Why do I get text messages telling me I need to make a payment?
ReadyToSwitch
Newbie


My prepaid $50 plan is set up to automatically debit my credit card for the full monthly amount when it's due.

  1. I get a text message 3 days before the due date that I need to make a $50.00 payment by the due date.
  2. I then get a text message ON the due date (at 2:07 IN THE MORNING) that $50.00 has been added to my account (because of autopay).
  3. I then get another message later in the morning of the same day that my Auto Pay payment was processed.

This is so annoying that I am considering STRONGLY changing carriers:

  1. Since my plan is on AUTOPAY, I DON'T NEED or have use for the first message.
  2. The second message seems:
    • REDUNDANT - since I will also receive the confirmation message later that day.
    • INCONSIDERATE - since it is sent at 2:00 IN THE MORNING.
    • STUPID - since I am on AUTOPAY, I should only get a message if AUTOPAY FAILS, and then not at  2:00 IN THE MORNING!
  3. The second message seems:
    • UNNECESSARY - since I am on AUTOPAY.
    • STUPID - since I am on AUTOPAY, I should only get a message if AUTOPAY FAILS!!!
  4. I cannot find a support person in any part of Verizon who can fix this calling *611.
  5. I cannot find a place on my userid where I CAN CHANGE IT MYSELF.
  6. I like Verizon but I am sufficiently annoyed to change carriers if this simple software change can't or won't be made, or if I don't receive an acceptable response from Verizon in this forum, where it is accessable by other users.
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Re: Why do I get text messages telling me I need to make a payment?
vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

Hi earlyamtextsareannoying!

I apologize for the inconvenience and we definitely don't want to lose you as a customer! For additional assistance, please contact our Pre-Paid department:888-294-6804.

Thanks,
AyaniB_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

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Re: Why do I get text messages telling me I need to make a payment?
ReadyToSwitch
Newbie

Typical of the prepaid online and telephone experience with Verizon, I called the number and got a very complicated voice menu that never got me to a person. I then tried to log in to the forum and my screen name, cut-and-pasted from this email got me to an invalid password page. Attempts to reset the password failed because “Your user account is controlled by an external system such as LDAP. Please contact your administrator. “ This is a personal PC and I am my only administrator. We are fast approaching a change in wireless providers. Please send me an email with a phone number that takes me directly to a person that speaks English as a first language and who can fix this problem.

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Re: Why do I get text messages telling me I need to make a payment?
vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

earlyamtextsareannoying,

I'm sorry to learn you're having a problem connecting to the Prepaid service, that's not the experience we want you to have and certainly don't want to lose you due to this. The only phone number to contact the Prepaid Department is 611 from your cell phone or 888-294-6804; please allow the automated system to finish telling you the options before making a selection.

AdaS_VZW
Follow us on Twitter at @VZWSupport 

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Re: Why do I get text messages telling me I need to make a payment?
ReadyToSwitch
Newbie

I’m going to ask a favor of you, since you seem to be a Verizon employee:

Please dial *611 from a prepaid phone and try to find a way to speak with a person.

If you find a way to speak with a person, ask them how to turn off payment alert texts for an Auto-pay account.

You will find that the only option is to set the alert level to LOW. There is no OFF.

That is my current setting and I am told that there is no way to change it so I do not get the messages.

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Re: Why do I get text messages telling me I need to make a payment?
IrritatedByText

I too receive these annoying message regarding Auto Pay......... at 1:07 AM!!!!  GRRRRR!!!  I was told I should shut the phone off at night so I did not hear the beeping!  So apparently it is up to the customer to prevent being annoyed by the system I pay to use!  I have tried talking to customer service and I went in person to a Verizon store.  Pretty much was told "good luck" in both cases.  Since the messages used to come to me at 7:30 or so in the AM, I KNOW there must be a way to change that part back to some normal time of day.  I've asked for the phone number of the idiot that changed me to 1:07 AM notification so I can call them when I get the next one, but they did not want to provide that information, of course!  HA!  Big surprise there!  THEY don't want to be annoyed either!  If someone has a REAL solution, I'd like to know what it is.

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Re: Why do I get text messages telling me I need to make a payment?
ReadyToSwitch
Newbie

I'm talking to a very high level of technical support right now.  Her fix (she speaks English as a first language, by the way) is to reset the time zone for these messages from Corporate (Pacific) to my zone. Doesn't sound effective, but maybe it will work.

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Re: Why do I get text messages telling me I need to make a payment?
ReadyToSwitch
Newbie

Google says an LDAP if a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. Have no idea why something that is the layer just above TCP/IP has anything to do with controlling my account.

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Re: Why do I get text messages telling me I need to make a payment?
ReadyToSwitch
Newbie

Actually, the high level support lady has communicated with the Verizon Internet Technology department and it actually sounds like there may be a fix on the way for me. There is no direct number to call, but the suggestion that I was about to change providers seems to have gotten me escalated. It took almost two hours to get here, though.

They have call centers in places like Murfreesboro, TN. I don't know why they're still off-shored for first contact calls and why it's so difficult to get escalated to somebody who doesn't communicate by script in widely varying states of English communication ability. I ask for somebody who speaks English as a first language and I get a different Tagalog- or Spanish-speaker. It's hard enough to understand the occasional New Yorker I happen to get. And the scripts they use are VERY frustrating. "Hello, valued customer" is not a proper response to "My damned phone isn't working right AGAIN!!!".

End result: They are going to "back out a change they made in October" that removed the reasonable-hour check for sending the messages. Since they do releases monthly and I don't know when they did the last one, I have no idea when this will happen. I'm not hopeful, since my initial complaint was in July, before they made the October change.

*611 or 888 294-6804 options 4-6-4 are what she gave me for tech support to get to a person. That's what I did 1 hour and 31 minutes ago, Before that I spent 8 minutes doing *611, asked for a English-as-a-first-language person and was transferred to another off-shore 4 times and hung up in frustration.

Magic Jack has better service.


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