

Is there a Verizon support rep out there willing to take this on?  If yes, please reply.  I'm trying to recover $641 removed from my account by the Verizon System. 

Other then complaining to the BBB, posting detail of my ordeal in social media, and filing a case in Small Claims Court, which I will do as a last resort, if any fellow Verizon customers have suggestions on how to proceed, please let me know.  Suggestions from anyone will be greatly appreciated.

[ptmy12]

I started this thread on 5/22/2020 requesting help after wasting days with Verizon telephone support reps getting nowhere.  Things looked promising here in the beginning.  Unfortunately, it's after two months, and I'm still nowhere.  Five different reps answered this post but provided nothing but lip service.  Each disappeared after one or two replies.

Is there a Verizon support rep out there willing to take this on?  If yes, please reply.  I'm trying to recover $641 removed from my account by the Verizon System. 

Other then complaining to the BBB, posting detail of my ordeal in social media, and filing a case in Small Claims Court, which I will do as a last resort, if any fellow Verizon customers have suggestions on how to proceed, please let me know.  Suggestions from anyone will be greatly appreciated.

[ptmy12]

Before Verizon closes this thread for lack of activity, I want to put on record to say this problem started over 3 months ago has not been resolved.  $641 disappeared from my prepaid account, and I can't get a Verizon customer support rep to look into it.  I've interacted with over 10 support reps over the last 3 months, and had to explain the problem from scratch each time.  Each rep disappeared after 1 or 2 exchanges and I was back to square one.  In fact, another rep responded to one of my private messages yesterday asking me to explain what the problem was.  I replied and asked her to read the private message chain, which contains a detail explanation of the entire situation.  My prediction is that I won't hear from her again.  Each rep only gave his/her first name, which is a convenient way to dodge accountability.

I'm giving up in trying to recover this money, and will not be adding additional funds to this account.  I'm also in the process of switching carrier in our regular family cell account.

In my over 35 years dealing with customer support departments from various companies, I can honestly say this has been the worst experience I've ever encountered.  Verizon support reps are there to provide lip service, not to solve real problems.

With this kind of customer service, it's hard to justify ever doing business with Verizon Wireless again.

[vzw_customer_support]

Let's see about getting this resolved for you once and for all. I will send you a Private Note so we can get into the details. Please respond directly to it.

 -NoahS_VZW

[ptmy12]

Well, looks like we're back to where we were before NoahS_VWZ's reply.  Only one rep out of over 15 made a serious attempt to help me, and that's NoahS.  NoahS opened a ticket to the payment department on my behalf around two weeks ago.  I received an email confirmation of the opened ticket.  That email said I would receive a follow-up when a status update is available.  No followup email came.  I tried to reach NoahS via private message but kept getting different reps who provided more lip service.  The last exchange was with one of the rep (CourtneyM_VZW) who gave some  lip service in the past, then disappeared.  She said the ticket was rejected, and gave me the same toll free number that I called in the beginning, which got no where.

Gee thanks CourtneyM for nothing.  Be good if I can somehow contact NoahS but doesn't look like that's possible.  This is what I meant when I said in a prior message: no accountability and no follow through.

As mentioned in my previous message, I'm done with Verizon.

[ptmy12]

When I asked to have my private messages be passed to NoahS, I get replies from other reps saying that's not possible.  They say reps work as a team.  Right.  They work as a team all right.  Unfortunately, there's only one good player on the team (NoahS_VZW)!

[Ann154]

Was the original private message sent from the @vzw_customer_support username or the individual username for NoahS_VZW? 

[ptmy12]

I don't really know Ann.  I just logged on to my account, and clicked send a private message.  I tried sending directly to NoahS_VZW as well as the general account.  But who's knows where message is going.

Anyway, after 4 months of frustration, I decide to give up on that $641.  I'm closing all my Verizon accounts.

[Tigerstep]

No one uses prepaid if they want good customer support. Their automated system is a trash heap.

If there is a balance owed to you and prepaid reps aren't helping, do a charge back. If there is a balance you owe, leave -- prepaid isn't tied to your credit score.

[ptmy12]

Reply to Tigerstep - I agree 100%.  I wish I could do a charge back, but unfortunately can't.

I bought this prepaid cell around 8 years ago as an emergency contact phone for my parents who are in their mid 80s.  I've been religiously putting the minimal amount of money in for the past 8 years to keep the account opened.  Because the phone is seldom used, the balance has accumulated to $641.  I missed the deadline for adding money on 5/6/2020 by a few hours, and the balance expired.  I called Verizon Customer Service the following day.  Of the 5 calls I made to Verizon Customer Service, all but one rep/supervisor told me they can put the money back into my account as a courtesy but needed approval from the supervisor's manager; that's when the ordeal begins.  One rep actually told me they can't give me a courtesy for the $641 because they had already given me a courtesy in the past, and that they can only do one courtesy for the lifetime of an account.  Let me explain what happened: when I first opened the account 8 years ago, the rep at the Verizon store who sold me the phone never mentioned an expiration date.  I picked one of the low-priced flip phones (which is still the phone associated with this account), paid for its cost, deposited $20 into the account, and left.  When I got home, I made one phone call on the phone for testing purpose.  Three months later,  around $19.75 disappeared from my account.  I called Verizon to ask.  The rep I spoke to told me about the expiration date, and said he can put back the $19.75.  This $19.75 refund back into my account from 8 years ago was what that one rep was referring to.  I complained and told her that invoking something like this from over 7 years ago was unfair and unreasonable.  Even the stingiest credit card companies give customers one waiver per year for missing a minimum-payment deadline.  I asked to speak to a supervisor and was put on hold.  10 minutes later, I heard a clicking sound and was conveniently disconnected by the Verizon system.

I am 64 years old, living in a household where 4 out of 5 of us are over 60.  We live in New Jersey with the 2nd highest Covid-19 cases.  As of today (5/28/2020), the state is still mostly in a lock-down ordered by the governor.  Because most of us are in the high-risk category, we are mostly trapped in our house.  I have not missed a single money-replenishment deadline into this pre-paid account for over 7 years.  I can honestly say the Covid-19 situation we're currently experiencing in our area at least partially distracted me from making an on-time replenishment.

A few weeks ago, I received an email from Verizon Wireless saying they were giving customers some free data because of COVID-19.  To me, this is useless lip service.  We have 200 minutes of data per month in our regular Verizon Wireless account, which we've used less than 1/2 most months.  If Verizon had good customer service and wanted to help with COVID-19, they wouldn't be taking $641 away in an emergency cell phone account belonging senor citizens who are in the high-risk category relating to the virus.