Verizon Heartache

First of all, the logo at the top of the page is wrong. Verizon
Wireless is a different company from Verizon, and does not sell long
distance calling cards. I suspect the figure is a bit inflated, to say
the least. Verizon has an 800 number, so calls to them cost nothing.
Calling and faxing hotels in Australia might be a bit, but $400? Plus
the writer could have used a calling card to call the hotels

Ok first ever post and i'll probably sign up after this.

If you take aay the emotion involved and teh age etc etc etc isnt the
cut and dry fact that the OP purchased goods and services fom a
company and then in return did NOT get the service she aid for. She
then had to do unnecessary work to get the service she had already
paid for. as someone above stated 400$ is not a reasonable request
for compensation BUT an apology is the least they owe her.

off to set up an account.....

Okay, great. I'm sorry about what happened to you you, but you don't
make business letters so emotional. (So emotional=No response=Nobody
cares)-(The New Fibonnaci Sequence)

At the risk of extending this further...

Several folks have questioned why Vicki sent her child to another
hemisphere with only a phone card.

Unless I've missed something, the child was able to get in touch with
her mother. Or else, how would Vicki know to call Verizon?

If I hadn't heard from my child in (whatever time period), my first
call wouldn't be the phone company. It'd be to whoever was supposed
to meet my child.

Which, in the end, means that there were alternate communication
routes between child and parents. At some point, the child is able to
communicate with mom to say "my phone card doesn't work."

Over the top. What instructions did you give your kid before she left
on contacting you in an emergency ala the cell phone not working in a
foriegn country(reality is it has never been and never will be a
perfect technology ESPECIALLY in a foriegn country)?- Didn't have one,
bad parenting.
Verizon made a mistake not activating her card, you made a mistake by
not testing it with a 1 minute call before she left, bad parenting
again.
If you are so sick with grief, why allow this child to go to Australia
without a PARENT (you) with the only means of communication a PREPAID
CELL PHONE if any failure would be the end of your world? How about a
small limit credit card for making an overseas credit card call?
Didn't think of it?-Bad parenting.
What would you have done in the 90's before prepaid cell phones?
What if she had dropped the cell phone and broke it, what would you do
then and what was your plan with her in case that happened and there
was no one else to blame? Evidently you did not have a plan, bad
parenting.
I am guessing at some point she checked into a hotel and you could
have called her at her room number (as I am sure you had all of the
information for hotel, flight arrival times, room number, itinerary)
when you did not hear from her and saved money and grief.
It sounds to me like you did not plan for anything. If Verizon
apologizes to you, it will not mean anything or change anything. Also,
why 3 pages to the President to say "Daughter in Australia, I was
worried, Prepaid didn't work,card not activated, not happy"?-Answer,
over the top.
You also wonder why customer service does not go the extra mile. The
answer is the customers. CSRs cannot win. A customer will tell you how
great you were and then come in a week later and tell another employee
you promised a ridiculous credit forcing you to defend yourself while
the customer laughs and says, "hey, I tried". They will be more than
happy get you fired by making telling lies so that you can't pay rent,
just so they can scam a $3 credit. They will assume you know nothing
about your product because they do not like the answers you give- as
they already knew the answers anyway.

I can't read them all, I just hope you know that I can feel your pain
and I'm glad for you that everything was in fact OK, other than you
and your daughter being upset of course.

I think that there are really a lot of good comments on here on what
you could have done, should have done, might have done, etc. BUT they
are useless to you regarding this case because they come AFTER the
fact.

However, THANK YOU so much for posting this fiasco so that I will
never trust a calling card and will test it. Thank you to the people
who suggested contacting the hotel/chaparone people via email. I
seriously doubt in a state of angst that I would have thought about
that. I also can better prepare my child to remember they can contact
ME via email. I will have several phone numbers to contact my kids
also, so if they don't get in touch w/me, I can still get in touch
with them.

I will have back up plans for contact as well in case email access is
impossible.

I don't think people who trivialize this event have young kids, or
maybe they aren't control freaks who need to know what's going on with
their kids all the time to make sure that they are being well cared
for and not getting into trouble. I don't mind being a control freak
about this. If you want to criticize it, go ahead. I have no
interest in changing. I feel this is the best way for me to maintain
a degree of safety for my children. I am always watching/listening
and I want them to know that.

Odd...
I've read this whole thing and you basically ignored every question
asked of you in favor of ranting more about Verizon. That's rude-and
ignoring questions keeps people from being able to help you further.
Best of luck getting this resolved with Verizon. I agree with the
other posters who said you are a bit too melodramatic. Hope your
daughter had a fun trip!

I feel bad for both you and your daughter. I hope she enjoyed the
rest of the trip.

If you're not aware, you can fax right from your computer and save
yourself lots of money. If you have Word anyway. After you type a
letter, you can do a "File" then "Send To" and it will give you couple
of choices for faxing. It even sets up a cover sheet for you.
Anyway, hope it doesn't come to that in the future.

I can understand you being very angry and frustrated at Verizon, but I
must say, a lot of the responsibility lies with your daughter's
chaperone. I'm pretty sure if I was responsible for a pre-teen in a
country half-way around the world, I would at least buy her a new
calling card and just let her parents pay me back when we got home.

