Verizon's Lack of Heart

Isn't using your company power to make a recommendation based on your
own, very personal experience unethical?

I am so sorry about the family who lost everything due to wildfire.
One fact is how could you know to cange your plan? They had NO idea
there was going to be a wildfire come through and wipe out there
life's history, memories, ireplacable items. I was just looking to get
a phone from them because my sons was damaged and we need to replace
it, get me a better one. We have four seperate family's that will stop
searching for a upgrade. We will go to another company that I feel
would appreciate our business with care; no doubt in my mind. I also
feel it is my duty as a human being to inform our business partner and
emplyee's immediately.
Thank you for the heads up and God bless you!
Ladyhummingbird

Iv worked for verizon wireless and its not that were trying to rob you
out of money or anything its just that as CSR we here stuff like your
story everday..We cant always give hand me outs to customers that rack
up there bills

I'm so sorry about your plight, and I wish you the best in rebuilding
your home and your life. As for leaving Verizon, I would do the same
if I were in your shoes. Best of luck to you, and God bless!

I'm sure they did. They always call me. What was the outcome?

The OP is not asking to have the bill forgiven just to be switched to
a higher plan. He/she would still be paying the bill. Many cell
phone companies will do this even when there has not been a tragedy of
this scope. I don't believe that Verizon would behave this way given
the circumstances and they way other companies have really tried to
help the people who lost homes. It disgusts me and I'm glad I'm not a
customer of theirs.

We are with Cingular and had a similar circumstance after a hurricane.
They were very willing to "back bill" us with a higher rate plan so
we did not have all the overage charges.

I'm sorry for your loss, hopefully you had insurance and can rebuild.
Unfortunately, most big cooperations
have no heart, they can't. There are lots of tragic situations that
happen, if they helped 1 person, they would have to help them all.
Good Luck

I am SO sorry to hear about this, and I hope that you and your family
are safe!

I agree, this is heartless of verizon. Please, switch companies. After
reading below that Tmobile AND sprint both were MORE then willing to
help out others, this is unacceptable. Offering you a 20 dollar credit
is insulting at best.

I hope you and your family are safe, and try to have a happy holiday
season.

T-Mobile was one of the ONLY companies to offer FREE minutes to their
subscribers in these devastated areas post Katrina and other
disasters.

I have been a T-Mobile subscriber for over 6yrs now and when my home
caught fire, they were generous in offering me free minutes for those
few hectic days afterwards. I sent them a nice thank you letter and
they replied asking if they can be of help again to let them know.

So there are companies out there with a heart.

First off I am very sorry for all that you have lost in the last few
months. I totally understand how crippling any bill can be after a
devestating event. Since I have recently had to come face to face with
bills that have incurred after a car accident that I have been trying
to recover from.

Although I agree with all the people who have said well you used the
phone so therefore what do you expect, I also have to agree with your
point of view of the heartlessness of the company. I have never dealt
with Verizion, therefore I do not want to insult any practices they
may have. But I do have a suggestion. With T-MObile, after the last
few devestating events within the US there have been considerations in
place to all those who have been effected by the tradegy, I know that
we have held collection treatments, given away new handsets and
credited some charges that we're incurred during the emergancy ( it
was the same during Katrina and any other devestating event that has
been declared an emergancy). We have special policies in place to help
those who have lost everything. I realize of course you are with
Verizion, but perhaps by speaking with a supervisor, or someone else
they may have something in place as well and its just not proactively
offered. I know the companies are out money, millions of dollars
during these events but for the most part I have found they will work
something out with you (not just tmobile) you just have to find the
person whos willing to see what they CAN do , not just what they feel
like doing.. Good Luck with the future.

I went through a similar experience when my family was displaced by
the Cedar fire(s) 3 years ago. We were with Sprint. Because of the
spread of the fires, we could not get Sprint service in an area would
normally have coverage, so we had a ton or roaming minutes. And we
went over our reggular minutes by quite a bit, too. By nearly $500,
if I remember right.

