Equipment Charges, misinformation, theft by deception

[FrankB51]

     I've had an ordeal going on with Verizon since May. I'll condense it as much as possible. I had 2 defective devices which Verizon was gracious enough to replace. I ended up moving residences and had misplaced the phones. I found them a few days before the worry free guarantee period was up. Whenever I received the shipping labels from Verizon it was the last day of that period. I spoke with a representative on the phone who assured me that as long as they had the tracking number and was able to verify it they could accept that as "in their possession" so I would not incur the equipment charges.

     I was providing this lady with the number and for reasons unknown to me she couldn't verify the number. Meanwhile I had it in plain view on the USPS website AND went back to the post office and they pulled it up on their website as well. At this point I was on the phone for nearly 2 hours. So I called back the next day and the representative at that point verified my tracking number. She assured me that although we were beyond the guarantee by 1 day (due to the previous representative not being able to enter the tracking number correctly) that I would NOT be charged. Needless to say I had a charge of $1,199 appear on my account just a few days later.

     I spoke with a supervisor the next day who assured me that the charge would be lifted after he filed some type of appeal that the warehouse reviews seeing as they're the ones who issue the credit. Low and behold it was denied. So another appeal was filed and this took far too long and I was never contacted back. I am skipping a lot of minor irrelevant things that occurred between May to August 14th. It was mainly me attempting to get answers faster. During this period I have accrued hundreds of dollars of charges in disconnect and late fees. Mind you, Verizon HAS THE 2 DEVICES I WAS CHARGED FOR IN THEIR POSSESSION.

     Let's now go to August 14th. I spoke with ANOTHER supervisor who told me that I'm out of luck. The information from the previous representatives (plural) was incorrect and I am stuck with the $1,199 charge. So at this point I am done with the situation. Here's the kicker. Since I now have paid for the devices they are MINE. So I simply asked that they send MY 2 devices back to me since I paid for them (not by choice, but by Verizon's inability to adhere to what they tell their customers) and I was told "I am sorry but we will not be returning the devices." Why is that? I have now paid $1,199 for 2 items that Verizon refuses to give to me. Which is theft by deception no matter how large of a company you are. So now they have my money and the devices that I have paid for. They refuse to refund my money OR give me the items that I have now paid for.

     What makes this situation even more frustrating is their lack of proper note taking. Each phone call I place is nearly an hour. Which I have come to find out, due to numerous representatives blurting this out, is because of previous representatives not documenting my account. Each time I speak with them I get so frustrated that I literally get dizzy. It's such a stressful situation that it has literally ruined weeks of my life this last few months. All I want at this point is my $1,199 refunded or the 2 devices that I was charged for. Nobody on the phone will give me answers. So hopefully speaking in this forum and/or emails until I get a proper phone call from a corporate member will help to solve this issue.

     Quick recap: Verizon tells me they will accept the returns, changes their mind multiple times, charges me, keeps my items.

[#2]

File a small claims court case in your locale.

Add on any monies for late charges or reconnect charges or time lost from work, transportation costs etc. and include the filing fee to the court. The court clerk will assist you in your filing and you need no lawyer.

Send a certified return receipt letter to the billing address from your invoice and dispute the charges they say you owe. make sure you keep a copy of the letter, and the green card receipt when it comes back to you. You will need this when going to court. Add in the cost of the letter in your filing.

Also make sure you have all the tracking information for the devices, and the tracking on the certified letter.

Once the judge sees this evidence you will get paid by Verizon.

Good Luck