Verizon Billing

[James Silverton]

Hello, All!

Yesterday, I noticed that my Verizon bill was a little larger
than usual. OK, as indicated on the statement, I called "Billing
Questions" at 1-800-688-2880 and thereupon was launched into the
ridiculous voice-activated menu system ("Please speak louder"
etc.) I finally got to a real person who informed me that she
dealt with wireless phones and, since I did not have one, I
should call 1-800-063-3000. This proved "not a working number"!

I tried the 2880 number again, and proceeded down a different
path, even tho' my responses were the same as before, with a
promise to transfer me to billing assistance. (Funny, that's
what I thought I had called!) The final result here was the
standard annoying warble and "Sorry, your call did not go thro".
This happened three times until I got someone to talk to. It
turned out that since the charge was for a directory assistance
call, I would have to call still another number (it was on the
bill) since Verizon has unbundled directory assistance.

Here, I did talk to a human who conducted an inquisition as to
whether anyone else in the house could possibly have made the
call. Finally, they promised to remove the charge of $7.28 (a
hell of a price for one directory assistance call!) They then
explained at length how many directory assistance calls they
handled and warned me that it might take several billing cycles
to credit the charge. It's funny how quickly they could record
the charge!

I'm not looking forward to months of messy bills from Verizon,
doubtless griping about my "underpayment" and maybe even trying
to charge interest.

Does anyone know a method of disputing charges that does not
induce apoplexy or a desire to murder every director of
Verizon? Perhaps Verizon hopes that people will just dry up and
blow away after 20 minutes of frustration!


James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

[Han]

Post by James Silverton
Hello, All!
Yesterday, I noticed that my Verizon bill was a little larger
than usual. OK, as indicated on the statement, I called "Billing
Questions" at 1-800-688-2880 and thereupon was launched into the
ridiculous voice-activated menu system ("Please speak louder"
etc.) I finally got to a real person who informed me that she
dealt with wireless phones and, since I did not have one, I
should call 1-800-063-3000. This proved "not a working number"!
I tried the 2880 number again, and proceeded down a different
path, even tho' my responses were the same as before, with a
promise to transfer me to billing assistance. (Funny, that's
what I thought I had called!) The final result here was the
standard annoying warble and "Sorry, your call did not go thro".
This happened three times until I got someone to talk to. It
turned out that since the charge was for a directory assistance
call, I would have to call still another number (it was on the
bill) since Verizon has unbundled directory assistance.
Here, I did talk to a human who conducted an inquisition as to
whether anyone else in the house could possibly have made the
call. Finally, they promised to remove the charge of $7.28 (a
hell of a price for one directory assistance call!) They then
explained at length how many directory assistance calls they
handled and warned me that it might take several billing cycles
to credit the charge. It's funny how quickly they could record
the charge!
I'm not looking forward to months of messy bills from Verizon,
doubtless griping about my "underpayment" and maybe even trying
to charge interest.
Does anyone know a method of disputing charges that does not
induce apoplexy or a desire to murder every director of
Verizon? Perhaps Verizon hopes that people will just dry up and
blow away after 20 minutes of frustration!
James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland
not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

Hi James!

I seem to remember your name, but I'm not sure.

Sometimes I take a principled stance and go for getting my money back.
Sometimes it's not worth the effort.

I have a "triple play" account at Verizon, and I do not have Verizon cell
phone service. The triple play gets biled to a credit card, so I have no
choice but to go the credit pending route if I want something back, like
when they "forgot" to apply the credits for the triple play subscription.
It took from August until February to get eveything fixed, and lots of
notes with (really) polite conversations with the FiOS billing people,
but it did get fixed. I went through the hassle because this was a
monthly bill that was off by $30-40 each month (I forget the exact
amount).

It's your choice, and your blood pressure. I REALLY know about that!!

