Verizon customer service and account management utterly fubar'd
kkbradleydc
Newbie

Dear Verizon Wireless, On March 11, 2013 I received a call from someone in the corporate offices in Laurel, MD, assuring me that the matter I complained about in February was resolved, and that my plan should never have been changed to a limited data plan. See below for the original complaint.

Now I am getting messages that I have exceeded my data plan for the number 202-669-xxx. As this is unacceptable, I will be contacting my attorney within days if I do not receive a call from someone high up enough in the corporation to fix the problem once and for all. I am sure there are thousands of others who would be happy to join me.

Briefly describe the nature of your dispute and attach any supporting documents:

In December, 2012, I was planning a trip to Europe, and needed a wireless phone that would work in Europe. As I have done on previous occasions, I contacted Verizon and arranged to have Verizon ship me a phone that would work in Europe. The phone arrived, I activated it, went to Europe, used the phone, came back, deactivated the Europe phone and shipped it back, and re-activated my U.S. wireless phone.

I subsequently discovered that Verizon had used this process to deceptively alter, without open notification to me beforehand, my Verizon U.S. plan, eliminating the unlimited data plan associated with my phone, 202-669-xxxx.

At no point in any of these transactions did anyone from Verizon mention a single word to me that making these arrangements would result in a change in my U.S. Verizon wireless plan. I would never have agreed to these changes if Verizon had been open and honest in its representations to me about the impact of these arrangements on my Verizon U.S. plan. To repeat, I did not intend to change my plan, I did not ask to change my plan, and no one at Verizon told me that Verizon viewed what I was doing as changing my plan.

I was aware that Verizon has been moving away from unlimited data plans for new subscribers. But it was my understanding from Verizon’s statements reported in many places that if you had an unlimited data plan, you could retain that data plan as long as you did not upgrade to a new subsidized phone. I had obtained a phone that would work in Europe before, using my 202-669-xxxx number, without anyone at Verizon saying anything about this transaction being treated as getting a new phone when I came back to the U.S. (since all I did was re-activate the phone for use in the U.S.)

I have explored these transactions in depth with Verizon Wireless, only to be told at the end that Verizon refused to restore the unlimited data plan to 202-669-xxxx. In these transactions, I have come to discover how Verizon Wireless accomplished this deception by using the small print on two emails which I received. Neither of these emails was in any way labeled or highlighted in such a way that a consumer’s attention would be drawn to the fact that Verizon was in fact proposing to make a major change in that consumer’s phone plan.

I have attached copies of the two emails in question. As I said earlier, at no point in the verbal exchanges about getting this European phone did anyone ever mention that Verizon was treating this process in a way that would result in the elimination of the unlimited data plan, unless I took some specific actions beforehand.

When I received the two emails in question, I looked at them briefly, saw that they were confirmations of the verbal arrangements I had already made, and did not read the fine print. There was nothing in the body of the email itself, nor anywhere in the text of the document, flagging that Verizon had significantly altered my data plan.

Any fair-mined person, looking at these documents, would conclude that Verizon’s actions were constructed to mislead its customers by failing to be open and transparent about its intentions and its actions. There was no verbal notification of any possible changes, and the written materials were constructed to hide Verizon’s actions.

I am asking that Verizon restore the unlimited data plan which I had before I was misled by Verizon.

Briefly describe the relief you seek (e.g., credits, refunds, service improvement, termination of account without payment of ETF). Be sure to give specific amounts as to any credits or refunds sought:

I want Verizon Wireless to restore the unlimited data plan for the phone 202-669-xxxx that was in effect at the time that I contacted Verizon about obtaining a phone that would work in Europe. I understand that the unlimited data feature was not available while the phone was in Europe. I want the unlimited data plan restored as of the date in January when I re-activated the phone in the U.S. I want Verizon to refund any funds Verizon may have collected to pay for a 2GB data plan that I never ordered or authorized.

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