Verizon Cell Phones Consumer Reviews - Page 2

DEMOREST, GEORGIA -- My wife and I had Verizon cellular service for several years with no problem. Looking back I'm now sure that that was only because we had never had a reason to call them. We would upgrade our phones regularly and of course that would extend or renew our contract. We had no problem with that. We were told that if we changed our plan while under contract our contract would be renewed but when our contract expired we could change the plan without re-entering the contract unless we wanted to upgrade our phones. I was injured in an accident and to save money, I told my wife to cancel my phone and drop the minutes plan on hers.

She called Verizon to confirm that we were not under contract at the time before dropping my phone and changing her plan. The next month our bill (for one phone) was over double what it had been being for two phones. They said it was because of roaming. My wife hadn't been anywhere that she didn't use the phone for the several years we'd been with Verizon so this made no sense to us. After talking to about a dozen people or so, one of them finally messed up and told us what had happened, "oh, when they changed your minutes plan, they moved you to Tennessee service, which made you roam in Georgia".

The lady said she would take care of that and my wife promptly told her to cancel the phone service as well. You can guess what happened next. They charged us an early termination fee. We called to dispute it but what good does that do? Every time we've ever renewed a contract we have received a notice which had to be signed and returned. So we asked for this paperwork. Of course they didn't have it. They have since turned us over to collection agencies. Each agency will call constantly for a while then when we get them to explain why we owe the charges and ask for proof they usually stop calling and another agency will call later on.

Each agency is calling for a different reason though. One was because of outstanding roaming fees, another was a contract started in 2005, another was a contract started in 2002. I've asked them to take me to court. A lawyer told me that I have a great case because I have ALL paperwork ever received including their letters that contradict each other, but it will really do nothing and cost a lot. He said to just hope that they sue me and then file a counter-claim. I have spoken to many customer service reps and several supervisors. The supervisors usually have a gangster mentality that really quite funny, and their workers are not much better.

They are full of empty threats and do not have the intelligence to debate their own positions with any kind of conviction. I'll never, never, never do business with Verizon or any company that they acquire or that acquires them. What they do is no less than theft IMO and many people actually pay their fraudulent charges. That is why they keep doing it. STOP PAYING WHAT YOU DON'T OWE! Don't let them prosper from their bully tactics. Thank you.

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS -- I have been a Verizon cell phone customer for ten years. Last year I went in to get a new cell phone, and was told it came with a "free month of V Cast." I said I didn't need it, but they said "it's free" and comes with the phone. I have automatic payments deducted from my bank account, and assumed that the extra bit of money was for roaming time or extra minutes used. I occasionally go over the calls I've made, but it never occurred to me that Verizon would charge me for something I didn't want and hadn't signed up for.

When I went in this year to upgrade my calling plan, I was told I have been signed up for V Cast since last year. I asked how that happened, since I didn't sign up for it. The man shrugged it off and said, "Oh it just happened." I told him I didn't want it. When they printed out the new bill for me to sign (and initial in six different places), I looked, and sure enough, they had added it to my bill - after I stated I didn't want it. I asked them to take it off. They said, "We can't take it off, you need to sign this one, and then we'll issue a refund slip that you can sign." I signed the one they had printed out, and wrote on it "I do not want V CAST."

They issued another slip saying they had taken it off. However, they hadn't taken it off. I looked online, and there was my "new" calling plan, with V Cast on it again. I called them on the phone, and they said, "Well you signed it didn't you?" The customer service rep went into LEGAL MODE and told me I signed the receipt and it had V Cast on it. She said, "Don't you look at your receipts?"

After I raised a big stink and got the supervisor on the phone, they said they couldn't refund all the months I've been charged for it, because "it's been too long." If I had noticed it last year and called, they could have cancelled it, they said. After half an hour of haggling with Verizon on the phone, they finally agreed to refund several months of the V Cast, but not the entire year. I said I wanted to speak to another supervisor. The first supervisor told me that if I did that, then they wouldn't refund "any" of it if I continued to complain about the partial refund.

I didn't realize that I have to carefully scrutinize everything from Verizon to make sure they aren't charging me for things I don't want and didn't sign up for. I never signed up for V Cast, and they told me it was a promotion that was free for the one month. They didn't tell me I would have to make plans to cancel it so that I wouldn't have to pay for it after that. And the second time around, they put it on my bill, after I had told them I didn't want it. They issued a slip saying it wouldn't be on my account, but then there it was on my account again. In other words, they tricked me - twice.