I called Sprint and explained and asked them if there was anything
they could do to help me out. They zeroed out my balance within
minutes and said that they hoped my family and I were ok. I was
thinking they would offer me a payment plan, and I would have been OK
with that!

Can you freakin believe that? Well, it's true. Some companies do
care.

Yes, the minutes were way over. But Verizon has already invested in
their delivery infrastructure. It would probably cost them nothing to
cut a long time, paying (assuming that you are both) customer a little
slack. Not every day and not for stupid stuff. But this was a huge
deal and plenty of people lost everything. Even the ones that still
have homes lost days of work that they might never be able to make up.


If this were me, I might try again. Remember that companies like this
are probably hit with tons of people trying to take advantage of them
at this time, too.

Good Luck.

First of all, I just want to say I am so sorry for everything that has
happened. I understand your frustration. What can I say about
Verizon, along with Sprint they both suck! Good luck to you and your
family.

I'm a little torn on this one honestly.

First off, let me say that I'm truly sorry for all that you've gone
through. I really do hope for the best for you.

It would have been nice for Verizon to take into account your
situation, but at the same time I don't think it's something they have
to do nor can it actually be something expected. Probably the person
you spoke to could only offer the $20.00 credit.

I'm also not sure what would be the best course of action for Verizon.
These were extreme circumstances, but it's a legitimate bill. How much
credit should they offer or is there something else they could do? I
honestly don't know what the best solution is.

Again, I do feel for you. I wish you nothing but luck.

...how many people are complaining about Verizon's inability to
provide service in storms, fires, etc.?

I wonder how many people are going to send Verizon money to repair
their equipment that was damaged?

I don't like Verizon, but if we're supposed to have a heart... then
this means that we need to help Verizon. And NOT to whine when
Verizon is having a bad day.

Question #1: What do you think would have been fair for them to offer?
I presume making you pay the extra $20 to bump up your plan,
retroactively one month?

Question #2: Did you actually use those minutes? I believe you agree
that every minute you used was legit.

Question #3: Did it come to a surprise to you that when someone goes
over their allocated minutes, they need to pay (a lot) for them? Or
were you under the honest impression that when you go over your money,
you get bumped up to the next tier? Sprint does this. Verizon, as
far as I know, does not have such a pricing scheme.

Question #4: At what point did you think that a mega-company like
Verizon Wireless has a heart? They don't, for a simple reason.
People have a heart. Companies can't and don't. What you meant to
say is that the low-level person you spoke to, who has a sucky job of
listening to people whine all day, didn't want to lose HER job by
giving you a $200 discount on legit charges.

You hit the wrong person. You need to speak to someone that is
authorized to do whatever they want. Believe it or not, even
supervisors don't have the latitude to "have a heart."

Question #5: What constitutes a legit reason for not having to pay
your bill? Having your house burn down seems like a legit reason to
me, but what else? Suppose someone loses their job and has to use
their phone a lot to make calls to find a new job? What about someone
that lost their pet? Is that a good enough reason?

I don't want to make light of your terrible situation. It's just that
companies need guidelines. How is a CSR supposed to decide who gets
free calls and who doesn't? There are so many grey lines, that the
rule is simple: if the phone was used, you pay for it.

Question #6: Given that you have no house and no possessions, why was
looking at your wireless bill, calling to complain, waiting on hold,
and logging into this web site the activities you've chosen to engage
in?

If I lost my house and everything I own, I cannot imagine filling my
days with fighting a $267 phone bill. Maybe this is the distraction
you need?

Question #7: Is it ethical for you to use your personal feeling to
sway phone use for 60 people?

Question #8: Since you executives already decided against Verizon, why
bring this up? Unless you can somehow outvote the other executives, I
fail to see why this matters.

Let me be clear: you've definitely had a horrible blow. But I'd like
to encourage you to do your best to rebuild your life. Fighting with
Verizon over this is not going to bring your home back. It's not
worth the anger, especially since, technically, they are right (even
if that seems kinda mean).

