Dear Verizon: You are shady

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I have to take this time to write an open letter to the huge telecommunications company Verizon. This may be a little Greenberg-ish, but I feel that it must be done.

Dear Verizon,

I have been a customer of yours since I was 16 and got my first cell phone, so I hate to say this, but…. you’re pretty shady. Clearly, you’re doing something (well, many things) right otherwise you would not be as successful as you are, but there are a few practices that I found down right despicable and perhaps you should try to lighten up.

These two problems happened to me personally and were entirely caused by human error and the company’s unwillingness to fix it.

1. Assumption of Liability

Despite having the same account and phone number for nearly 8 years, it was under my mother’s name. When I was 16, my mother opted for me to have my own account instead of a family plan, but as I was too young, put it under her name. She graciously footed the bill for years while I was in school and first out in the working world so I could put what little money I was making into frivolous things like student loans and groceries. Yet once I earned enough to pay for my own bill (and upgrade to a smart phone!), we decided to put it in my name.

I understand that for legal reasons I had to go through the rigmarole of filling out forms to officially assume the liability of billing and costs, but you screwed it up.

The first time I submitted the paperwork, nothing happened.
After the second time my name was put onto the old account and my mother’s onto the new one.
Third time was (mostly) the charm, but it took nearly an hour on the phone with numerous customer service agents to get things straight. Because someone wasn’t paying attention and switched accounts. More annoying than damaging.

Well, until…

2. You lied and told me that the $26 that was left on the old account was taken care of and it wasn’t.

After the assumption of liability was finally straightened out, I had seen that there was a $26 charge on the old account as I had switched mid-month. I was assured three times by one of your customer service agents that it would be taken care of in my regular bill and not to worry about it. Three times.

Then the access to the old account was cut off so I couldn’t confirm it.

Two weeks ago, my mother called to say that a severely overdue charge of $26 had shown up on her credit report. No notice, no way to contact. It radically impacted her stellar credit score! Just this measly amount of money that was not supposed to be there.

I was put in touch with the credit collections company, and settled it. However, the woman I spoke with told me this:

“They always do that. You switch accounts and they tell you that you’re set but you’re not. They don’t tell you that it’s due and then just report it to the credit bureau.”

Verizon – how do you think this is fair? Or even right? Why are you keen on disrupting the credit reports and credit scores of these people who don’t know what’s going on? I agree that those severely delinquent in their accounts due to inabililty or refusal to pay should suffer the consequences, but what about those who knew nothing? Those who were assured that there was nothing left to pay?

It appalls me that you find this to be a standard business practice. $26? Really?!

Luckily, my mother’s credit score should rebound quickly, but your company should reconsider its customer service training and teach your staff to be entirely truthful and far more detail oriented. Until then you’re shady.

Your wavering customer,

HMV

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