[Bill Sharpe]

Post by James Silverton
Hello, All!
Yesterday, I noticed that my Verizon bill was a little larger than
usual. OK, as indicated on the statement, I called "Billing Questions"
at 1-800-688-2880 and thereupon was launched into the ridiculous
voice-activated menu system ("Please speak louder" etc.) I finally got
to a real person who informed me that she dealt with wireless phones
and, since I did not have one, I should call 1-800-063-3000. This proved
"not a working number"!
I tried the 2880 number again, and proceeded down a different path, even
tho' my responses were the same as before, with a promise to transfer me
to billing assistance. (Funny, that's what I thought I had called!) The
final result here was the standard annoying warble and "Sorry, your call
did not go thro". This happened three times until I got someone to talk
to. It turned out that since the charge was for a directory assistance
call, I would have to call still another number (it was on the bill)
since Verizon has unbundled directory assistance.
Here, I did talk to a human who conducted an inquisition as to whether
anyone else in the house could possibly have made the call. Finally,
they promised to remove the charge of $7.28 (a hell of a price for one
directory assistance call!) They then explained at length how many
directory assistance calls they handled and warned me that it might take
several billing cycles to credit the charge. It's funny how quickly they
could record the charge!
I'm not looking forward to months of messy bills from Verizon, doubtless
griping about my "underpayment" and maybe even trying to charge interest.
Does anyone know a method of disputing charges that does not induce
apoplexy or a desire to murder every director of Verizon? Perhaps
Verizon hopes that people will just dry up and blow away after 20
minutes of frustration!
James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland
not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

Verizon's voice mail system is an absolute disgrace for a communications
company to offer to its customers. Given its quirky nature, I still
would be willing to accept it if I could get my billing disputes settled
in one phone call instead of a series stretching over several months.

In my case I had my DirecTV service billed through Verizon so that I
could get a discount (wow - two dollars a month) on the DirecTV portion.
Not a good option when there was a mistake in the DirecTV billing.
DirecTV corrected the error on their part but it took three months for
the correction to show up on the combined Verizon bill, during which
time Verizon threatened to cut off my phone service.

In addition I had a billing dispute with Verizon over the amount of
discount for FiOS internet service that took six months to resolve.

Bill

[John Smith]

ALL VOICE AUTOMATED SYSTEMS ARE A DISGRACE AND SHOULD BE OUTLAWED!

Yes I was shouting and now I feel better. Please encourage companies to get
rid of those $%#!% things. The companies I deal with are Qwest, Microsoft,
DISH, and Verizon. I email them every week to get rid of them. I hate them.
Please join my quest! The only thing I hate more than that is talking to a
dweeb from India. I always ask when do the English people speaking people
take over and I'll call back then. They don't like that for some reason.

Thank you for letting me vent.

Best regards,
John Smith

Post by Bill Sharpe

Post by James Silverton
Hello, All!
Yesterday, I noticed that my Verizon bill was a little larger than usual.
OK, as indicated on the statement, I called "Billing Questions" at
1-800-688-2880 and thereupon was launched into the ridiculous
voice-activated menu system ("Please speak louder" etc.) I finally got to
a real person who informed me that she dealt with wireless phones and,
since I did not have one, I should call 1-800-063-3000. This proved "not
a working number"!
I tried the 2880 number again, and proceeded down a different path, even
tho' my responses were the same as before, with a promise to transfer me
to billing assistance. (Funny, that's what I thought I had called!) The
final result here was the standard annoying warble and "Sorry, your call
did not go thro". This happened three times until I got someone to talk
to. It turned out that since the charge was for a directory assistance
call, I would have to call still another number (it was on the bill)
since Verizon has unbundled directory assistance.
Here, I did talk to a human who conducted an inquisition as to whether
anyone else in the house could possibly have made the call. Finally, they
promised to remove the charge of $7.28 (a hell of a price for one
directory assistance call!) They then explained at length how many
directory assistance calls they handled and warned me that it might take
several billing cycles to credit the charge. It's funny how quickly they
could record the charge!
I'm not looking forward to months of messy bills from Verizon, doubtless
griping about my "underpayment" and maybe even trying to charge interest.
Does anyone know a method of disputing charges that does not induce
apoplexy or a desire to murder every director of Verizon? Perhaps
Verizon hopes that people will just dry up and blow away after 20 minutes
of frustration!
James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland
not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

