"product cancellation warning notice"

[PA-Flyer]

I keep receiving these emails from Verizon.  They tell me they are going to cancel my "verizon online backup & sharing" because I haven't used it for 6 months.   I haven't used it since April, meaning... let me see... NOT 6 MONTHS!  Since it's an AUTOMATED email, replying to it doesn't work.  I called the phone number listed and they said they can't do anything about it, suggested I add the email address to the SPAM filter to block (which made me laugh) and transferred me to the E-Center... who said they can't do anything about it and transferred me to the BILLING dept... who was closed.

#1:  not been 6 months

#2:  Used it two days ago, and again today...so again NOT 6 MONTHS!

#3:  How about a decend point of contact to deal with the problem?  How about not ferrying me around like an unwanted fruitcake.  I mean, I'm paying for this "service" so why not treat me like a customer?

#4:  Who do I have to talk to in order to get these emails to stop?

[JOSEm441]

After reading this http://www.verizon.net/policies/vzcom/tos_popup.asp I would try contacting http://www.digidata.com/about-us/locations-and-contact/ ... If they can't help directly maybe they can tell you who to contact at Verizon... If you have anything you really need I would copy from the VZ online backup to a local hard drive until this gets sorted out.

[PA-Flyer]

I did talk with the backup folks.  They said the messges aren't coming from them.  So if they aren't coming from the backup folks, and they aren't coming from the E-center folks, where are they coming from?

I have already pulled the entirety of the backup onto a local USB drive, as a just-in-case-of.  But I would LOVE to get to the bottom of this problem.  I see two issues here:  1, they aren't recognizing the fact I'm using the service and 2, there is no way to find out who is sending the message to determine HOW they know I'm not using the service.

and I though the Gov't was confusing...  

[JOSEm441]

Depending on what email program you use there may be an option to view full headers which should help figuring out where/who the email is from. For VZ webmail open the message and click view source.

[PA-Flyer]

Return-path: <essentialsandextras@email.click.verizon.net>
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 {edited for privacy}; Fri, 26 Jul 2013 07:29:07 -0500 (CDT)
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Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2013 08:28:59 -0400 (EDT)
From: Verizon Customer Care Team <essentialsandextras@email.click.verizon.net>
Subject: Verizon Online Broadband Essentials & Extras Order Cancellation
X-Originating-IP: [64.88.180.195]
To: (REMOVED)
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Original-recipient: rfc822;(REMOVED)

Contacted billing, who sent me (unannounced) to E-center, who said to send all the emails to PHISHING.  Seems better than putting "verizon.net" in my  SPAM blocker or sending them to "not caught"

Funny how no one seems to be able to tell me where "Verizon Customer Care Team" is, or even heard of them.  My neighbor said it was a trick, an oxymoron.  I'm beginning to think so myself as there is no option for "Verizon Customer Care Team" when you dial into Verizon.

BTW, now receiving 4 a day.  It was 2 for a while.  (SIGH)

[PA-Flyer]

Well, FINALLY got to the bottom of this today, because it was no longer working and I could not access it at all.  They cancelled my "Verizon Online backup and sharing" service.  It wasn't cancelled because of non-use (like the email said), it was cancelled because they are discontinuing the service.  Why it took 5 phone calls to Verizon, 3 of which went through billing at one point or another, I have no idea.

Verizon is no longer offering the free online backup and sharing.  The choice was to pay for it, or cancel it.  Not that the cost was that much ($2 a month, give or take, for significantly larger storage) but to me it was the principle of it.  Why send me emails that say you are canceling the service because I didn't use it when, in fact, you are canceling it because you want me to pay for it.  I'm already paying in excess of $200 a month for the service, yet you want to make sure you can get that extra $2 out of me for the storage... and the emails you sent to me say NOTHING about this "change", only that you are going to cancel the service for "non-use", nor did they provide a phone number to contact you.

I wanted to thank the poor person in Billing (sorry, don't have her name) who got stuck with my call today, as I was very agitated that Verizon would hold my data hostage over a lousy $2 a month.  I also unloaded about the fact it took that many calls (which she confirmed were in the notes) to get to the bottom of the problem.  Then I told them what there was no way I was going to pay for a service that wasn't working properly in the first place, nor was I happy about the fact they didn't seem to know what was going on until AFTER the service was cancelled, that the service isn't available if my password has a special character in it (won't authenticate to the backup folks properly... and the problem is on VERIZON'S side) and that I can't wait until I get the next survey.  While I will say the billing person was fantastic, I guess the words "Valued Customer" is something they throw around, much like "I understand".

Funny thing is, had the original email stated they were no longer providing the service and provided details on the alternatives, I may have looked at it.  However, the way they handled it was, to me, very unprofessional and not what I would say is in my vision of "Verizon Customer Service".  This could've been handled in a MUCH better manner from the start.  Instead, I get advice to add "verizon.net" to my spam blocker and a lot of "I don't know what to tell you but we aren't the ones you need to talk to" (which included billing on more than one occasion).  And what's worse, they won't learn a thing from this.

Oh yea, since this statement was buried in the paragraph above, let me state it again:

IF you are using any special characters in your Verizon password, online backup and sharing will NOT WORK.  You will not be able to authenticate to them (this from the Online backup and sharing team) because of the way Verizon's authentication works with them.  They have other customers that work fine, just not Verizon.