I'm posting a very long-winded description of my issue below. It may or may not be relevant to what I really need to know. That is... what other options do I have for disputing charges beyond a simple phone call to customer service. I beleive I was wrongly assessed roaming charges (based on the circumstances) but the credit issued by customer service was denied upon furhter review.
The rep I just spoke to was apologetic but said I didn't have any other recourse beyond calling him.
Here is the whole story if anyone is interested...
My current plan is the Nationwide Talk and Text with 1,400
voice minutes, unlimited messaging and unlimited data for SmartPhones.
Four weeks prior to a family vacation to Mexico I called
Customer Service to inquire about option so as to avoid any additional charges while
we were there. It was explained to me that all I had to do was upgrade to
Nationwide plus Mexico for the days that we would be traveling and I would not
incur any additional roaming or service charges (other than the difference in
the price of the plan, which was entirely reasonable).I specifically asked
whether texting would be covered. The representative described it as the exact
same plan I already have, except it cover Mexico as well as the U.S. I didn’t
make any changes during that call. It was for information gathering only.
About a week prior to the trip I called Customer Service
again and inquired about my options. I explained to that representative what
the first one had told me. He confirmed that under the Nationwide plus Mexico
plan I would have no additional roaming or messaging charges. During that call
we set up the start and end dates for the “plus Mexico” plan. I was never
offered a written “terms of service” or plan agreement, I placed complete
reliance on the expertise of the representatives who described the plan and
sold it to me.
Our trip was February 24th through March 1st.
We had a great time and talked and text to our hearts content while in Mexico.
My billing cycle ends on the third of the month so I was keeping
an eye on the Verizon web site for my bill to be posted. When it showed up
there were $567.00 in roaming charges.
I called Customer Service and explained the situation to the
representative. He was very helpful and very diligent, placing me on hold
several times for several minutes while he researched the issue. By the end of
the call he agreed that we had the proper plan in place during our trip and
that the charges should not have been assessed. He issued a credit for nearly
$500.00 (there were some legitimate data-related charges because I didn’t get
my data feature disabled on my phone in time and a couple of emails snuck
through when we landed in Cancun). He advised me that the credit would have to
be approved by someone at a higher level. I thanked him and gave him the
highest possible score on the post-call survey. I never heard another word.
Today the automatic bill payment hit my bank account and it
included the $500.00 roaming charges. I called Customer Service again and
described the situation. The representative informed me that the credits issued
by the previous representative had been denied upon review. When I asked him
why they were denied he researched the issue and (again) agreed that the proper
plan was in place and the credits should have been approved. He placed me on
hold for several minutes and when he came back he said that in fact Nationwide plus
Mexico does not included messaging. When I explained that no fewer than
four Verizon representatives (including him) had assured me that it did, he
said “our information was wrong” and offered to give me a $30.00 credit.
I objected sternly but politely and asked him to provide me
with the official process for disputing a charge in writing. He said that there
isn’t any other process and my call to Customer Service constitutes my dispute.
So that’s where I find myself. I relied on information provided
to me by people who should know what they are talking about. After the fact,
two more people who should know what they are talking about agreed with the
first two people. But Verizon has my money and there is apparently no other process
to seek recourse through their channels.
I would like to know what training process Verizon has before the agents are put on the phones.
That is terrible and I'm sorry to hear you are going through all that.
I totally understand the frustration of calling CS and getting 5 totally different answers from 5 different representatives.
If I find any information that can help you I will post.
How many lines, what minute plan did you choose?
12-16 week class room training, then monitored in small groups for another 6-12 weeks
kelmac wrote:
there is apparently no other process to seek recourse through their channels.
Not true.
Your avenues are listed in your customer agreement.
Probably the safest way would be to fill out the "Notice of Dispute" form.
Had nearly the same issue. I called customer service a few weeks before our mission trip to Mexico to establish the plan necessary to receive phone and text service at a resonable cost. The Verizon agent told me that for an additional fee ($25), we would be able to use text and voice in Mexico, in the same way that we use those services in the United States. My daughter's stay in Mexico was extended for 3 weeks, and I just received our bill today. The bill was $500 more than I expected, mostly attributed to text msg charges.
I called Verizon to see if there was a mistake, and was informed by the customer service rep that the charges were accurate. I was offered a discount to the charges. The discount was insufficient, because I would have never sent text msgs in Mexico if I knew the cost was really $0.50/sent and $0.05/received.
Have you been able to make any progress with Verizon? Any advice?
verizonwireless.com/global
Sorry I didn't even see it. I'll delete mine. I wouldn't have posted it again if I would have realized it.
Start a new topic or ask questions in the open forum.