Verizon can't be trusted. The V Cast promotion is a con. I wonder what measures other people have taken to get reimbursed and to let others know what Verizon is doing? Is there any further recourse? Has anyone else had the same problem? Can anyone recommend whom to send a letter to about it?

NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- Hi Everyone. On(1-24-06) I called Verizon to see how their "Refer a Friend" works and then the lady said "oh when you go to the Verizon Wireless store just tell the sales rep and then that you refer your friend and then you will sign a form and then you will get $25 service credit and then your friend will have FREE activation". I said OK and then I hang up. So 1-25-06 I went to Verizon Wireless store and then I said to the sales person "I am refer my friend to Verizon because you have good service", etc. and then I said "he will get FREE activation too right" and he said "let me see what I can do" and I said OK.

Then after my friend sign to Verizon Wireless he said "I am sorry he cannot have FREE activation because it is very high for FREE activation". I said to him WHAT? He said "yes we cannot waive the activation fee" and I said "I called your Verizon customer service and they said my friend can get FREE activation" and he said "no I cannot waive it". I said then "will I get my $25 service credit" and he said yes. Well let's see will I get my $25 service credit or not. My friend join a Family Plan and when I called Customer Service I said my friend will get a Family plan and will they waive the FREE activation and the lady said yes they will waive it.

Then I spoke to the manager and he said no also. WHAT A RIP OFF. I am so pissed now my friend does not have FREE activation whatsoever and I referred him. Verizon reps are MONKEYS and they are untrained and they do not have accurate information what so ever. I will update if I get the $25 service credit or not.

Update: For 2 months I haven't received my $25 credit on my phone bill. I called ** Verizon and they said "oh you have to ask the person who helped you when you refer your friend" and she say "did you fill out a form" and I said no because the person told me that I didn't have to fill out a form. Then I had to call back the Verizon store and then he said "oh you have to see that person" and so I went to see that person and that person said "oh no you can't get the $25 credit because you did not fill out a form". So I said to the person "you told me not fill it out". I said "yes I asked you do I have to fill a form and you said no".

So now I am so pissed that I can't have my $25 credit refer a friend. Instead of Verizon refer a friend they should be rename to REFER A ** and get NOTHING BACK. I HATE THE COMPANY and the people work there are all MORONS. I am sooo pissed now. I do not know why people Verizon so much and what so ** good about it. I am sorry I had to put curses but I am too mad now. The thing is Verizon doesn't want to give their what they call "Refer a friend" $25. If they go out of business I will be sooo happy. They shouldn't be business or stay in business for what they are doing to their customers. THEY ARE BIG RIP OFF WHATSOEVER.

GRANITE CITY, ILLINOIS -- I am tied to Verizon on a two year contract, I am one year into it. When we first got the phones, with the exception of a dropped call here and there, it was doable (not great, but doable). Three months in, we were dropping probably 80% of our calls. Now we drop about 95% of our calls, and that doesn't count the calls that never come through at all, just a voicemail three hours after the call. I have tried without success to get a log of the dropped calls (because I would just dearly LOVE to take it to the attorney general).

Just this morning I was told they do not have that kind of data. They have enough data to tell us we are "within the allowable dropped call rate", and enough data to tell me that my wife's phone drops more calls than mine. They told me all this during the first go around with them. This time this is what they tell me: "We are unable to provide a log of each of the dropped calls. We do have the ability to provide the call details; however, the details will not indicate which of the calls were dropped. I apologize for this inconvenience."

They gave us new phones three months into the contract, insisting it was the phones, not their fabulous service, new phones, no different. For a while, I gave up and shut up. Then the other night my thirteen year old son was stranded and needed a ride and couldn't get a hold of us. He walked home three miles in the dark by himself. Two hours after he made it home, we had three voice mails roll in from him. If he hadn't left three voice mails we would have never been aware he called at all, because he actually tried six to eight times. The phones never even rang.

I can't even get a signal outside in the middle of the street. And if I do manage to get some signal, the calls drop. Since they cannot honor their own contract I told them they should terminate it. Not only will they not terminate the contract, they want 350.00 in termination fees if I terminate it (175.00 x 2 phones).

