Global Voice Plan a Joke

[lbsouth]

I recently went on a cruise and was told prior by other Verizon members that there was a way to be able to call home and not be charged $1.99 a minute.  I called Verizon the day we left, asked the rep about it, whom was super nice by the way.  She says of course there is, let me add this Global voice plan for $4.99.  She asks where we are going, I tell her just a cruise to the Bahamas.  She assures me that the $4.99 charge will cover my calls, as long as I use only my phone which is the line she is putting it on, and not my husbands.  So throughout the 5 days we were gone, we called multiple times to check on our 21 month old, thinking this is all covered by this $4.99 charge.  Imagine my surprise, when I received an almost $500 verizon bill this month!!! I even called a week after we got back to have the global services removed.  The girl I spoke to then couldn't find the charge at first, finally did, but then wasn't able to tell me if I was going to have overages on the next bill because "it wasn't posted yet". I asked again about the global voice, and this rep assured me again, "No ma'am, you should not have any roaming charges on your bill due to the global voice plan, if you do when the bill posts, please call us back and we will be glad to help you".  Well, when my husband called tonight because we saw our bill, we're now told there's nothing they can do about it.

Be weary.  Apparently verizon does not stand behind what their reps say, doesn't care about the customers, and/or needs to educate the reps in a better fashion. I'm still trying to wrap my head around why they would think I would want an extra $5 on my bill if I'm going to have to pay $1.99 a minute anyways.  And obviously, I wouldn't have called so much if I had known I was having to pay this kind of money.

If anyone has any help for this situation, I'd appreciate it.  If not, hopefully it's a PSA for anyone that may be mislead like I was.