I went out and bought a Verizon Wireless USB Data Card right after christmas. I wanted to use the card for multiple reasons attached to my Macbook or my new HP Mini 1000 Netbook. After using the device for about 2 weeks I realized that I didn’t really use it that much to warrant the price ($59 per month). That on top of the fact the card didn’t work very well near where I lived. Since I was within my 30 day trial period I decided to return the card and cancel the account. This is where my fun began.
I went back to the Verizon Store where I bought the card. Even though there were several sales people free I had to wait at a specific service desk that was not well staffed. After about 30 minutes of waiting I finally was able to return my card. This part wasn’t very hard. They took the card back, refunded my money to the credit card and put me on the phone with customer service to cancel the account. Once customer service was completed with their cancelation of the account I questioned about verifying that the account was closed and that my early termination fee was waived since i returned the card within the 30 day window. They assured me there would be no problems and that they noted my account. I asked for a reference number but they said there wasn’t any. My account notes would be updated and all will be well.
The very next day I received my first bill for the card. Since the bill was mailed to me before I canceled the account I knew the balance due would be off. I figured I would either wait for a final bill or call to calculate the final amount and send in the payment. Sure enough on Friday I recieved my final bill. The only thing was I was shocked by the price I owed. It turns out that even though I returned the card and called customer service just like everyone told me to, I was still charged with the $175 early termination fee. I was not so happy so I called customer service again. The lady I spoke to told me that it was an error from the in store people and I would have to return to the store to have it fixed. I politely refused. The store people only returned the USB card for me. The account cancelation was done over the phone with the same customer service number that I was currently speaking with. The lady insisted that I return to the store. I then insisted that I speak to a supervisor. I was told the supervisor would say the same thing. My response was I would like to hear them tell me that since this is insane. I was then told there would be a 20 minute wait. I politely told the representative that I would wait and putting me on hold for a really long time was not going to get rid of me.
About 5 minutes later the representative returned telling me they could in fact try to reverse the termination fee. It would just take 5-7 days to process the request. I told her fine, and go ahead and file the request. My next question was how much do I really own Verizon so I could pay my usage for the time I had the USB card. I was still surprised to see that they claimed I owed $111.21. According to the rep I still have to pay a $35 activation fee even though I returned the phone. I was skeptical but after I got off the phone I searched the internet and apparently that is a nice little secret wireless companies have. You can return the phone and cancel your contract before 30 days, but if you don’t make a return before 3 days you have to pay the $35.
A week has gone by and I called to check on the status of my refund for the termination fee. I was told that I will get my refund, but it will be 1-2 billing cycles until it happens. I have to trust that they are telling me the truth on the phone while I get 1-2 more bills telling me I owe them more money. What is so funny about this issue is I wasn’t the hugest fan of Verizon in the past, but they have good product so I have tolerated them. This experience has probibly turned me off for good to that company. I would rather deal with poor coverage with a T-Mobile since I know they offer good customer service than deal with the nightmares of Verizon again.