Verizon's voice mail system is an absolute disgrace for a communications
company to offer to its customers. Given its quirky nature, I still would
be willing to accept it if I could get my billing disputes settled in one
phone call instead of a series stretching over several months.
In my case I had my DirecTV service billed through Verizon so that I could
get a discount (wow - two dollars a month) on the DirecTV portion. Not a
good option when there was a mistake in the DirecTV billing. DirecTV
corrected the error on their part but it took three months for the
correction to show up on the combined Verizon bill, during which time
Verizon threatened to cut off my phone service.
In addition I had a billing dispute with Verizon over the amount of
discount for FiOS internet service that took six months to resolve.
Bill

[ROY!]

On Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:47:47 GMT, "James Silverton"

Post by James Silverton
Does anyone know a method of disputing charges that does not
induce apoplexy or a desire to murder every director of
Verizon? Perhaps Verizon hopes that people will just dry up and
blow away after 20 minutes of frustration!
James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

James, I believe the apoplexy is non neg otiable.

[Twayne]

Post by James Silverton
Hello, All!
Yesterday, I noticed that my Verizon bill was a little larger
than usual. OK, as indicated on the statement, I called "Billing
Questions" at 1-800-688-2880 and thereupon was launched into the
ridiculous voice-activated menu system ("Please speak louder"
etc.) I finally got to a real person who informed me that she
dealt with wireless phones and, since I did not have one, I
should call 1-800-063-3000. This proved "not a working number"!
I tried the 2880 number again, and proceeded down a different
path, even tho' my responses were the same as before, with a
promise to transfer me to billing assistance. (Funny, that's
what I thought I had called!) The final result here was the
standard annoying warble and "Sorry, your call did not go thro".
This happened three times until I got someone to talk to. It
turned out that since the charge was for a directory assistance
call, I would have to call still another number (it was on the
bill) since Verizon has unbundled directory assistance.
Here, I did talk to a human who conducted an inquisition as to
whether anyone else in the house could possibly have made the
call. Finally, they promised to remove the charge of $7.28 (a
hell of a price for one directory assistance call!) They then
explained at length how many directory assistance calls they
handled and warned me that it might take several billing cycles
to credit the charge. It's funny how quickly they could record
the charge!
I'm not looking forward to months of messy bills from Verizon,
doubtless griping about my "underpayment" and maybe even trying
to charge interest.
Does anyone know a method of disputing charges that does not
induce apoplexy or a desire to murder every director of
Verizon? Perhaps Verizon hopes that people will just dry up and
blow away after 20 minutes of frustration!
James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland
not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

My 2 ¢ worth

I actually had good luck the last time by grabbing a chat session and
keeping my questions pointed and firm and then, when the person couldn't
help me, gave me the phone number of their next tier of support. I went
through 4 "tiers" before I hit the management level, but once I hit the
management level things started happening. The only thing you have to
watch for is that they refer you "up" the ladder and not ":horizontally"
as two of the lower tiers tried to do to me.

Obviously, ymmv, so after that:
I think I'd be looking for a Thomas Register or whatever it took to get
a phone list of the organization and start working your way up the
managerial ladder via phone calls and snail mai. Look up the technical
meaning of "due diligence" and use that somewhere in your references to
the amount of time it takes to fix something in a database that can be
pulled up in a matter of seconds. Keep working the ladder and don't
worry about the "notes" they make in your account; there isn't much they
can do to you from a revenge standpoint as long as you simply remain
calm and factual, resisting the urge to opine about this and that.

