A Verizon store employee giving inaccurate information, and a customer forced to pay extra because of the error? No! Impossible! Yet it happened to Steve, and he’s not sure what to do.

I purchased a Verizon MiFi off eBay and took it to the store to activate it on March 6th. The sales associate asked me if I wanted to start service today. I told her I wasn’t ready to use it yet, and just wanted to have it active so when I do decide to use it, I wouldn’t have to go in to a store. She said that was fine and that I just needed to plug it in and I would be charged when I started using data.

Fast forward to today. I receive a bill in the mail from Verizon for $83.01. This includes the $35 activation fee (which I was ok with and expected), but it also includes “5 days on new plan” at $6.25, and “Mobile Broadband 3G 3/11 – 4/10 (month in advance).” Since I hadn’t even turned on the MiFi since Verizon activated it, I was extremely confused. I had used no data at all!

I call Verizon’s 800 customer service number. I was basically told that they weren’t able to refund the month and 5 days of usage because of their “policy.” He said even though the associate told me the data wouldn’t start, it did. He was “very sorry” that I was told incorrect information, but he can’t refund the money to me. So I asked for a supervisor (which he informed me that the supervisor couldn’t refund any money either).

On the phone with the supervisor, I told him the same thing, and he went through the whole “We can’t refund because it’s policy” line. He was somehow magically able to take off $20 of the bill. I then asked (since I’m on a month-to-month contract) that if I will be billed every month, or just when I use data. He told me I would be billed every month. That was it for me. I informed him to close my account.

I’m never going back to Verizon. This was my first experience and it will be my last. Anyone want a MiFi?

Now I still have a $63.01 bill that I used no data and had no idea it was even active. How can I get the rest of this taken care of? I tried looking at your site for the executive number, but since I’m in Texas, I can’t call the number since it’s for the Northeast Area.

To find the executive contact for your region, read this post and learn how to find your “region president” at Verizon.

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