Customer support is severely lacking

[dbonds]

My wife and I have had cell phone service with Verizon for over 10 years and have been very happy with the coverage and pretty happy with the service. We even added a 4th line to our account in September of this year. My happiness with Verizon is severely challenged this week due to the customer service I received over a plan change.

In order to keep costs down, I have been struggling to restrict my family to a 250mb shared data plan as that is the only way I can afford to keep up the 4 lines. I realize that a 250mb service is extremely small for even 1 line, but that is all I can afford.

My initial call to Verizon Support began this week on 12/02/2014 at 4:58 pm CST and ended a little after 6:00 pm CST. The call seemed to go well. My goal for the call was to see if I could reduce my monthly cost for my service and to increase my data allowance. I had seen the advertisements for Verizon Edge that included 4 lines with 10 gigabyte shared data for $140.00 per month. Seeing these adds made me reconsider shopping other providers for a cheaper plan...I decided I would check to see if Verizon offered this plan to existing customers.

After speaking with a young lady named Britney from the North Carolina help desk, I was pleased to find out , per Britney, that yes, existing customers can get Verizon Edge and that my account would qualify for the plan. After a few negotiations Britney confirmed for me that my new plan would be $140 per month plus taxes, 10 gigabytes shared data and a new Droid Maxx for 0.90 cents.

At least 4 times during the conversation, this deal was confirmed. I was given a confirmation number and I was advised to watch out for an email that contained the agreement. I received the agreement email a short time later and , to my dismay, the email included a payment plan of $20.83 per month for 24 months and still only showed a 250mb data allowance.

At around 7:30 CST that same night, I called customer support again. This time my call was picked up by the Phoenix office. After a brief description of my issue, I was transferred, at my request, to a supervisor, Alec. Alec listened to my issue and then advised me that Verizon does not offer the Edge plan in conjunction with a reduced price phone or free phone. He told me it was either the Edge plan or the free phone plan....not both.

I explained to Alec that I understood the policy for Verizon but Britney, a Verizon representative, offered and confirmed the Edge plan along with the reduced price phone on behalf of Verizon and that I expected Verizon to honor the agreement made by their representative.

During this conversation with Alec, I was also informed by Alec that only one of four lines on my account qualified for the Edge plan. This meant that EVERY part of the deal that was discussed with Britney was false. Alec appeared to be unfazed by this and told me the only way to get The Edge plan for all of my lines was to return 3 of my phones to Verizon, buy 3 new phones at full price and then I would be able to get the $140.00 per month deal with the 10gb data allowance.

After 30 minutes of discussions, Alec just kept repeating policy and how Verizon is a business to make money and could not afford to give away free phones with Edge plans. He even invited me to switch providers at one point even knowing that I have been a loyal customer for over 10 years. But he did agree to listen to the recording of the conversation between Britney and me.

Alec assured me that he would be in contact with me on Thursday 12/4 with some sort of investigation results after listening to the recording. I asked Alec if that was a reasonable amount of time to investigate...that I would be willing to wait until Friday or Monday for an amicable resolution but he assured me that he would be back in contact with me on Thursday the 4th.

At that point, I requested that nothing be changed on my account and that I would not be signing any agreements until AFTER we had come to a resolution. Alec agreed.

Thursday rolls around and I receive no phone, text or email contact from Alec. But imagine my surprise to receive an email from Verizon on Thursday the 4th welcoming me to my new More Everything plan with 10 gigabytes of shared data WITH A MONTHLY CHARGE OF $240.00 !!! A plan that I did not authorize.

Summary...I negotiated a deal with a Verizon employee to reduce my monthly charges to $140.00, get a new phone for $0.90 and get a larger data allowance. What I actually receive is a behind the back add on to my account that I did not authorize for a $64.00 increase in my monthly payment. An increase that I cannot afford.

Had I been told in the beginning that I did not qualify for for the Edge plan, I would have been disappointed but I would have accepted that and moved on to investigate other ways to make my phone service more affordable. But now, I have such a sour taste in my mouth because I feel like I was just told what I wanted to hear by a Verizon rep just to keep me from shopping around and to to close a deal. And then a supervisor that basically condoned that behavior by not offering any resolution but, instead, activating an upgrade to my account without my consent.

I am hoping that someone from Verizon that has some customer service sensibilities will see this post and help me come to a resolution that will be amicable to both of us.

[paterp95]

I feel your pain and am curious what becomes of this.