I'm back to another complaint to the BBB and now I added a complaint to the FCC. We are not talking a dropped call here and there. If I make ten calls, I will drop nine of them. I have started complaining again because their lack of service impacted my son's safety, but I am still getting NOTHING but a big song and dance routine. This is a quote from this morning's email: "I have reviewed your area and found that there are several towers that should provide adequate service. Additionally, there are no known issues in the area." This is the exact same response I got the first time around too.

This time, the first C.S rep told me the dropped calls are on my monthly statement (which they are not) and for 6.00 per statement she would be happy to reprint them. The second lady told me she was "sorry I was misinformed" by the first lady, and the above quote is from the THIRD C.S rep I've emailed within the last two days. This one tells me: "I understand that you have contacted us several times regarding the issues you are experiencing. However, in order for us to better assist you, I strongly recommend that you contact us in order to file a Trouble Ticket as Cynthia explained in the previous e-mail."

WHY? It didn't resolve anything the first several times regarding the issues I am experiencing. What a joke Verizon Wireless is, except I'm not laughing. My child had a problem and couldn't contact me because of this company's non service. NOW I'm upset.

NEWARK, DELAWARE -- Six months ago a Verizon salesman pulled me off the floor of BJ's Wholesale. Being a loyal Cingular customer for years, I was not very interested, but my subscription was coming to an end & was willing to listen...only if it lowered my cellphone bill. The following was offered: By being a small business owner & purchasing 5 cellphones w/ activation, I would receive a special 6% discount for being a BJ's Wholesale business member. This intrigued me.

I did not need 5 lines, but we did the math with the salesman. If the total bill was approximately $149.95. I would receive a discount of $9.00 per month. I was only interested in 4 phones, but the salesman said with my discount, my 5th phone would be only 99 cents a month. The discount sold me & I said the worst thing I could ever say to a Verizon dealer, "Let's make a deal!"

That is where the horror began. Six hours into applying for the phone service, I still did not have a service. The salesman called Verizon HQ & was advised that I had to produce a business card to show that I own a business. I not only produced the card, but my business membership with BJ's, my EI#, my SS#, my business license. One Verizon salesman knew my business & that I was in business for at least 10 years & BJ's vouched for me. It was still not good enough. I should have walked away right there, but I just did not know what I was getting into since this was my 1st experience with Verizon.

After hours of waiting & a full day wasted, they finally approved me. I left with a flushed face, high blood pressure, stress I never experienced & my phones. My first bill was over $400! I immediately called Verizon & called & called...until finally rectified the overcharges except my 6% discount, which by the way Verizon has never heard of.

I went back to the dealer. they told me to call Verizon Help. I called Verizon Help. They told me to talk to my dealer & so on. After explaining my story from the beginning more than a dozen times I finally got Verizon Help to credit my account. This was almost 3 months in & they were not willing to retro the credit for the prior overcharges. After a long discussion they finally did.

Here is the kicker. My 6% discount at this time was being acknowledged (finally), but for only the primary line. They reduced my discount to $4.80 per month. I also had to go back to the dealer & fill out more paperwork to get it. This without a sincere apology from the dealer for not doing his job right the first time. Verizon Help was also going to give me a $75 credit for all of the trouble & time wasted to rectify this. I thought at this time that these people care about their customers. JUST ANOTHER ONE OF THEIR LIES!

It is now December 23, 2006 & I am still not receiving the lousy $4.80 per month discount. In one conversation with Verizon they said, "What's the big deal? It is only $4.80!" I replied, "Exactly. What is the big deal? Just give me my discount as documented in my contract."

In the six months of fighting for this I have had several Verizon Help reps tell me they will look into this & get me my credit & call me back. I am still waiting for the call & the credit. If there is a class action suit out there, I have a signed contract stating this discount & the flagrant lies & red tape documented. This is a good case to add to your suit. Any help or questions please email me at **. Thank you.

SPRING, TEXAS -- My daughter purchased a new cellphone in early July. The day she bought it, she couldn't access her voice mail with it (a 17 year old without voice mail is lost!). She went back to the store and a salesperson told her she had to wait 24 hours for the service to be fully activated. We have had our main cell number since 1985 and I thought that was incorrect advice, but she waited the 24 hours and tried again, with the same result.

She went back two weeks later and another salesperson told her that her voice mail was not set up and she needed to go online to set it up, in spite of the fact that she has had the same cell number for the last two years and was actively using her voicemail with her previous telephone. She called Verizon last week (technical service) and the person she spoke with told her there was a problem with the phone and she need to take it in for service to a local store.

