Don't reserve your phone number on a prepaid phone, I lost $100 and MY NUMBER after listening to VZW store employee
tie3278
Enthusiast - Level 1

Maybe two years ago, I was with ATT for my personal phone, and began using a business line through Verizon.  I asked how I could save my ATT number on verizon for a few months, so I can use my business line for personal use until I'm ready to start a contract.  She said that I could buy a $100 prepay plan and save the phone number on there, and then when I'm ready to switch it to a contract I can come in and see her.  So I agreed, was charged 100.  A few months later when I go in to Verizon to get that number back, they tell me that its been taken by a verizon corporate employee and that I would have to call customer service about it if I wanted that specific number.  This was a number that I had for years, and it was suppose to be mine.  I lost this number because the first VZW employee i dealt with about this was either under educated, or lied for some reason.

So I called customer service, and they tell me that since there was no phone registered to the number thats the reason why they switched it, and on top of that they are not going to refund me the $100.   So I asked what I should do regarding the $100 that was lost and they tell me that I should go "discuss it with the store"!. 

WTF happened here?  I'm now at the almost at the end of my contract and still a little bitter about the way Verizon handled this situation, especially the way I was told I should discuss this problem with the store.  Isn't that the point of having a phone customer service rep, to discuss issues that aren't taken care of in the store?

Anyway, a little advice to people switching their numbers from other carriers....don't try and hold your number on a prepay plan unless your getting a phone also....I got screwed.

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Re: Don't reserve your phone number on a prepaid phone, I lost $100 and MY NUMBER after listening to VZW store employee
Not applicable

Common sense would tell you that.

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Re: Don't reserve your phone number on a prepaid phone, I lost $100 and MY NUMBER after listening to VZW store employee
msturgis
Contributor - Level 3

What the flying **** are you talking about? If you started a prepaid plan with your old number, IT'S YOUR NUMBER. Did you not have a phone with that number on it?

And what is a "few months"? How many months was it?

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Re: Don't reserve your phone number on a prepaid phone, I lost $100 and MY NUMBER after listening to VZW store employee
tie3278
Enthusiast - Level 1

It was within six months afterward.....the verizon store employee told me it should last for a year.  There was no phone associated to the number.  Again, not saying I should have been able to do this, but it shouldn't have been recommended to me as a solution because it was an epic fail for me.

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Re: Don't reserve your phone number on a prepaid phone, I lost $100 and MY NUMBER after listening to VZW store employee
tie3278
Enthusiast - Level 1

why would common sense tell me that?  It was recommended by the store employee as a solution.  If I didn't talk to company reps then I'd spend hours digging for the right answer on the internet. I'd assume most people trust the reps for a credible company like Verizon, this is just an odd situation that screwed me....hopefully others can learn from it.

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Re: Don't reserve your phone number on a prepaid phone, I lost $100 and MY NUMBER after listening to VZW store employee
Not applicable

Was it a corporate store you went to or a 3rd party authorized retailer?

Also, what did the receipt for $100 say?

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Re: Don't reserve your phone number on a prepaid phone, I lost $100 and MY NUMBER after listening to VZW store employee
msturgis
Contributor - Level 3

Seriously, I'm sorry but it doesn't make any sense. I know about the $100 to reserve a prepaid number thingy. Prepaid lines (and the number associated with it) expire after a certain time if you don't add money to it. That's why many low-usage users do this all the time - add $100 balance to a prepaid line to keep the number from expiring (for a year).

But the thing is, in order to get a number from AT&T to Verizon, YOU HAD TO HAVE a handset and assign the number to that handset. I'm surprised that you didn't get a Verizon handset. Do you have any receipt from that transaction? What does it say you paid for? Did you pay EXACTLY $100 or was it a different amount?

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Re: Don't reserve your phone number on a prepaid phone, I lost $100 and MY NUMBER after listening to VZW store employee
tie3278
Enthusiast - Level 1

This was my problem, I never got a handset.  They just told me to come in when I want to change to contract.  I'll have to dig into my records and see if I still have the receipt.

This must be why customer service told me to go in to the store to work it out, because they didn't have any idea how a number could have no handset.

Surprising, this was a corporate verizon store.

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Re: Don't reserve your phone number on a prepaid phone, I lost $100 and MY NUMBER after listening to VZW store employee
msturgis
Contributor - Level 3

You didn't have to change to contract to be able to use the number with Verizon. That $100 you paid goes towards your prepaid usage on that line.

Things are still not adding up. For that 6 months, were we able to use that number? If you paid just $100, I highly doubt $100 was added to your prepaid account. It was most likely close to $100 after the $35 activation fee + the cost of a handset. If that is the case (if $100 or more was not added to your prepaid account), the number expired after 3-months at most, after that that number could be issued to ANYONE.

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Re: Don't reserve your phone number on a prepaid phone, I lost $100 and MY NUMBER after listening to VZW store employee
tie3278
Enthusiast - Level 1

I never used the number, never had a handset for the number.  Makes sense that it was given to another person after a few months because all I paid was about 100, not sure if there was an activation fee. 

Last time I listen to the advice in the store.

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