When your cable provider makes a mistake and you can clearly show that this is the case, you’d expect that it would have the decency to not penalize you for its error. But that’s apparently not the case at Verizon, which expects Consumerist reader Steven to fork over $350 and hope he gets it back. [More]
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Verizon FiOS Misplaces My Set-Top Box For 7 Weeks, Expects Me To Pay $350
By 2.12.13 — Updated: 2.13.13
Surprise, Surprise: Expert Says Many Broadband Meters Are Inaccurate
By 2.8.13
While Internet providers look more toward capping data usage and penalizing customers for overages (even though it’s becoming less expensive to provide this service), one expert says many devices used to determine a customer’s usage are not sufficiently accurate. [More]
Verizon’s Redbox Instant Video Service Launching New App For Xbox 360
By 2.6.13
Entering the already busy arena of online streaming video services, Xbox 360 announced yesterday that it’s teaming up with Verizon to offer the company’s Redbox Instant Video exclusively on its gaming consoles. It’s always good to have options, and it seems companies are going to continue coming up with competitors for Netflix, Hulu and Amazon’s video services. And when companies compete, we win. Hurray! [More]
Californians Paying 115% More For AT&T Landline Service Than They Did Before Deregulation
By 1.18.13
Supporters of removing price caps on utility services claim that deregulation will ultimately result in lower prices and more competition. But a new report claims that when California ditched pricing regulations on landline phone service, it only led to huge bill increases for AT&T customers. [More]
Verizon Has No Idea Whether I Get FiOS Or DSL, Keeps Billing Me After I Cancel
By 1.9.13 — Updated: 1.10.13
It’s bad enough to get the runaround for something as simple as transferring your Internet service from one address to another. But when you cancel that service because your provider is incompetent, you would at least hope to stop being billed for service you never received. [More]
This Verizon CSR Really Wants You To Know How Great A Customer You Are
By 12.21.12
For those consumers who expect to get a grumpy, unhelpful customer service rep, it’s always a nice surprise when the CSR in pleasant, professional and willing to work with you to resolve your issue. We don’t often hear cases of CSRs gushing about cooperative customers, but we’re not Kevin. [More]
New Report Says “Cash Cow” Data Caps Are About Pleasing Investors, Not Relieving Congestion
By 12.18.12 — Updated: 9.30.14
Internet users have been complaining about data caps — and the costly penalties for going over said caps — for years, while both wireless and fixed broadband providers claimed these caps were an absolute necessity to curb runaway use. But a new report attempts to debunk many of the ISP industry’s claims. [More]
Verizon & Coinstar Launching Redbox Instant Streaming Video Service This Month
By 12.12.12
Sure, finding a Redbox kiosk in your neighborhood might be pretty easy. But going anywhere to get a movie, even as far as your mailbox, much less getting in your car to drive somewhere, is so 2009, right? That need for instant access to movies is what’s leading Redbox owner Coinstar to hook up with Verizon to launch their very own video streaming service, set to debut later this month. [More]
Verizon’s Proposed DVR Would Know You’re Still Sitting In Your Pajamas, Air Ads For Real Pants
By 12.4.12
You won’t have to worry if Verizon can hear — or see — you now, if the company’s dream of a set-top box that could monitor all the activities inside your home becomes a reality. The company has filed a patent for a DVR system that would be used as a tool to then target customers with ads based on their daily doings. Which means I’d get a lot of ads for pajama jeans. [More]
‘Six Strikes’ Anti-Piracy Program Delayed To 2013, This Time Because Of Hurricane Sandy
By 11.29.12
A long-in-the-works anti-piracy program from five major telecom players is probably not something you would think could be affected by a hurricane, but that’s apparently what is keeping the “Six Strikes” program from launching this week. [More]
Verizon Says Hurricane-Affected Customers Will Get Credit For “Vacation” Fees
By 11.29.12
Yesterday, we told you about Roy, a Verizon DSL customer who canceled his service after he discovered the company was charging him a “vacation” fee to suspend service to his hurricane-damaged house. This morning, a rep for the company reached out to Consumerist to offer an explanation. [More]
Verizon Loses Customer By Charging A ‘Vacation’ Fee To Suspend Service To His Storm-Damaged House
By 11.28.12 — Updated: 11.29.12
Porn Companies Sue Verizon For Refusing To Name Alleged BitTorrent Pirates
By 11.27.12
Months after Comcast refused porn companies’ requests to hand over names of Internet customers allegedly involved in illegal file sharing, a trio of porn purveyors are going after Verizon for its denial of such requests. [More]
Verizon Sends Me To Collections Over Fees It Shouldn’t Have Charged Me In The First Place
By 11.12.12
After several months of being lied to by Verizon customer service about his bill, it looks like a customer finally got the company to realize its error and zero out his account — except for the $17.50 in fees that shouldn’t have been assessed in the first place, and which has the customer fending off a collections agency. [More]
Verizon Says I Can Port Numbers Without Paying ETF, Charges Me $910 ETF Anyway
By 11.8.12
When Consumerist reader Jill’s husband left his job at Verizon earlier this year, he’d been told that he could port all five of the wireless lines on their family’s account to another carrier without paying any early termination fees, and so they did. But when that final bill came from VZW, they suddenly owed nearly $1,000 in ETFs. [More]
Verizon Says I Owe Overages For iPhone I Returned 8 Months Ago
By 11.7.12
This past spring, Steve bought a shiny new iPhone 4S. It seemed like a good choice because his son was about to be born, and the 4S has a pretty nice camera for photographing adorable babies. When he got home, he discovered that Verizon’s coverage wasn’t so great there, so he brought the phone back within the initial 14-day return period. They took it back, charged him a restocking fee, no problem. Then, more than six months later, the collection calls began. Wha? [More]
Verizon Sells Me An International Phone That Calls Everyone Except My Friend In Italy
By 10.31.12
Jerrod was making a grand gesture: taking a surprise trip to Italy to propose to his girlfriend, who is serving in the Navy and stationed there. He acquired a phone from Verizon Wireless that he could use in that country in emergencies, but that plan had a flaw: he couldn’t test whether the phone worked in Italy. After all, before traveling to Italy, he wasn’t in Italy. Despite assurances from employees and good online reviews, you can’t be sure that a phone works at your destination before you get there. Jerrod’s phone worked just fine…except to call the one phone number that he needed it to. [More]
How I Got Verizon To Credit Me $300 And Admit My Phone Had No Water Damage
By 10.26.12 — Updated: 10.29.12
When Justin’s phone failed, Verizon Wireless insisted that there was water damage to it, and billed him $299 after initially sending a warranty replacement with no fuss. Then, a month later, Verizon sent the administrator of the account, his mother, a bill for the replacement phone. It had water damage, they insisted, even though the moisture sensors remained un-tripped. Justin babied that phone, and resented the “abuse.zip” file name that Verizon gave the compressed set of pictures that they sent him as proof. So he employed the executive e-mail carpet bomb. [More]
