Complaint Review: Verizon Wireless

After the news reports came out, I checked my Verizon bills and noticed they had charged me $1.99 for data access in the last year--for services I did not actually request.

[I took Verizon's advice and upgraded my phone to a touch screen. But when I sit down with it in my pocket, it apparently gets lonely and dials up its friends on the internet.]

But good luck trying to get that refund. A Verizon rep told me that everyone  who qualified for the refund had already been sent a class-action letter, and if I had not received such a letter (I hadn't) then I did not qualify for the refund.

Here's my advice if this happens to you:

1. Ask for a DATA BLOCK on all of the phones on your account. Verizon does not like to advertise this (free) feature, but it will prevent the problem from occurring in the future.

2. Ask for a search your billing records to determine if the original settlement overlooked any possible charges on your bill. The Verizon rep I spoke with promised that a team member would respond within 72 hours for this request.

3. Ask that the Offline Team also search your bill for the years 2008 and 2009--they have these records, but apparently they are not available to employees on the company system, so the Offline Team searches the company archives. [Cue the Indiana Jones music here.]

4. Ask for permission to speak to the Offline Team Manager in charge of bill adjustments for customers who complain. [Do this just for the fun of it. Her response when I asked? "The Offline Team in charge of the settlement searches does not have a manager." Whoa. Sounds organized.]

Be polite, but be persistent.

From her tone on the phone, the customer service rep has a very carefully script to follow here...Verizon will do all it can to claim the customer actually wanted the $1.99 Data service, rather than admitting to the spurious charges. Having been caught in a blatant lie, they are now dragging their feet, hoping that customers will not claim the settlement due them.