It's not so much money that it sounds like it's going to break you, so
it would be easy to turn this episode into sort of a "patience and
perseverence" game. Each dead end simply advances you up one more
level.
With these guys, you HAVE to use tha ladder. Jumping right to the
top when you're a "peon" to them won't get you taken seriously. But a
ladder-climbing record seems to get good results.
Should you decide to copy things to your PUC, PUS, whatever it's
called, and newspapers, etc., be SURE you do so if you threaten to do
so. Never make a baseless claim about what your'e going to do; always
follow through. Also think it through so you can prove what you're
saying or it's "in your opinion". e.g. avoid libel type statements.

Mostly, MAKE NOISE! That's all they can hear in there.

[James Silverton]

Elector wrote on Wed, 09 Apr 2008 12:13:30 GMT:


E> "James Silverton" <***@verizon.not> wrote in
E> message news:7IKKj.12157$***@trnddc06...
E> <snip>
??>> Does anyone know a method of disputing charges that does
??>> not induce apoplexy or a desire to murder every director
??>> of Verizon? Perhaps Verizon hopes that people will just
??>> dry up and blow away after 20 minutes of frustration!
??>>
??>> James Silverton
??>> Potomac, Maryland
??>>
??>> E-mail, with obvious alterations:
??>> not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not
??>>
E> This is the Corporate address which can handle your problem.
E> Once the letter is sent and you include copies of the
E> dispute invoices etc. they are pretty good at giving
E> credits. Note this is for your state. I have used the New
E> York address which was excellent.

E> Verizon - Maryland
E> 1 E Pratt Street
E> Baltimore, MD 21202

Thanks, that's very useful and I will note it down for possible
future use. Going by snail mail might not be any slower that
voice-operated menu system :-)


James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

[jeff]

Small claims court works wonders for some folks.

Post by James Silverton
Hello, All!
Yesterday, I noticed that my Verizon bill was a little larger than
usual. OK, as indicated on the statement, I called "Billing Questions"
at 1-800-688-2880 and thereupon was launched into the ridiculous
voice-activated menu system ("Please speak louder" etc.) I finally got
to a real person who informed me that she dealt with wireless phones
and, since I did not have one, I should call 1-800-063-3000. This proved
"not a working number"!
I tried the 2880 number again, and proceeded down a different path, even
tho' my responses were the same as before, with a promise to transfer me
to billing assistance. (Funny, that's what I thought I had called!) The
final result here was the standard annoying warble and "Sorry, your call
did not go thro". This happened three times until I got someone to talk
to. It turned out that since the charge was for a directory assistance
call, I would have to call still another number (it was on the bill)
since Verizon has unbundled directory assistance.
Here, I did talk to a human who conducted an inquisition as to whether
anyone else in the house could possibly have made the call. Finally,
they promised to remove the charge of $7.28 (a hell of a price for one
directory assistance call!) They then explained at length how many
directory assistance calls they handled and warned me that it might take
several billing cycles to credit the charge. It's funny how quickly they
could record the charge!
I'm not looking forward to months of messy bills from Verizon, doubtless
griping about my "underpayment" and maybe even trying to charge interest.
Does anyone know a method of disputing charges that does not induce
apoplexy or a desire to murder every director of Verizon? Perhaps
Verizon hopes that people will just dry up and blow away after 20
minutes of frustration!
James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland
not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

[James Silverton]

jeff wrote on Sat, 19 Apr 2008 22:26:42 GMT:

j> James Silverton wrote:



??>> Hello, All!
??>>
??>> Does anyone know a method of disputing charges that does
??>> not induce apoplexy or a desire to murder every director
??>> of Verizon? Perhaps Verizon hopes that people will just
??>> dry up and blow away after 20 minutes of frustration!
??>>

j> Small claims court works wonders for some folks.

But not for under $10! However, I've found that a lot of people
hate those unresponsive "Press one for Azerbaijanian" systems
and my representative in Congress claims interest.

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

[Twayne]

Post by jeff
Small claims court works wonders for some folks.

