Solid 25+ year customer with five lines and until March, a military discount grandfathered at the $40 rate from a few years ago.
I was surprised by the complete removal of the military discount on my April bill, retro to March, with no notice. Called and the agent said Verizon had removed it in error and it would be returned in May, along with an $80 credit for March and April.
May bill arrives with no military discount, nor any credit. Started a support session, uploaded my original military discount approval email from years ago, and from there it went completely south. Every agent has had a different excuse and answer. The thread has been going on for five weeks and is insane to read. Requests to connect with a supervisor were ignored or outright refused.
I was told to re-register for the military discount again even though I had proof of the original approval. Fine. I re-registered and validated, and the discount was finally returned on the June bill, but at the $20 rate. Asked to have the grandfather rate returned and was advised that because I had removed the discount (huh?!?) and then added it back, I no longer qualify for the old rate.
This was clearly a concerted and sneaky effort by Verizon to boot me off the grandfathered rate.
I get that there are price increases, it's the underhanded way this was handled that irritates me, and it's not congruent with my past experience with Verizon. I'd always rationalized Verizon's considerably higher cost by the quality of service - both cellular and customer service, which has always been exemplary in my experience. The former is no longer a competitive edge for Verizon in my area, and this recent escapade is utter trash.
I have nobody under device contract on my account so it's a painless switch. I hadn't looked at the competition but this motivated me; T-Mobile is almost $90 cheaper for a comparable plan. If their customer service turns out to be trash, so be it. At least it's cheaper.
I just had this happen to me too. After 12 years, I am switching to T mobile. The lack of customer service (or care for the customer) is ridiculous. I didn’t magically stop being a veteran this month. The retroactive charge for last month just adds insult to injury.
I am having the same issue. I've been a customer 7+ years and receiving a $40 military discount. Two months ago out of the blue, Verizon not only removed the discount, but then added a charge-back of $40 for the previous month ($80 total increase). I didn't realize it until today, when I saw the $40 increase on this month's bill. After a call to customer service, they claimed that a letter was sent on Aug 14th to re-verify my status.... never saw it. This is the SAME month they removed the discount and added the charge-back - essentially removing my discount BEFORE I could have known that . By the way I'm signed up for paperless billing, and all communication I receive from Verizon is via text or email. I get texts when my bill is ready, texts when it's paid, texts for every little gimmick-y sale or offer they are running.... so why in the world would they send this important account verification requirement via paper mail, with no follow-up email or text notifications?? The only explanation I can come up with is that it was done intentionally with the hope that it would be overlooked and not acted upon, and putting more money in Verizon's pockets. That is quite possibly the most shady, underhanded business practice I've witnessed, and reading all of the messages on this forum it appears to have become standard practice for Verizon. I wonder how many millions Verizon has added to their books just on this "removed discount" scheme???
So after a lengthy discussion with the rep, I was able to re-verify my status, but according to him I will only be receiving $20 off instead of the original $40??? Although the rep did give me a credit back to off-set the errant charge-back, he couldn't (or wouldn't?) add a credit for last two months' missing military discount. Even after completing the re-verification process, I still can't tell if it is actually showing on my account.... according to the rep, I will have to "wait and see". Great answer....
I've been pondering over a switch to T-Mobile, and this just may have made my decision a whole lot easier. I want my $80 credited back and the original $40/month discount re-applied. Anything less and it's time to pull the plug on Verizon.
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TonyDawg We definitely do not want you to leave us. You can revalidate your discount. Go to Verizon.com/Military to start the revalidation process to re-verify service to continue receiving the discount. ~Peter
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