Over the past few weeks, I have talked to several Verizon Wireless personnel about the Prepaid Service plans. I did not want to renew my 2 year contract; instead I wanted to sign up for a prepaid plan. I was told several times that this would be a very easy transition and it would not take more than a few minutes on the phone. I was a little hesitant since this would be something new for me. Again, I was ensured several times of how easy this process would be. On March 3, 2014 I contacted Verizon Wireless to cancel my current plan and transfer my existing number to a prepaid plan. I already had a phone that I wanted to use for the prepaid plan. I spoke to someone who canceled my current plan and activated the prepaid plan. I gave him my debit card number and he said that $54.60 would be applied to my prepaid account and this would cover my first month. Next month, I could either go online or call and sign up for the next month. I gave him my MEID for the Iphone I wanted to use. I called the *228 and the *832 to make sure the phone was programmed and did a test call. The phone worked. When we hung up the phone, my new phone would not work. It will not text, call or anything. Whenever I try to make a phone call, it takes me to the Verizon Wireless Financial Services and asks me to make a payment in order for the phone to work. I spent three hours on March 3rd trying to get this issue resolved. I finally gave up for the night.
On March 4th, I looked at my bank account and the $54.60 had come out. However, when I called Verizon to speak to someone (after sitting on hold for 30 minutes of course and being transferred several times and having to explain the situation over and over) they did not see the credit to my prepaid account. The person I spoke to was named Albert. He saw no record of the $54.60 being applied to my account. I even had an email from Verizon giving me a receipt of the payment to my prepaid account. I gave him the order number on the email several times and he could never pull it up. It was very hard to even understand what he was saying. Basically, I gave my debit card number to someone on March 3rd and the $54.60 came out of my bank account but it was applied to the WRONG Verizon prepaid account. This is just my conclusion; I was unable to interpret what Albert was saying. This left me with NO phone to use. I was told that I would have an answer within 72 hours and that he was filing a credit request form to his manager. A mistake made by a Verizon employee has now become my huge inconvenience. I was told the phone would not work until they correctly credited the $54.60 to my account. I think this should have been credited immediately and then given use of the phone service that I already paid for. Verizon should have spent their time trying to find where the money was applied originally. This left me with no phone service. My security system is tied to my cell phone number, and I have a commute back and forth to work that I felt very uncomfortable traveling without a cell phone. To say this has been an unpleasant experience is a big understatement. Here I am, waiting on Verizon to find what the issue is. I have spent a total of 5 hours on this issue. (On hold, being transferred between departments several times or trying to interpret what a representative is saying.) I would like for this experience to be made up to me. I don’t know what your options are, but I would like to be compensated or given a discount on a few months of prepaid service after what I have been through. I was told this would be easy and fast. However, mistakes on Verizon’s end have turned this in to a nightmare. I am still waiting on the issue to be resolved. I would like for it to be resolved today.
