Verizon Won't Stop Billing Me For Canceled Service From Three Years Ago

In an ordeal that would tire even Odysseus, a Consumerist reader says that after three years, dozens of phone calls and pages upon pages of emails and faxes, he is still getting a bill for Verizon DSL service on an account he closed in 2007.

It sounds like more than an exhausting experience for Mike B., who writes that when he moved in January 2007, he was assisted by Verizon reps in changing his account to his new home and setting up service there. However, he says they never canceled the old DSL service.

The charges were coming through on his credit card, while he was being correctly billed for his new service via a paper bill in the mail. Thus began his saga, which he says involves around “25 phone calls to various departments, spoken to dozens of reps, and logged approximately 35-45 hours in phone calls alone.”

Mike says he’s tried it all — changing his credit card number, canceling his myverizon.com account tied to the old service, and sending in proof to various reps of his attempts to resolve the situation.

The final straw seems to have been when the member of the Presidents Office Executive Customer Advocacy Unit he’d been working with suddenly disappeared, and the number he used to contact him gave him a “non-working number” message.

As Mike puts it, “sigh.”

Another customer service call resulted in a rep telling him the old address hadn’t been discontinued until October 2010, and billing appears to have stopped. But he is still receiving emails requesting a payment of around $204, and no one can tell him why.

He’s now turned to Consumerist, asking for our help to end the nightmare. We’re doing our best, Mike, so hang in there!

We’ve contacted Verizon, and received a promising response within hours of asking for comment.

When reached for contact regarding the problem, a Verizon rep tells Consumerist: “We will fully investigate Mike’s situation and make sure that he is made whole. We appreciate his loyalty as a customer, and we will work quickly to help him regain his confidence and trust in us with the hope he’ll continue benefiting from our services for many years to come.”

Stay tuned!

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