Complaint Review: Verizon Wireless - Internet Select State/Province

I thought I was getting a great deal with Verizon Wireless' new pre-paid smartphone plans.  I was already using their $50/month unlimited talk, text, web service for about 1.5 - 2 years or so.  But as most of you already know, mobile web service is worse than dial up internet.  Since I already owned a Verizon smartphone I figured why not pay the extra $10 ($60 for the 2gb of data plan) and be able to check my email, and occasionally use the gps service provided by google.  Sounds good right?  Wrong!!!

I signed up on the 1st of June 2013.  I was told by the guy helping me out that my payments would be due on the 1st of each month (same as my previous $50 monhtly plan) but I would be paying an extra $10 for the 2gb smartphone plan.  I'm a happy camper... Until I woke up on the morning of the 30th only to see I received a text from Verizon indicating that they took $60 from my bank account (I got the auto pay feature cause it provides $5 credit every month to my account). I figured they made a mistake.  Unfortunately that mistake is going to cost me $35 in bank fees because I didn't have enough in my account to cover the $60.  So I call Verizon to find out what is going on.

At first I spoke with a young lady who was really trying to help.  I hate that I can't remember her name, but she was the type you wanted working for your company as she makes the client feel important and seems to really want to help.  Unfortunately she couldn't do much at her level.  I asked to speak with her supervisor and she was more than happy to transfer me, though she did warn me that she felt they weren't going to do much of anything to help me.  That they would fall back on "the agreement" I have with Verizon.  After a long wait I ended up speaking with some idiot, who's math skills are lacking, by the name of Jacob. 

I explained to Jacob the whole issue.  The due date should be the 1st of the month, Verizon mistakenly took the payment early, I'm facing NSF Bank fees, etc etc.  He looked in to the account and said their was no mistake.  The plan is a "rolling 30 day" plan.  And therefore the payment was due on the 30th.  After explaining to Jacob that I was told the billing would be on the 1st of every month he simply repeated himself.  I proceeded to explain that if that were the case, then the due date would be the 31st of June, not the 30th.  I explained that if you take 1 and add 30 to it, the result is 31 (1+30=31). Pretty simple I thought.  But apparently understanding basic grade school math is not a requirement to become a supervisor with this company.  So rather than trying to educate young Jacob on the concept of 1+1=2, I asked for his supervisor.  Now I'm on the phone with operation manager Robert.

Robert is pretty much just as worthless as Jacob.  He repeats the same garbage that Jacob said.  It's a "rolling 30 day plan".  Not a monthly plan like you had before (my $50 plan).  I asked him to send me a copy of the agreement I had with Verizon.  He said "there isn't one".  That kind of shocked me.  So I asked him how is it that Verizon took money from my bank account if I have no "agreement" with them?  How could Verizon take money out of anyone's account without some type of agreement?  He got a bit pissed and said I could go to the Verizon Wireless website and get the agreement.  Wait a minute... I thought there was no agreement.  Then I asked him if I could change the due date on my account so I would have this issue again?  I asked if I could change it to the 3rd of the month.  He said I would have to wait till that day to make a payment (I had him cancel my auto pay) and go without service between the last day of my plan and the date I decide to make a payment and that would be my new start date.  I asked him why I never had any issues with my $50 a month plan but not even 1 month into the smartphone plan I getting billed prematurely?  He basically said that the $50 plan is a monthly plan.  The $60 smartphone plan is a 30 day plan.  I asked if he was sure, and he said I could go to the Verizon Wireless website to see for myself.  So I did.  Here is the URL (you will have to copy and paste to see it): 

www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/prepay/processPrePayRequest.do?type=ppmonthSP

Basically, it advertises their smarthphone plans as MONTHLY plans.  So what the hell is Verizon doing?  Are they using Bait and Switch Tactics?  Don't know about you, but it sounds that way to me.  Funny thing is that Robert, the Operations Manager, said that if I changed my account due date to the 3rd or 4th of the month that the payment would be due on the 3rd or 4th of each month.  But since I activated the account on the 1st, sometimes the due date will be on the 30th, 31st, or the 1st.  What a freakin moron!!!  I guess the actual number of days in a 30 day plan (according to Robert) varies based on the activation date of the account.  Wow.... Verizon hires the best of the best I guess (their union must be strong).  No wonder companies want to hire college graduates and start them off at near minimum wage.  They want to make sure they know basic math.