How Verizon Screwed Me

The wound is still fresh, so I'm going to try to make this a short post, long enough to convince you not use use Verizon's wireless service. I apologize in advance to casting aspersions on the company that helped to create my roommate, Matt Dunn.

First some terminology:

1. rerate: this refers to a counterfactual retroactive re-evaluation of charges. For example, you may rerate last month's bill *as if* you had a different plan, even though you did not. A rerate does not entail an extension of one's contractual obligations to Verizon, nor does it involve changing one's plan. You remain on the same plan, but a past bill is adjusted as though you had a different plan.

2. retroactive plan adjustment: I use this cumbersome terminology because I forget the jargon. Let's call it 'RPA'. RPA is like a rerate except that it does involve a plan change (albeit retroactively) and it typically accompanies a one-year extention of one's contract. So, if you opt for the RPA, you can, in effect, go back in time to change your monthly minute allocation, but it comes at the cost of an extension of contract.

Here's the story:

In August I had a $270 cell phone bill. I was shocked, so I called Verizon to see what I could do. They offered me an RPA, which I took (having not known about the rerate option (a special favor they do for some, but not others)). So, I retroactively signed up for 900 minutes per month and sold my soul for another year. I had assumed, commensurate with the RPA, that I remained on the 900 minute plan, and the customer rep. told me that I would need to call to be put back on my original 400 minute plan. I never called to change the plan back.

Fast forward to November. I get a cell phone bill for over 80 dollars. This makes me wonder how I could have possibly talked for more than 900 minutes. I call Verizon and the customer rep. tells me that I never had a 900 minute plan, that in fact what took place in August was a rerate. This frustrates me for the following reasons:

1. I had hoped, in August, to switch to a different carrier, but did not because I thought that I was bound by contract as a consequence of the RPA.
2. I now cannot switch companies since I do not want to enter into a contract in December, for I may not even be living in the country come September.
3. I was lied to in August about the action taken on my account.

The rep. talks to her boss and offers me two options:

1. Accept an RPA and, therefore, extend my contract by a year from that day.
2. Maintain my plan and pay the overcharges on a 400 minute plan.

I maintain my cool because, as mother says, you catch more bees (or flies) with honey than with vinegar. I tell her "I do not want the RPA because I may not be here in a year," (at which point she offers the second option). I respond to her offer thus, "So are you telling me that I will have to pay the overcharges because your company misinformed me about my plan, therefore leading me to believe not only that I had a 900 minute plan but that I also am bound to stay with Verizon?" She responds in the affirmative and apologizes. So here we have an odd case where the company admits that it is not my fault that I was charge overage fees, admits fault, and yet does nothing to rectify the mistake short of offering me a deal (RPA) that essentially screws me. I hate Verizon and will certainly find another service provider once I am in a position to sign my soul away to another company. Do not use Verizon. Cingular's phones are cooler anyway.