Complaint Review: Verizon Wireless - Irvine California

My parents began our service with Verizon in 1992! By October, 2004, we had been overcharged so many times that we called and cancelled our Verizon Wireless service and tossed out our (now obsolete anyway) phones. I ended up having a screaming argument with a clerk there because he refused to cancel until speaking with my father as his name was on the account. When I handed the phone to my Dad, the clerk "didn't believe" that it was him, until Dad answered a battery of personal questions, then Dad authorized me to speak for him. When I continued the request for cancellation, the clerk told me that there would be a cancellation fee. I explained that since we had been customers since 1992, there was NO current contract and should be NO cancellation fee. For the next several months, we continued to be charged and I called several times to tell them that we had cancelled service each month prior. Once, I was told that it was because we hadn't paid the cancellation fee yet. GRRRRR. Each subsequent time I called, Verizon said that they had not received ANY calls from us for cancellation. I gave them the (first) name and employee number for each call I had made and each time, they responded with "there's no one here that matches that information." Finally, I sent a registered letter in 2005 to cancel service or I would take them to court. They stopped sending invoices. At the end of 2005, I was reviewing my parents records and found that Verizon had resumed sending invoices and my parents bookkeeper had automatically paid them. I called Verizon and was told "Oh yeah, that sometimes happens. The computer sees that you were a customer and that you're not receiving your invoices and just reinstates you." I was told that I'd be given a refund for the 3 months that we'd been charged again and I instructed our bookkeeper to let me know if we were billed again. I certainly did NOT want to tell her to stop paying as I'm aware of Verizon's history of ruining their customer's credit first, then MAYBE resolving the dispute. By mid-2006, I'd placed yet another call to Verizon to cancel service because we were again receiving invoices. Again, the invoices stopped coming....Fast forward to July, 2007. We finally reached someone who seemed to genuinely understand our EXTREME frustration and appreciate our extreme patience with Verizon. She initially said that while she saw that there has been NO ACTIVITIY on our THREE accounts since 2005 (!!!!), the best she could do is three months of credits! Nearly two hours later, she agreed to issue 6 months of credits on one account and one year of credit on the other two accounts. (I truly didn't know why she made one for 6 months and the other two for a year, but at this point I didn't want to rock the boat as she was the FIRST person to "get it" and confirm that we were owed money.) The refund amount was for $869.70 and we actually received a letter from Verizon confirming this.

Now, wait until you hear this...the following month, we received an invoice showing a credit of $869.70....LESS THE MONTHLY CHARGE FOR AUGUST, 2007 of $102.98, leaving a credit balance of $766.72!

Sooooo, we wrote another letter...were apologized to and told that they would "look into it". Their response was that it was an error and they would correct it and it would now take 10-12 weeks to receive our refund.

September, 2007 - We receive another invoice from Verizon showing our credit balance of $766.72...LESS MONTHLY CHARGES OF $102.98. HOLY COW....WHAT IS IT THAT THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND????

Our most recent call required a follow-up letter in writing, which we just got a response to saying that even though they issued the credit in July, our account wasn't actually closed until September 19, 2007, so they "had to continue to charge" us until the cancellation officially went through. Also, that our NEW credit balance is $663.74 and it will take 10-12 weeks to process this refund request! Here's the best part and would probably be funnier if it wasn't so infuriating..."Please feel free to contact our Customer Service Department by dialing *611 from your wireless phone..."

I was told by (phoning) their Customer Service department that my account has been sent to the Executive Escalation Team, but I'm not allowed to call them. I was lucky enough to get an address and after googling them, got a phone number! I just got off the phone with Ray (949) 286-7000 who told me that he didn't see ANY record of my EVER calling to cancel my service until July of this year and while it was unusual for them to charge me against my credit when I haven't had ANY activity on my account since 2005, he would look into it and yes, it would take another 10-12 weeks to receive a check.

I'm done. I'm ready to either take them to Small Claims for the $3,418 we've been charged for nearly 3 years of billing after I cancelled OR is there a terrific attorney out there who wants to have a jury trial and seek punitive damages? I absolutely believe that this is their policy: to bill unsuspecting customers until they discover the overcharges, then delay paying until it's absolutely necessary. By the way, my parents are in their 80's, so I believe there are additional charges for defrauding the elderly. Does anyone out there have any similar stories or are there any ex-Verizon employees who would like to confirm that this billing, no-refund issue is a regular practice of Verizon?

Ex-verizon customer

Los Angeles, California

U.S.A.

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