It's actually pretty easy to tell them no via the My Verizon. I did this about two years ago when this issue first came up.

I actually called Verizon the other day to opt-out of all of their marketing mailings. I have FiOS for internet only (and it's a big POS, in my opinion, but that's another story), and we receive DAILY mailings with information about signing up for their FiOS cable and their FiOS phone service. I don't want any additional services -- and I live in an apartment with a mail slot, so if I'm away for a week I come home to a door that won't even open because of all the junk mail. (Granted, in cases like that, it's not JUST Verizon -- but still, about 33% of the junk mail I receive comes from them.)

I'll have to call them again and see if I'm off the 3rd party list, too.

man there's so much whipped cream on this thing I almost didn't see the terd underneath.

Am I the only one that actually got an e-mail from Verizon explaining this, including all the opt-out information? They sent it about 2 weeks ago, and I opted out the day they sent it. (Unfortunately, I didn't keep the e-mail once I opted out, so I don't know *exactly* when it was sent)

@reishka: I got it too. Was just about to mention that.

@reishka: Got mine Sept. 19. Had a direct link to opt out.

Try the "No Labs" version here: [mail.google.com]

I've tried it with varying degrees of success.

And ofcourse there is a LifeHacker post about everything:

[lifehacker.com]

@MostlyHarmless: Wow. way to post it in the wrong thread.

This is good info. Too bad when I called Verizon to ask they stop sending me paper junk mail for services I am not interested in (they send mailings 1x/wk) customer service didnt know how to "opt out" of that for me.

Am I the only one to fail to see a need to opt out here (according to the sections quoted above):

{Consumerist writer says:}
Steve found that the company has gone ahead and given itself permission to share your personal information:

{then Verizon text says:}
In order to better serve your communications needs and to identify, offer and provide products and services to meet your requirements, we need your permission to share this information among our affiliates, agents and parent companies (including Vodafone) and their subsidiaries.

So the way I read that, they won't share your info unless you tell them it's OK. To me, that's an opt-in, not an opt-out. Or was there something else in the full text of the legal-ese?

@theblackdog_GoesPrivate: Ditto.
Although I wish they'd do opt-in instead.

@theblackdog_GoesPrivate: Just checked mine, and we opted out already - whew.

Bizarrely, if you want to block text messages on your phone, you have to call them - there's no way to do it on the website (which I think is dumb).

@summerbee: Wait, can they do that? Take you off the ubiquitous FiOS mailings? Really? Who did you call? How do you do it?

@scoosdad: The most important line didn't make it into the post here - you have to click on the link to find it:

"You have a right to keep your CPNI private by 'opting out.' Unless you provide us with notice that you wish to opt out within 30 days of us providing notice to you in your bill or through the mail, we will assume that you give us the right to share your CPNI with the authorized companies as described above."

So, yeah, they'll guard your details - if you tell them to explicitly. Otherwise, all bets are off.

@theblackdog_GoesPrivate: Always nice to have a reminder. I just found out that I'd already opted out sometime in the past.

@Hil-fish: Ah OK, so it's "we need your permission to share this information, but only for the first 30 days after we tell you this, and then we can do whatever we want with it..."

Classy, Verizon, as always. Are there special courses offered now in law school for writing this double-speak?

@Hil-fish: One way to block texts on Verizon is to go to vtext.com and set up an alias for your own phone number. Then modify the profile so as to only receive texts when they are addressed to your alias. The trick then is to not give your alias to anyone.

hth.

@nybiker: Cool! Thanks!

@scoosdad: Exactly. This is partly why I despise Verizon and am switching all of our services to other companies. We have 9 more months on our contract for cell phone service, and then we are DONE with them.

Verizon sent my wife an email with a one-click opt-out link. The link/button was big, red and marked in big letters "Do not share my CPNI" Couldn't have been much clearer or easier.

Some clown gave my email address to verizon as there own. I recieve their account notifications, bill advisories and reciepts in my email. I have tried many times without success to get VZW to remove my email address for whatever account it is attached to, to no avail. Now I get to look forward to them selling my email address, and I don't even have service with them.

@Hil-fish: Believe it or not, I called 800-VERIZON and somehow did it from there. I remember hitting 0 until I got a rep, and then I explained my request. She transferred me over to FiOS (which, from my own experience, closes around 5 pm EST -- but it was 8 pm & somehow, FiOS was there to assist) and a woman happily took my name & address and opted me out. She did mention that she had to send an email to a certain department to opt me out.

I forgot how long she said it would take to stop receiving mailings. I'm...actually...excited for this.

Roger, Roger.