Good luck.

Not to sound heartless, because your loss is great due to the fires,
but Verizon is not responsible for that loss nor do they owe you a
debt for that loss, or any other company or service you used during
your tragedy. If they did that for everyone, for every tragic
situation that just happens just give the phone service away for
free.

You hopefully have insurance and will rebuild your life. Stuff
happens that we have zero control over. All we can do is move forward
and not blame others for our circumstances. I realize this sounds
tough, but it's the truth. You are obviously upset as you well should
be, but taking it out on a public utility is misplacing your loss and
grief. That's an internal and private issue between yourself and
whatever else is bigger than life that helps make our hurt and pain
disappear.

Good luck in rebuilding your life.

Peace!

I am very sorry to hear of your losses and I had a very different
experience with Verizon but I had to work my way up the ladder and get
a higher-up on the phone to get results.

I too had a major life event transpire about 1 1/2 years ago that
resulted in a very sudden dissolution of my common-law marriage, the
loss of my home and a sudden (and expensive) need for relocation. I
used my phone much more than I used to and ended up with a huge phone
bill.

I called Verizon and got a new plan and was told they would
'retroactively re-bill me' so that I wouldn't have to pay the huge
bill.

Truly, when you are going through a crisis situation, it's very hard
to remember things like, "Oh yes, I must change my calling plan"

I thanked them but then received the same bill as before. I had to get
on the phone and speak with THREE people, explaining that I had been
promised a lower bill.
Believe me, I don't shirk on paying bills. But when I asked for a
break and was promised a break, you can imagine I was pretty upset
when the promise seemed to be broken.

I finaly got a lovely man on the phone who helped me out. So call back
and keep trying.

Crises happen and although it's easy to be cynical, I think there are
times when a bit of human compassion is not much to ask for.

I don't think Verizon's done anything wrong here, nor do I think other
cell phone service providers would have been more generous. I mean,
they are a utility provider, of sorts, and I can't imagine the water
company or cable company cutting people slack during times like this.

I just don't expect any large corporation to have "heart." I'll
believe a company has "heart" when it doesn't write its charitable
contributions off its tax returns, and instead donates because it's
the good and right thing to do with profits.

Companies need to realize that it's good public relations not to gouge
customers who have just suffered a major, very highly publicized loss,
that leads them to use more of a service like communications than they
contracted for. Verizon would be doing themselves a favor by
publicizing their willingness to step back a bit from their standard
billing in the face of such a disaster. Otherwise they make themselves
look like a faceless, inhuman beast out for the cash no matter what
happens to their customers.
That is not the way to attract customers. If I had a Verizon account,
I'd close it and tell them why, hopefully in the press.

I remember during tropical storm allison, Sprint's service was down.
I sparingly used the Roaming feature, and was happy that I was
credited for the Roaming without having to ask.

I eventually left Sprint cause their service sucks. Be glad your
service worked.

First of all, these charges are for legitimate usage of your phone.
Why compare what you used to another plan that you weren't part of?
That is like staying at a hotel, and when they come to take your
money, arguing that the hotel down the street charges only half as
much - you could have stayed there.

If this is the largest thing you have to worry about with all the
destruction that occurred, you are doing better than many.

My company used to use AT&T as the preferred corporate account. My
responsibility was to check receipts for reimbursement. I remember
that after 9/11, all the AT&T wireless bills had a credit on them
because of the lack of service due to the tragedy.

Now granted, AT&T did not have to do this but it showed some heart. I
think Verizon should have worked something out with you. You may want
to call back and try speaking to someone else.

"I'm also in charge of cell phones at my company (60+ lines) and
pushed hard last year to convince my company to switch to Verizon due
to excellent customer service and coverage. That contract has just
expired and they have not renewed because some execs want to consider
Nextel this year. I now know which direction my vote will go."

