Complaint Review: Wireless Advocates LLC - Seattle Washington

On 4/28/13 I signed up for a phone device from Wireless Advocates in a Roseburg, Oregon Costco kiosk that would plug into my land line phone and let me have unlimited local and long distance for $19.95 a month.  This service would be provided through Verizon and I signed a 2-year contract with a $175.00 penalty for early cancellation.  I was told that the wireless device would be sent to me in a few days.

The next day, 4/29/13, I decided to cancel the service and called the Wireless Advocates kiosk at the Costco store to cancel my contract.  The salesman I dealt with wasn't there, and the man who was on duty said he would try to cancel the shipment of the wireless device, but that I would have to call Verizon myself to cancel the service with them.  I did so, and then called the Wireless Advocates kiosk in the afternoon to confirm that the man I spoke to had successfully stopped the shipment of the wireless device.  He said it was done.

Then the bills from Verizon started arriving.  Each time I would call them and explain that I had cancelled the service on 4/29/13 and the so-called customer service person would state that they couldn't cancel my service until I returned the wireless device to the Wireless Advocates kiosk at Costco.  I would tell them that I had never received the device and then I would be put on hold for 20 minutes or more and then told to call Wireless Advocates for help. 

Calls to Wireless Advocates resulted each time in being told that they would call Verizon for me and straighten the mess out, and would call me back when they had results.  No one ever called me back.  When I would call them back, they would say they were working on it and promised to get back to me as soon as they had fixed the problem, but they didn't call.  In the meantime, the bills kept coming from Verizon and the "robo-calls" started coming at 8 am telling me my account was past due.

The last call I made was on 6/22/13 and a "customer care" representative told me that she had gone onto the computer and saw the log of all my calls and what transpired in each call, and that she was so sorry for all my trouble and she would send me both an email confirming that my account had been cancelled and I would get a statement mailed to me via the post office stating that I owed nothing.  She promised that I would not be charged an early cancellation fee either. 

I then wrote to the CEO of Costco telling him that I expected him to help me with the issue since Costco endorced this company by having their kiosks in the Costco warehouses. I also filed a complaint with Consumer Affairs.org, who charged me a $25.00 fee and said they would contact Wireless Advocates and Verizon on my behalf. 

I then received a call from a Wireless Advocates supervisor who said Costco had forwarded my letter to her and that my account was definitely cancelled and I should receive no further bills from Verizon.  When I told her how none of her employees had given me any help or called me back as they promised, she was silent.

A few days later I received a bill from Verizon for both my first months bill plus the $175.00 early cancellation fee.  It was dated 6/22/13, the same day the Verizon "customer care" person said she would send me a zero balance owed statement.   I have not paid the bill and not have heard anything further from them.

My advise to anyone in a Costco is to run the other way if they see a Wireless Advocates kiosk in the warehouse, and choose any wireless provider but Verizon.  These companies are definitely not in the business of providing customer service.  My experience was a nightmare.