     MV (Mel) | Tuesday, April 10, 2001 - 07:59 pm 
I filed a complaint against Verizon Select with the Florida Public Service Commission, the Illinois Commerce Commission, Illinois Better Business Bureau, and www.netcomplaints.com. I live in Florida, but had local & long distance from Verizon Select who is located in Illinois. They are a separate division from our local Verizon and they service much of the US. Here's my complaint:
My dispute is with:
Verizon Select
PO Box 3097
Bloomington, IL 61702
I have been trying to resolve this issue for more than 6 months, with no cooperation from Verizon Select.
I called Verizon Select on October 9, 2000 to cancel my home telephone service immediately. The rep told me the service would be discontinued within 48 hours.
Within a few weeks, I received a telephone bill and realized the service was still active and Verizon Select had continued to bill me for the service. On October 27, 2000 I called Verizon Select again to inform them that I had requested the service be disconnected several weeks before. The rep said they had no record of my call but that she would put the cancellation order in immediately.
I explained to her that I should not have to pay for the unused service just because their rep who took my first call failed to correctly enter the information in the system. She said she would refer my billing dispute to the billing department and they would likely credit my account.
On November 9, 2000 I called to see if the service was disconnected. It was not. I once again called Verizon Select to let them know. I was told the order was in and the rep did not understand why the service had not yet been turned off. Meanwhile, Verizon Select continued to bill me. I explained that I would not make any payments to Verizon Select until the dispute with the bill was settled.
The phone bills continued to accumulate monthly until Verizon Select FINALLY canceled the service in the middle of December - 2 months after I first called to cancel.
A few months ago, I made payment arrangements with Verizon Select to pay the past due balance owed, but disputed any billing which occurred after October 9, 2000. I was told I would be notified with the results once the billing department processed my dispute. I have been making the agreed upon payments, but have yet to hear from Verizon regarding my dispute. The amount in dispute is approximately $160 (monthly service charges for the 2 months.)
Today (April 10 2001) I contacted their billing department and was told they will not correct my bill and there's nothing I can do about it. The rep did not want to allow me to speak to a manager or supervisor.
I feel that Verizon Select should do more research into the situation. If they would check their records, they would know that the service was never used after October 9, 2000. I have proof that I vacated the residence by that date and had phone service in my name from my local Verizon at the new home. In addition, new residents moved into the apartment that I moved out of (where they continued to bill me for service). The new residents had phone service installed there in their own name, so how could Verizon Select also continue my service there? There was only one phone jack. All of these points support my statement that I did cancel the service. Instead of researching, Verizon Select just assumes I am untruthful just because their employee failed.
Aside from the complaints listed above, Verizon Select does at least acknowledge that a cancellation request was made by me on October 27, 2000. If that was the case, why did it take 6 weeks from that date to complete the cancellation? Reps at Verizon Select informed me, "that's just how long it takes - and you are responsible for the charges that incur in the meantime." It is an extremely poor business practice, and I believe is just another way to rip off customers. (When I canceled service at a previous apartment, the local Verizon completed the disconnection within 1 hour).
To add insult to injury, the rep on the phone informed me that the service was actually disconnected due to non-payment. Had I actually paid them, who knows how much longer it would have taken for them to cancel the service and bill me in the meantime?
I want Verizon Select to deduct from my bill any charges incurred after October 9, 2000. |
| MV (Mel) | Wednesday, April 18, 2001 - 08:09 pm
Christine, now I recall reading your posts about them. I will NEVER use them again. Unfortunately, Verizon is our local service here but I have not had the problems that I had with Verizon Select, who is a subsidiary and who also provides the cellular service. I'd had the service with Verizon (actually GTE) for several years at the same home. Verizon Select actually solicited my business right out from under the local Verizon by offering some great deal (that didn't turn out to be so great after all!) without even having to change my phone number. To do it, they put a hard inquiry on my credit report which I was not informed of! I didn't even find out about that stupid inquiry until a few months ago when I got my report. |
