After 15 Years With Verizon: Show Me Where I Authorized This…read more
This review concerns my experience with Cellular Sales representative Aaron Hatfield.
I was a loyal Verizon customer for approximately 15 years. What began as a simple request to activate a replacement phone for my daughter ultimately resulted in thousands of dollars in expenses, months of frustration, the end of my Verizon service, and now a disputed $508 collection account affecting my credit.
Here is what happened.
My daughter had a broken phone. I purchased an upgraded replacement phone for her online. While she was at the Cellular Sales Verizon Authorized Retailer in Waynesville, North Carolina, Aaron Hatfield called me and asked whether I authorized him to activate the replacement phone.
I said yes.
My authorization was very specific: activate the new phone I had purchased for my daughter on the same existing line that her broken phone had been using.
I did not authorize three additional devices. I did not knowingly authorize additional lines or new 36-month device-payment obligations.
Yet afterward, I discovered that three devices and additional long-term financial obligations had been added to my account.
My daughter was told the devices were "free." What was not adequately explained was that another device on my account had recently been paid off. Because that previous device payment disappeared, a new payment could take its place without making the monthly Verizon bill look significantly higher.
To me, that is not the same thing as a genuinely free phone.
Had I understood that new multi-year obligations were being created, I would not have agreed to them. I had other cellular options available, including service connected with my Spectrum Internet service, and I could have made a completely different decision.
What followed was months of trying to straighten out the account.
I spent considerable time dealing with phones, returns, passwords, Verizon, Cellular Sales, and continuing monthly charges. While working in Pennsylvania, I even spent several hours making a Sunday round trip to an Apple Store in Pittsburgh so I could regain access to a phone and return it properly with documentation.
By the time I finally managed to separate myself from Verizon, I had incurred approximately $2,500 in costs and payments while trying to resolve a situation that began with my authorization for one simple phone activation.
Eventually, after approximately 15 years as a Verizon customer, I cancelled my service.
Or at least I thought I did.
Verizon cancelled my primary telephone number, but two other lines associated with the account remained active and continued accumulating charges.
Those additional charges eventually totaled approximately $508.
That disputed amount has now been sent to a collection agency and is creating further damage to my credit.
After everything I have gone through, I have a very simple request for Cellular Sales and Verizon:
Show me where I authorized these transactions.
If I authorized three additional devices, show me my authorization.
If I agreed to additional lines, show me where I agreed.
If I accepted 36-month device-payment obligations, show me the agreement, signature, electronic acceptance, timestamp, authorization link, recording, or other documentation proving it.
And if Verizon believes I intentionally wanted those additional lines to remain active after I cancelled my service, show me the record demonstrating that request.
I am not asking anyone reading this review simply to take my word for what happened. I am asking Cellular Sales and Verizon to examine their own records.
If those records establish that I knowingly authorized everything that was added, produce them.
If they cannot, then I believe the companies should correct the consequences.
That should include recalling the disputed $508 from collections, correcting any resulting negative credit reporting, providing a complete accounting of what was added to my account and why, and having someone with sufficient authority contact me to resolve this matter.
After approximately 15 years as a loyal Verizon customer, I believe I deserved better than this.
I am willing to provide Verizon or Cellular Sales with my supporting documentation privately. I will not publish account numbers or confidential information.
I am simply asking one question:
If I authorized all of this, SHOW ME.