Note: she could call into voicemail, but when asked for her password, the voicemail system didn't recognize that she was pressing any keys. Likewise, if she called *611, it dialed Verizon, but the Verizon automated system didn't recognize any keys she pressed. She used my phone to call technical support as she hadn't been able to figure out how to speak with a person using her phone.

She went back to the store on Thursday of this week and another helpful salesperson spent 30 minutes with her phone and finally told her to come back on Friday and see their service technician. She went back on Friday and the service technician took one short look at the phone and declared that the phone had water damage and it was not repairable. He told her there wasn't anything to be done except to purchase a new phone. He then introduced her to the same salesperson she spoke with the day before and told him she needed a new phone.

As I'm sure you all know, if you're an existing Verizon customer, all phones are priced at "retail" and the salesperson proceeded to try to talk her into buying a $350 phone. Does anyone but me smell something funny here? They had a cute, young, naive 17 year old believing that the phone she purchased six weeks ago had to be replaced, even though it was fully functioning, playing mp3s, making calls, waking her up each morning through its handy alarm feature, directing her through Houston via its handy GPS service.

She even told them that the closest it had been to any water was in her pocket when she might have been sweating and the salesperson told her that was enough to ruin a phone. Even worse, she believed him. She called me and told me the story, fortunately before she bought another phone. I called Verizon technical support, explained the problem and was told by Verizon's one helpful employee exactly what setting needed to be changed on the phone to enable it to communicate with voicemail and the Verizon automated system. It took less than 3 minutes on the phone.

I then went back to the Verizon store and spoke with the manager. I told him that I was sure he was unaware of the scam being perpetuated between his sales people and his service technician because surely he, as a member of Verizon's management team, would not tolerate such deceptive behavior. I'm sure you all know the way this ended. He apologized, assured me it was all a mix up, there was no reason to believe his employees did anything other than make an HONEST mistake.

I suggested that at best his employees require more training and at worst, the attorney general would be interested in their sales techniques. The good news is she can now access voicemail, she didn't need or buy a new phone and she has learned not to trust people who are going to make a profit from her naivete.

WESTLAND, MICHIGAN -- Verizon ruined Motorola's software for the Razr V3m phone so as to force you purchase additional equipment and/or services to pull the files off of your phone. If you go with Cingular and have a PC with Bluetooth capabilities, you can easily copy files stored on your phone to your PC without having to purchase any additional services.

I purchased an HP laptop primarily because I knew I was planning on purchasing a phone with Bluetooth services, which did cost me more. But I knew phones had Bluetooth transfer connection and decided it would be worth it. So to find out that I must now spend more money on either Trans flash memory or additional services to obtain files stored on my phone is extremely upsetting.

Verizon, on their website, claim a WEB service they provide will allow you to send files from your phone free. But this is an extremely misleading statement for you must purchase WEB services to be able to send files to PixPlace. So this is not a free service.

What really is upsetting is that the Verizon sales representative never mentioned that Verizon took FILE TRANSFER off the phone even though I mentioned several times that I would transfer files from the phone to my PC using Bluetooth. Instead, he attempted to sell me on a MicroSD Trans Flash memory card to use for file transfer. Trans Flash is only SEMI-REMOVABLE -so why would I prefer to use Trans Flash, a memory chip extremely difficult to remove from the phone.

Speaking with a coworker, who is also extremely upset with Verizon as well for taking away Bluetooth file transfer, after spending hours on the phone with Verizon in an attempt to make his feeling known, was informed through a manager at Verizon that file transfer was removed for security purposes only and was not removed in an effort to FORCE customers to purchase additional services to obtain the files off of their phone. If Verizon is telling the truth, they better educate their IT department as to how to set up firewalls and/or SS file transfer instead of FTP.

In addition, while destroying file transfer, Verizon also ruined the design of the other tools as well, especially contacts, usage, and the calendar. It is not as user-friendly and much more cumbersome, and does not look as nice as the software that comes on the Cingular phones.

I tried to contact Verizon over the phone, but of course, could never get through. So then I emailed them, but never even received an acknowledgement back from them. So I contacted the salesman who claimed nobody else has ever complained about this. Well maybe it is the only complaint he has heard, but now that I have been scammed by Verizon and mentioning to others that Verizon ruined a great phone, it appears many who have purchased this phone and arranged service with Verizon are just as displeased with Verizon as I am.

