I contacted Verizon customer service to make a payment on my dad's account. He is 85 and was recently admitted to the hospital because of a fall. I was trying to take care of his bills while he is in the hospital and thought it would be a simple task to call Verizon and pay his bill. Wow, was I wrong. I explained to the first person I talked to that I wanted to pay my dads bill. They couldn't seem to grasp that his account was not the same as my account. After about 10 minutes of explaining over and over again, it finally clicked and the rep said that they would figure out a way to pay the bill. After another 15 to 20 minutes of trying various options and putting me on hold a few times so that he could talk to his supervisor, I finally asked to be transferred to a billing specialist even if I had to pay a fee for paying over the phone. When I was connected to billing, I again explained that I was simply trying to pay my dads bill. This representative also had no answers on how to make a simple payment on my dad's account. I expressed that this was ridiculous and that I would simply send the payment via snail mail. The rep told me that I could be transferred to a supervisor to discuss my concerns. After I was put on hold for another 10 minutes, I finally hung up and put a check in an envelope and mailed the payment. I better not see any late fees on my dads account!!! It is crazy that a company like this does not have a simple method to accept a payment on someone else's account. And if they do, then they do a very poor job of training their customer service representatives how to do it. It is service like this that makes me seriously want to switch mobile service providers for myself, my parents, and anyone else I can persuade through social media.
