Unauthorized Account Access
irishpixies
Newbie

Here is the situation - a family member who has a phone line on my account went into an indirect store to have his phone replaced through the insurance plan that we were sold when we purchased the phone.  The sales person at the store told him he should just use the upgrade on MY phone line to get the same phone for $10 instead of paying the $60 for the replacement through the insurance.  When my family member suggested they call me to get my authorization, the sales person said it was not necessary.  So, they used my upgrade and extended the contract for that line by 2 years all without my authorization.  I was never called for approval nor did I give any kind of approval to anyone in that store.  The family member is not set up as an account manager specifically because I did not want changes made to the account without my knowledge.  Had I been asked, I would have said not to go through with the upgrade to save about $20 (when you add in activation fees and such).  I also never received a copy of the invoice or contact or an email stating changes had been made to the account which I have always received when I have upgraded. 

My question is this - is there a way for someone at the indirect store to access my account without my billing password and/or social security number?  My family member swears he does not have this information and since the opportunity to obtain it has never occurred I'm inclined to believe him.  I know the official Verizon answer is that no changes can be made without that billing password but I am wondering if there isn't some kind of backhanded way to access the account without it.  The lack of paperwork and the fact that Verizon CS had to have a supervisor pull the contract makes me suspicious.  Of course, the store is claiming this is all my fault but I smell a dirty rat.  Anyone have any insider info??

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Re: Unauthorized Account Access
Ann154
Community Leader
Community Leader

No, they shouldn't have been able to do that. Have you checked your account to see if what your family member says happen did happen?

Since this is a peer to peer community forum where customers can assist other customers with their questions, I would suggest calling customer service directly and see what can be done to reverse the situation.

I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.

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Re: Unauthorized Account Access
irishpixies
Newbie

Thanks, Ann.  Yes, I have talked to the family member, Verizon CS, and the indirect store.  I receive different answers from each individual I speak to and nothing has been done to resolve the issue.  The store has said they will reverse everything IF I return the phone and pay a restocking fee.  When I balked at having to pay a restocking fee because they did something they should not have done I was told this was the only recourse and IF I did do this, it would be left up to management to decide if they will file fraud charges against my family member.  In essence, they don't want me to go any further with this so they are threatening legal action against my family member to keep me from doing anything. 

I honestly do not think my family member has my ss# which is what he would have needed to provide them to gain access to my account.  Plus, the store admitted that even with that information, they should not have made any changes without first contacting me.  So frustrating. 

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Re: Unauthorized Account Access
unter_vzw
Enthusiast - Level 1

A customer has to verify by name; that's the bottom line. If the family member was not authorized on the account as an account manager, no upgrade should have occurred. They can talk about fraud charges all they want, but the bottom line is that something was allowed that should not have been. Someone at that store did something wrong, and I would see that the representative at least gets a talking-to. I would not be surprised if they credited that amount to you. Heck, you could even call Customer Service to see if there's anything they can do to try and offset some of that restocking fee. This isn't to say they can credit that back, but see what they can do about maybe a small credit or promotion or something.

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Re: Unauthorized Account Access
Ann154
Community Leader
Community Leader

Personally I would have swallowed the disgust at paying the restocking fee and returned the phone purchased and got everything reversed. Then never go back to that store again.

Also I would change the account billing password and any other account password information for my safety. Then filed a formal complaint with the corporate offices of the indirect store and BBB for the questionable practices of that store.

I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.

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