My fight with Verizon Wireless
Take this with a grain of salt: my experience with Verizon Wireless was so extremely bad that chances are that it won't be as bad for you. I was with T-Mobile for 9 years and
decided to switch to
Verizon Wireless to take advantage of their high speed data network. We switched 3 lines to Verizon on July 3, 2008 and we soon realized that we lived in
one of those dead zones that Verizon Wireless shamelessly advertises not to have. We lived in Sunnyvale in the 94086 area code. To actually be able to have a conversation I
had to walk 1/2 mile down the road--I am not exaggerating--or else I'd have to walk in the parking lot and be able to understand only every other word. We called within 30 days asking
to go back to T-Mobile, realized that their 30 day guarantee is no guarantee at all, and chose to stick with Verizon because we knew that we would be moving soon and because the
data service was actually working well.
So we moved on December 20, 2008 to San Jose in the 95130 zip code. Apparently we chose the other dead spot Verizon Wireless did not know about. This time it was as if our duplex, back yard, and
the surrounding area were protected by a shield: I could walk just 20 yeards down the street and be just fine. The problem is that San Jose had a very wet winter this year
and we have a newborn at home: we need to be able to make phone calls from inside the home--imagine that!
To make a long story short, they ignored our first two calls for help (they were not even logged under our account), then finally created a ticked when I demanded to talk to a supervisor,
and ultimately technical support certified that we could be let out of the contract without being subject to the early termination fee. We cancelled on March 4, 2009 and made sure that we made
everyone we spoke to acknowledge that we would not be charged the early termination fee. They did not prorate my fees but dragged the contract until the end of the cycle: March 18, 2009.
The bill showed up today with more than $400 in early termination fees. I called and their billing department acknowledged my claim after 30 minutes of being put on hold and said that they initiated
the credit request. I should expect the credit within 10 days. I am holding my breath!
4/22/2009 Update
I got my credit! I really had little hope that I would.