Isn't this blackmail?
Because they only offered a $20 credit a credit when you had a
hardship you will overlook the excellent customer and coverage and try
to convince your company to choose an inferior product because they
would not give you a personal credit of $170 more?
You are the wrong person to be in charge of cell phones at your
company if you let something like that bias a major decision for your
company and the 60 employees. You should make the best decision for
your company and it sounds like in your opinion it is Verizon, but out
of personal spite you want to push for Nextel.
Besides, if you were really in charge of cell phones I can guarantee
you would not be writing or contacting customer service, you would
talk to your ACCOUNT EXEC and they would handle it, I can guarantee
that.
About 90% of corporate accounts are personal accounts that get certain
rates for belonging to an association or designated for the
corporation itself, but they are still typically personal accounts, so
60 people will most likely not be cancelling at once. More than likely
your company reimburses an amount for cell phones and does not pay the
full bill so people will choose individually. If you switch to Nextel,
the other employees will not like you, trust me.
Also, if your company pays the full bill, then why did you not use
their phone, as I am sure you have one because you are in charge of
the cell phones?
Even if what you say is completely true, why did you not ask your
company to foot the bill instead of Verizon? They could at least
expense it and if they charged you the difference it would still save
you 40%. Do you hold the same ill will toward your company as you do
to Verizon because your comapny couldn't pick up a $190 tab in your
time of need? I hope so. I am sure a company that holds you in enough
regard to make a $50,000 a year cell phone decision would surely help
you out.
Sorry for your loss but I think you are wrong. Verizon "helping out"
could end up costing them hundreds of thousands. Close to $200 credits
x a couple thousand people is a lot of money. Now multiply that by the
tens of thousands of customers nation wide that lose their homes for
whatever disaster, every year, and you have a very unreasonable
request.

I hope you and your family are in a safe and comfortable place now.
That's the most important thing. I also hope that you are in a
position to replace what you can and get into a new home as soon as
possible.

I think it would be great if Verizon were to do this for you, and for
other customers who have been affected by this tragedy. I know, as
you also seem to, that they are under no legal obligation to do so,
and I also know that it would no doubt be quite costly and
time-consuming for them to do this. But I still gotta say I hope they
do.

Anyone interested in helping out the victims of the recent wildfires
out west should check out this link.
http://www.google.com/checkout/wildfires.html

When I had Verizon a couple of years ago, I went way over my usage one
month just because it was a hectic month in my business. I called and
it took a while but the rep. I talked to eventually came back and put
me on a plan for more minutes retroactively and waived about half of
the bill. But I think it varies a lot depending on who you get and
they may have had enough people asking this time that the just came up
with one standard response for this.

I'm not sure I would EXPECT VZW to do anything but if I was in your
situation I would have asked as well.

At the very least I think they could have put you on a payment plan or
something. I think the company should do something to work with the
wildfire victims.

A lot of companies went out on a limb to help Katrina victims. I
think these victims are not being noticed by private companies because
of the color of their skin (white.) They don't have people like Al
Sharpton screaming on CNN so they don't get much attention.

I remember Katrina my company not only gave employees a bunch of money
but they also rented a bunch of RV's for people to live in and let the
displaced employees work at any store in the country for as many hours
as they wanted.

Pay your bills you deadbeat.

I would agree with you, although I have NEVER seen a customer come in
saying that they expect something because their friend got it.

In this case, Verizon can verify whether the people asking for help
were in an area with fires. They can see when the calls were made, if
they were around the dates of the fire. They can see if the charges
are excessive or seem suspicious.

In this case it really is about greedy companies. Of course it's not
required for them to help but these are special circumstances. It's
not your typical I blabbed for too long to my best friend like OMG now
fix it customer.

They could help by just saying okay well we'll adjust your plan, just
sign a new contract for a year. I'm sure that wouldn't be a problem
for loyal customers like the OP who has been with them for 10 years.

That way they wouldn't really be losing ANYTHING except the profit
they would have made off of the people who had no choice but to use
their cell phones to call family and find housing because they were
evacuated or lost their home. I wouldn't want that profit.