That's just scary that someone would let your daughter get that upset
when all they had to do was buy her a new phone card.

I hope in addition to this letter, you also write one to the
school/youth group or whatever.

actually, in my personal opinion, if i bought a calling card for my
child(which hasn't come yet...four more months though!) and then it
didn't work, yeah...i would probably get pretty upset.


did you buy the card from a store? if so, then chances are, it could
have been the cashiers fault. maybe she overlooked it, and did't
activate it. if you bought it from online through the website, then
there should have been no reason for it not to be activated.

i actually bought a gift card from hot topic online and it got sent
unactivated. totally different sernario though.

if your daughter is ever planning on being so far apart again, i
would suggest buying a phone card, and then trying it out at home
before she leaves. this way, if there is ANY problem, it can be fixed
before shes so far away.

You have got to be kidding me!

You've turned a minor travel glitch into quite the drama. Whatever
happened to common sense. I say this with the assumption that your
daugher is escorted by responsible adults, was being cared for, and
was quite safe. So the card doesn't work, move to the next solution.
Leave a message at her hotel to have someone help her call home. Get
in touch with the adult supervision she is with and get their help in
fixing the situation. (I assume you didn't let your daughter go to
Australia with no way to contact her escorts.) My goodness, how hard
can this possibly be?!

Verizon may have given you the run around, but you chose to fight with
them rather than taking a simpler route and simply contacting your
daughter at the hotel in the evening hours (what a concept!) to give
her the new card number or contacting the adult escorts and asking
them to help purchase a card locally. If the escorts have half a
brain they certainly can keep an 11 year old calm and explain the
problem with the card and help her place an international call to
you.

There simply was no need for you to go off the deep end here. You
could have simply chosen another solution and fought with Verizon for
a refund of the "bad" card locally without faxing Australia and
spending all of that time, money, and aggravation.

Your inability to deal with a minor emergency is not Verizon's
problem. If this is the way you handle one of life's minor glitches I
shudder to think how you would handle a real crisis.

I am sorry to hear about your troubles. However I do not place all the
blame on Verizon. You sent your 11 year old daughter half way around
the world. Was she staying with relatives, was she on a class trip? I
find it hard to imagine you sent an 11 year old to Australia all by
herself with no adult supervision. While she was in Australia she had
no other way to contact you. other than this calling card? Did she not
remember her home phone number? Did you not know where your daughter
was staying or had a phone number to contatct her in case of an
emergency. It appears that you knew what hotel she was at.

After realizing the phone card was not activated, your daughter could
have called you at home explained the card was not working. Then you
should have called Verizon and worked it out with them. Once Verizon
activated the card, you should have been able to contact your
daughter. How does a few phone calls to Australia add up to $400 in
phone calls.

While I feel your pain, there is something that just doesnt add up
with this letter. If your daughter was 16 or 17 years old, I might
find your letter more believable. However I just can not get past the
part where you would send your 11 year old half way around the world
not knowing where she was going to be.

What a horrible feeling! I sure hope you find resolution to this,
although I'm guessing it's a long shot. Unfortunately, big business
does not care about the little guy. They are about making money. I'm
sure that they will probably chalk your ordeal up as one lost customer
and be done with it. So sad! I'm assuming your daughter got back
safe and sound from her trip. That's certainly the important thing
after all is said and done.

It's horrible not being able to contact your child who is thousands of
miles away! It's hard enough when they are in the same city and you
can't contact them! My stepson and his mother went to Punta Cana.
Well she was supposed to give my husband all the contact information
before she left and didn't. I was freaking out the entire time he was
gone. To make matters worse there was a small aircraft crash
somewhere off the coast of Florida. I was beside myself with worry.

My advice, like the advice before mine. Always make sure you check a
calling card to see if it's activated. Calling cards are very
important in case of emergencies and you want to be sure that when you
need it, it's there.

I hope that Verizon atleast has the cajones to apoligize and offer you
SOMETHING.

As a mom I would also be outraged!! I am so sorry that this happened
to you and your daughter, I hope that she enjoyed her trip
otherwise!!

I guess the only advice that I can give you (and you have probably
already figured this out) is to make sure the card works before you
leave or send it with your daughter overseas.

I know that I always check calling cards and gift certificates as soon
as I get home to verify that they are indeed activated. I do not
think that Verizon is going to compensate you for the $400.00 phone
and fax bill, but it would be nice if they did or offered some sort of
peace offering.

Please come back and let us know what happens!!

I was fit to be tied. I was so helpless, and then to be on the phone
with IDIOTS, for 3 hours, that really makes me mad.

I wrote to the VP in New York, that was back the first week of August
2006. I have yet to hear a word from him. I really thought he would at
least apologize for whomever did not do their job the first time. But
no....I guess the higher the position with a company the less you care
about whom really pays your salary...US ....the little people..

I agree with you, I really don't think they will pay the outrageous
charges we were charged, the charges consisted of oversees fees and
fax charges-4 of them and when the card was final working....$4.95 a
minute oversees....a rip off....