Probably not for this though; no jurisdiction for one thing, and they
get upset at actually small claims too sometimes; I sat in on a bunch of
them once just for grins.

How about your PUC (Public Utility Commision)? Sometimes it has other
but similar names.
You might check to see if your state ombudsman has any
recommendations or can help.
You could contact the FTC; they have to do with the tariffs and
billing systems. And your state Attorney General's office might have
some advice.

It's really rotten to be treated that way; and it's not just Verizon.
Most any utility/company that doesn't really want to hear from their
customers uses that kind of tactic.
It's pure rubbish that it may take "several billing cycles" for
anything like that, I do know that much. Anyone who has access to your
account & billing info can put a credit on it.

If you have any success, I imagine several people here would appreciate
hearing about what it took to get it.

Regards,

Twayne

Post by jeff

Post by James Silverton
Hello, All!
Yesterday, I noticed that my Verizon bill was a little larger than
usual. OK, as indicated on the statement, I called "Billing
Questions" at 1-800-688-2880 and thereupon was launched into the
ridiculous voice-activated menu system ("Please speak louder" etc.)
I finally got to a real person who informed me that she dealt with
wireless phones and, since I did not have one, I should call
1-800-063-3000. This proved "not a working number"!
I tried the 2880 number again, and proceeded down a different path,
even tho' my responses were the same as before, with a promise to
transfer me to billing assistance. (Funny, that's what I thought I
had called!) The final result here was the standard annoying warble
and "Sorry, your call did not go thro". This happened three times
until I got someone to talk to. It turned out that since the charge
was for a directory assistance call, I would have to call still
another number (it was on the bill) since Verizon has unbundled
directory assistance. Here, I did talk to a human who conducted an
inquisition as to
whether anyone else in the house could possibly have made the call.
Finally, they promised to remove the charge of $7.28 (a hell of a
price for one directory assistance call!) They then explained at
length how many directory assistance calls they handled and warned
me that it might take several billing cycles to credit the charge.
It's funny how quickly they could record the charge!
I'm not looking forward to months of messy bills from Verizon,
doubtless griping about my "underpayment" and maybe even trying to
charge interest. Does anyone know a method of disputing charges that
does not induce
apoplexy or a desire to murder every director of Verizon? Perhaps
Verizon hopes that people will just dry up and blow away after 20
minutes of frustration!
James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland
not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

[Elector]

Post by jeff
Small claims court works wonders for some folks.

Probably not for this though; no jurisdiction for one thing, and they get
upset at actually small claims too sometimes; I sat in on a bunch of them
once just for grins.
How about your PUC (Public Utility Commision)? Sometimes it has other but
similar names.
You might check to see if your state ombudsman has any recommendations
or can help.
You could contact the FTC; they have to do with the tariffs and billing
systems. And your state Attorney General's office might have some advice.
It's really rotten to be treated that way; and it's not just Verizon. Most
any utility/company that doesn't really want to hear from their customers
uses that kind of tactic.
It's pure rubbish that it may take "several billing cycles" for anything
like that, I do know that much. Anyone who has access to your account &
billing info can put a credit on it.
If you have any success, I imagine several people here would appreciate
hearing about what it took to get it.
Regards,
Twayne

<snip>

Actually in New York State I have found that the so called Public Service
Commission that handles utility complaints and rate changes actually works
for the utilities in NY. I have found that after you contact Verizon's own
Presidents Help Line or write the Presidents Help Center for your state you
get better service.

The only way to make the change to Verizon's tactics is to simply go to
another service provider. In all the years with Verizon, both land line,
Business/Home DSL, and wireless when I have a run around from them and the
above does not work, I simply change service. I got rid of their home phone
service for cable phone, I got rid of their home DSL and went to RR, and if
and when I get a hard time with their wireless service (and I have never had
a problem with wireless) I will change providers as well. You show them how
unhappy you are by taking your business else where. Its that simple.

Elector