They'd end up winners in the long run because they'd keep a customer
and continue to get that monthly fee.

No one ever said that they HAD to adjust the plan. I just REALLY think
they should.

But I have heard people say 'my friend got this deal and so should I.'


When I worked for XM Satellite Radio, the computer would pick names at
random of people who hadn't renewed their contracts and send them a
special offer that was basically 3 months of service free. One guy got
the offer, his neighbor didn't. When neighbor found out, he called in
and chewed my butt out because he hadn't recieved the offer. There
were also a couple instances when I worked at the fabric store, when
we would make a special deal for a bulk purchase or a regular, that
would come back and bite us in the hinney when a
friend/neighbor/random customer would hear and demand the same thing.


Honestly, in this case I think they should make an exception, but I
don't blame them for not.

I am charitable and all, just hate when people try to use tragedies to
get out of paying bills that they knowingly ran up. You did it, man up
and shut up!

I am very sorry for the loss you experienced. I do have to ask
though, were you willing to change your plan to the $90 plan
permanently or did you want this to be a one time thing? They may
have been more than willing to work with you if you considered
changing your plan long term.

You have to understand the Verizon Wireless is a business, if they
forgive you the $200, they have to forgive everyones.

One other thing, as someone who is in charge of my firm's cell phone,
2500+ lines, I would never allow personal experience to enter into my
business decisions. It is definitely not professional and not in the
best interest of my firm.

I am sorry to hear about the loss of your home and belongings, but I
fail to see how the fact that you went over your plan by 1,127 minutes
(which equals over 18 hours) is Verizon's problem. You asked them to
"help us out" and their answer was a $20 credit. You had to have
known that your were far exceeding the minutes included in your plan,
so while you were talking for hours, did you consider the fact that
you would have to pay for the time or just figure that somehow Verizon
would set up a deal that if you live in Southern California and were
affected by the recent fires you wouldn't have to pay for overages? I
don't mean to sound cold about this, but you admit that "these
overages are my responsibility" and now that Verizon won't forgive
them, you are threatening to change your vote away from Verizon as the
wireless carrier for your employer.

I am very sorry to hear about your house. I hope that you had at
least managed to evacuate ahead of the fire, but that's hoping you had
a slightly better tragedy than you could have had, not hoping that
anything good was going to happen.

And I know first-hand what it is like to be put in the position of
asking for help over and over.

But Verizon really doesn't owe you this. I suspect that there were an
awful lot of people in your area whose cell phone use went through the
roof, so you're not looking at $200 they'd be forgiving, you're
looking at a lot more money. Yes, it would be nice of them to offer a
better credit than $20, the actual size depending on how much extra
money all that extra use cost *them*, but they aren't obligated to do
it, any more than you would be obligated to pay a hundred dollars or
so extra if *they* had an expensive problem one month.

You are certainly within your rights to change wireless companies (in
accordance with the terms of your contract) and to advocate that your
employer changes too. You are certainly within your rights to tell
everybody you know that Verizon is heartless.

But they are within their rights to say they're not going to forgive
debt. I doubt that they're the only company to take that position,
either. And I think the real lesson for those of us who haven't been
in your position is that if we ever are in a disaster we should stop
and think about whether any of the things we purchase automatically in
certain amounts -- such as phone minutes -- will be needed in greater
amounts, so that we don't end up in a similar situation.

While I doubt you want to ask, it might be possible, for example, for
relatives far enough away from the fire areas that all the charitable
groups aren't swamped with requests to ask whether their church or
some other group they're affiliated with to help you pay off this
bill, given that it is a direct result of the disaster, is a one-time
problem, and is a very specific use of money rather than an open-ended
donation.

Are you serious? You went over your minutes, pay the bill. Other
people have "tragedies" all the time, and they still pay their bills.
Quit whining and pay what you owe. Just because you didn't get what
you want doesn't make Verizon the bad guy.