Verizon lied about my data usage to get me to buy more data
SarahBJawa
Enthusiast - Level 2

Hello,

I am new to this Verizon community, and only registered so I could see if a) anyone else was having these shady, dishonest issues with their data plans or if b) Verizon was willing to do anything about it other than lie some more.

I have been a loyal Verizon client since 2011, and have always spoken quite highly of them in the face of haters. But that all changes now. 

On February 8th, I received emails and text messages saying I was out of data. I had always been fine with data, even using way under until recenly changing office locations where the Wi-Fi is super spotty. No worries, I thought. I'll just up my data plan.

Three days later on February 11th, I received more messages that I was out of data AGAIN. I had (supposedly) used up three gigs of data in three days. This was nuts. What was I doing differently? Was I listening to too much music? Should I listen to it in offline mode? 

Today, when I went into look and see my actual account, there it was on the homepage of My Verizon, "you have 0 gigs left of data--you will go into safety mode soon." Soon?? If I'm already out of data, I should already be in safety mode.

I then discovered that you can actually see your data usage down to the minute. When I went into that part of My Verizon, I was given a different story, which was, I wasn't out of data at all, and actually had 1.6Gs left in my billing cycle, which ends in three days. What the??

I just bought a new phone in November which I need to pay off, but I will do this ASAP, so I can switch to a differentr service provider. There is no excuse for lying to your customers. I find this so completely repulsive, dishonest, and deceitful--all to get people to up their data plans. 

Additionally, I am a writer and plan on publishing as many OpEd pieces as I can until Verizon takes full responsability for this, and changes the way they do business. And by that I mean, in ways that DON'T cheat it's loyal clients.

 

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Re: Verizon lied about my data usage to get me to buy more data
bearone22
Enthusiast - Level 1

you used all your data!! no one here knows how you use your phone.

 

yeah, music is a big draw.

 

listen using wi-fi.

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Re: Verizon lied about my data usage to get me to buy more data
Ann154
Community Leader
Community Leader
Are you using the hotspot feature with your phone? You really didn't describe how you are using the data.

I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.

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Re: Verizon lied about my data usage to get me to buy more data
SarahBJawa
Enthusiast - Level 2

Thanks, I wasn't asking people. They were just hypothetical questions, as in, thinking while typing to add to my post thus demonstrating how there are so many things that it could be. I wasn't actually asking for your answers.


Additionally, I mentioned my new office's Wi-Fi was really spotty, which is why I use so much data. I already knew this, as it's not rocket science. My frustration isn't WHY I'm using the data, it's the fact that Verizon is lying about my actual usage. 

Re: Verizon lied about my data usage to get me to buy more data
SarahBJawa
Enthusiast - Level 2

Not the issue. 

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Re: Verizon lied about my data usage to get me to buy more data
msrnw22
Enthusiast - Level 2

Yep. Same here. Suddenly started running out of data which had had 8 gigs for years with no issues.  Suddenly get texts and emails that I'm running out when we hadn't changed our habits. Immediately change plan to unlimited and now it says we are using double and triple what we did before but still no data usage changes. I also believe that we were lied to. 

 

Re: Verizon lied about my data usage to get me to buy more data
boringusername
Master - Level 1

@msrnw22 wrote:

Yep. Same here. Suddenly started running out of data which had had 8 gigs for years with no issues.  Suddenly get texts and emails that I'm running out when we hadn't changed our habits. Immediately change plan to unlimited and now it says we are using double and triple what we did before but still no data usage changes. I also believe that we were lied to. 

 


Verizon is not mysteriously adding data to you plan. You know what look at your phone the phone it self has it's own data meter and it can tell you exactly which apps are using data. no mystery, no conspiracy. Why one relies on e-mail alerts that can be hours sometimes days old when you have something rght on your phone that tells you in real time.

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Re: Verizon lied about my data usage to get me to buy more data
Ann154
Community Leader
Community Leader

@msrnw22 wrote:

Yep. Same here. Suddenly started running out of data which had had 8 gigs for years with no issues.  Suddenly get texts and emails that I'm running out when we hadn't changed our habits. Immediately change plan to unlimited and now it says we are using double and triple what we did before but still no data usage changes. I also believe that we were lied to. 

 


You don't have to have changed your usage habits to use more data than previously. The application developers update and change their applications all the time. One or more of them could have changed how they access or use data. For example, a few years ago an application I had installed on my phone suddenly with through 10 GB in during my billing cycle. I only discovered it because I was semi regularly checking my phone's on board data counter to see just how much data I was using each month. The previous billing cycle that same application had used maybe one GB of cellular data. I immediately reported the problem to the developer. Within the next month or so, the developer had issued a new update to correct the issue which was the application was ignoring the setting to use Wi-Fi only to report the data it was collecting. After the update, the application went back to normal usage and I never saw the 10+ GB spikes from that application again.

 

The phone itself has tools to help you manage your data usage. It is up to the individual users to decide whether or not to utilize those tools. 

I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.

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Re: Verizon lied about my data usage to get me to buy more data
deepaktanna
Enthusiast - Level 1

i disagree, i got a message 3 days ago that i have 25% data left. I have been indoors for the past 3 days and using my  WiFi only, still i just got a message that i have 0% data left !

 

Re: Verizon lied about my data usage to get me to buy more data
ThinkingOutLoud
Enthusiast - Level 1

Verizon has NEW more profitable (for them) data packages now so they are trying to push people into using those.

This has happened to us TWICE in the last 5 years. Our data usage was fine, then SUDDENLY it’s disappearing at warp speed despite us NOT changing our usage. Verizon encourages you to “upgrade” to their NEW plan for more data. Once you “upgrade” you can’t go back. So you go along for a couple more years in the upgraded plan and all is fine, then SUDDENLY it starts all over again and you need ANOTHER updated plan that they’ve just introduced.

They’ve been doing this — trying to force people into more expensive data programs — for YEARS. Verizon would like to be a monopoly and that’s how they opperate.

Their customer service used to be great, now you can’t even get through to a human being. Unfortunately, where we live —in VERY rural Vermont— they are the best and most consistent signal so 20 years later we’re still with them...