Luis dropped his busted LG EnV in the mail at the end of last year and tracked its progress as FedEx delivered the package to Verizon. Verizon, apparently unfamiliar with tracking numbers, doesn’t believe that Luis ever returned the phone, and insists that they’re owed a $320 replacement fee. Luis disputed the charge, but rather than investigate his claim, Verizon decided it would be easier to suspend his service. Now they want Luis—a customer of seven years who pays over $350 across six phone lines each month—to pay another $15 to reconnect the service they should never have disconnected in the first place. He writes:

Last year around August 2008 my cellphone was not charging so I called Verizon to get a replacement. I received my replacement a few days later. I went to a Verizon store to move my contacts to my new phone but was told that they couldn’t do it because a piece inside the cellphone was damaged. So I left the Verizon store and moved my contacts manually. That same day I went to Fedex to drop off the old cellphone.

Then came my December bill and I get a charge of $320 because they say i didn’t mail back the damaged cellphone. The cellphone is a LG EnV. As soon as I saw the bill I called Verizon. They asked me if I kept the receipt with the Fedex tracking number, which I had, because they needed to look it up. I am told that the tracking number is invalid. Then I was told not to worry cause sometimes its in the warehouse but has not yet been scanned and put in the system. They tell me they will send a report to the warehouse so they could look for the phone. They said not to worry and just to pay my normal bill without the $320 charge. 2 weeks go by and I call again.

They have not found the phone and the customer service rep tells me that i need to pay those $320. I tell her that i am not going to pay for something i didn’t have. I also tell her why would I want a busted phone for when i could easily get a brand new one for less than the $320 I am being charged. She says the only thing she can do is make a report and send it to the warehouse. I tell her that the previous rep had done it already. She tells me she needs to do it again and I ask her if i can speak to a supervisor. She said I couldn’t because first she had to get a response from the warehouse. I tell her to do it and she says it will take 1 week to get a response. I call again and get the same exact responses i did from the previous 2 reps.

Then January my line gets cut. They say I have to pay the $320 and I have to pay a fee for getting my phones reconnected at $15 per phone. I have 5 phones in a family plan. I tell them the same thing that I do not have the cellphone, that I sent it out. They tell me to at least to pay the regular bill and they would reconnect my phones without charging me the $15 per phone. They also tell me the same thing the previous 3 reps tell me and till now I have not been able to speak to a supervisor.

They now just cut my line again, called Verizon again, I still have that charge on my account and each time the reps tell me the same thing. I have been a Verizon customer for 7 years and have changed my phone many times and have not had this problem. I have 6 phones total with them and my phone bill is anywhere from $350 to $450 a month. I called last week again and i got the same BS from the reps. Maybe you guys can help me out and point me in the right direction.

Fire off an Executive Email Carpet Bomb to Verizon’s head office and explain that the $320 charge is significantly more than the $200 early termination fee you would consider paying if they can’t appreciate you as a loyal customer with a tracking number.

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