Why I Switched to T-Mobile after 18 Years (1996-2014) as a Verizon Wireless Customer - 1 of 3
Short Answer
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My horrible experience with Verizon Wireless revealed a callous indifference to customer interests and concerns in a single-minded pursuit of revenue.
A timeline of my experience is as follows.
Thu 3/27/14
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I visited a Verizon Wireless store to upgrade my phone, but I went totally unprepared to engage with a slick salesperson. It did not occur to me that I needed to guard against getting hoodwinked, because upgrading my phone had always been a routine process. Also, since I had been getting a single bill for my landline and mobile services, I was not aware that Verizon and Verizon Wireless were now separate entities. Therefore I was not aware that a change regarding my home phone would completely severe my relationship with Verizon and upend the quality of service I was getting from them.
I brought my latest bill with me to expedite the process of exchanging pertinent information. The salesperson looked at the bill and exclaimed that I could save money. I ended up being sold a 4-line More Everything plan that included (1) the phone, (2) a mobile hotspot (which I liked), (3) a cellular modem for my computer, and (4) a device called the Home Phone Connect (HPC) for my landline.
I was dubious about replacing my unlimited data with this new plan's 1 gigabyte of data. But I was assured that 1 gigabyte could fit my needs. Since I thought that Verizon and Verizon Wireless were the same company, I thought that the cellular modem and HPC were just replacement devices for my Verizon service. I did not know that I would be terminating my Verizon service and signing up for devices that involved Early Termination Fees (ETF).
When I was asked to sign my name on the salesperson's iPad and was told that the paperwork would be emailed to me, I thought I was merely signing my credit card receipt. If I had known that I was signing a contract for the cellular modem and HPC that involved ETF's, I would have backed out. It was not explained to me what I was signing, and I was not offered a chance to read it. (In contrast the T-Mobile salespersons made sure that I read everything before signing.)
Fri 3/28/14
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After reading the morning paper with my iPad Wall Street Journal app, I was shocked to see an email alerting me that I had exceeded my data allowance. The email advised me to increase my data plan to avoid an overage charge. I increased the plan to 2 gigabytes. My promised savings had thereby shrunk!
Sat 3/29/14
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I took the cellular modem and HPC to the Verizon store to return them and revert back to Verizon's cooper line and unlimited data. After the salesperson spoke with the store manager, I was told that they concluded that the email alert must have been in error, because I could not have used all my data. I was told that 2 gigabytes was more than enough for normal computing, and besides I could bring in a bill and have glitches corrected. Not believing that I would be willfully misled, I fell for that explanation.
Wed 4/2/14
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I received another shocking email alert about exceeding my data allowance and that I should increase my data plan to avoid overage charges. Examination of my data usage indicated that the iPad Wall Street Journal app was using a quarter gigabyte per day. Still relying on the veracity of the Verizon Wireless salespersons, I concluded that this could not be correct. I figured that perhaps a calculation involving prorated data usage was amiss. I decided to wait until the start of my full monthly cycle on 4/7 to examine the readings on my data usage.
Besides the data usage headache, it had become clear that the HPC had three significant shortcomings. They were (1) inferior sound quality, (2) inability to fax, and (3) the Caller ID displayed the number only - no name.
The third shortcoming was extremely maddening, because even though my number is on the Do Not Call list I still get numerous junk phone calls. I routinely ignore calls that show "Unavailable" or something similar. Screening calls became surprising difficult with the HPC. I was avoiding legitimate calls whose number I did not immediately recognize. And I was picking up (and immediately hanging up) on junk calls with a local area code.
Tue 4/8/14
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On this new monthly cycle, I checked my data usage and saw that my iPad Wall Street Journal app was indeed using a quarter gigabyte per day for one and a half gigabytes per week. My other computer usage was a quarter gigabyte per week. It became clear that I had been misled, and that a limited data plan - though OK for a mobile phone - was totally inappropriate for combined phone and home computing usage.
Sorry, I've reached Yelp's character limit! Read the rest of my experience at:
http://verizon-wireless.pissedconsumer.com/why-i-left-verizon-wireless-20140801517259.html read more