Elliot has been to heck and back with Verizon. His Samsung Rogue refused to charge, so he got them to replace it with a refurbished one. The “new” phone began randomly shutting off by itself. Elliot got Verizon to give him a full replacement, but they mailed it to his old address. After more shipping woes, he finally got a working phone. Then his bill arrives, about $1,000 higher than it’s supposed to be.

Elliot writes that he then

call[s] customer service and am eventually (a few days later) credited with the two charges, though not the taxes or fees associated with a higher bill. While waiting for those credits though, Verizon attempted to take the money out of my checking account twice. This is obviously my fault for allowing them direct access, but I was assured this wouldn’t happen, and then assured after the first time (and after I suspended autopay) that it wouldn’t happen again.

Today I receive a text saying that if the balance of $900+ dollars isn’t paid they would be shutting off my service. Additionally, I have been assessed late fee and returned check fee by Verizon, as well as $52 in NSF fees from my bank. While trying to get this all straightened out today I spoke to two people in customer service, two in financial services, was hung up on once and spent nearly an hour on hold, and have been told that they will be unable to credit any of the extra charges until I pay the bill in full (which includes those charges).

Does that sound right? At this point I would definitely not trust Verizon to refund the money that they are overcharging me. Sounds like a case ripe for escalation.

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