I still have a few more days where I can cancel and then just go with Cingular. Do not really want to this since I know Verizon will nail me on the activation fees for several phones (purchased family plan.). Verizon really should reimburse these fees because technically, Verizon is committing fraud by not informing potential customers that features were removed from the phone that will cost additional service fees to replace. Regardless, writing this I realize I have to. I really do not care for Verizon to get any more from me than what they already have.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA -- Every time I deal with Verizon's sales people, I feel like I need a shower. While they are pleasant enough, the slimy corporate marketing is just nasty. We have been customers for several years, and decided to upgrade phones for the first time. We end up with two snazzy new camera/video/whatever phones, because we got one free and one for only $49.99. However, the sales tax was over $60--because the "retail price" was $369.99 per phone. While we thought this was a grossly inflated price -- come on, who would ever pay that for a cell phone? -- we dealt with it.

The very next day, we see a full page ad in the local paper for the same phone--with the $49.99 deal, except the "regular retail price" is listed as $249.99. Then, I find a glossy flyer from the paper two days ago, with the same net cost of $49.99--but the "regular retail price" is listed as $149.99. Both deals required a new 2-year agreement. (Which, by the way, we got when we did the upgrade deal the day before.) I wanted to find out what the true retail price was, and checked Verizon's website. They list the phone's "regular price" as $149.99. I go into the store, armed with the ads and the printout from the website, and get a variety of answers:

1. "That's the sale price." "Regular retail price" means "sale"? I disagree with this definition, and tell them so. I also point out that they use the same definition for two different prices.

2. "The $249.99 is after the rebates." I point out that, according to the ad, $249.99 is the starting point; then you get $100 immediate discount, then the $100 mail-in rebate, which gets you to the final $49.99 price. (On the other ad, they start you at $149.99, and only list the $100 mail-in rebate, getting you to $49.99.) So no, that's not it, either.

3. "The state of California requires us to charge tax on the full retail price." I understand that, I just want to know WHICH retail price is the REAL one?

4. "The retail price varies depending on the plan you are buying." Both of the ads, and the website price, require a 2-year agreement. So why the difference? (No answer to this one, except the $149.99 one offers you a "free" Bluetooth headset--which, we found out when we purchased, anyone buying that phone would get if they only knew enough to ask for it. We asked because we overhead another customer asking, or we would not have gotten it.)

5. "We are required to charge tax on the price we would charge a customer who just walked in the door and bought the phone without paying for any service plan." Like that will happen.

At any rate, the ONLY place one can find the "full retail price" of $369.99 listed is in the store, in very small print, on the shelf insert that advertises the phone at $49.99 with a 2-year agreement. The difference to me? Well, it's over $30 in sales taxes between two phones at $150 each and two phones at $370 each. Might be perfectly legal, but it's deceptive, intellectually dishonest, and just plain **.

MICHIGAN -- I changed cell phone carriers from Verizon on Jan. 2 yet they continued to charge me until the end of my billing date which was 19 days later. For that 19 days I had absolutely no service of any kind. This is robbery!!! I got rid of Verizon because of the ridiculous charges to begin with. I would NEVER recommend Verizon.

92203, CALIFORNIA -- I have found that contacting the PUC instead of trying to reason with Verizon saves a lot of grief and speeds up the resolution. I wish everyone would contact the PUC with their Verizon problems so that they are publicly documented. The PUC would then recognize that Verizon has a nationwide problem that needs to be corrected.

My Story: Verizon put my mother-in-law on an extended contract without her knowledge when she inquired about the charges on her account. As far as I can tell they put her on unlimited nights and weekends which I think she already had. If she did not have the unlimited nights and weekends the change would not have benefited her because she had 400 minutes to use each month and rarely went over 100 and never 200. The phone stopped working and they wanted to charge her for the battery.

After I researched her needs, I found out that she could get another phone from another provider for less than Verizon'€™s battery charge without a contract and save money each month on her usage. Verizon told me that she would have to pay an early cancellation penalty of $179 if she cancelled. I filed a PUC complaint and continued to make payments. After Verizon received notification of the complaint they agreed to close the account without penalty and refund all money paid on the account since my attempt to cancel the account (total of $255.19).

One month ago they put $192.76 back into her bank account and she has a $62.43 credit balance on her account. I called today to try to get the refund and come to the realization that I will have to file another complaint to get it resolved. The account is closed and has a $62.43 credit balance. You would think that Verizon would refund it without any questions.