Catching customer service in a lie (Verizon this time)
12You ever catch customer service reps in a lie? Well this just happened to me tonight. I’ve been trying to find out for 3 days now why all 4 lines on our family plan each have different surcharge amounts and this is a snippet of what happened: 
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Afaik, the only “taxes” on a cell bill are the items called “tax” or “taxes”. The other items are your “voluntary” contributions to your cell company’s well-being; those charges that fall outside your regular plan charges and ought to be prohibited by law; these costs never seem to be disclosed to you when you signed up for service, and are also subject to change without notice.
They are exactly like those extra items not called “tax” or “taxes” on the dealer’s invoice when you purchase a car.
Haven’t dealt w Verizon. However, their CSR’s may not be actually lying - their companies may deliberately undereducated them or give them false or confusing education about these items. The purpose of a CSR are at cell company or cable comany is to calm you down and keep you from leaving, not to give accurate info or solve your problem.
In my experience, in particular anyone working at an overseas CS center, from the newest employee up to the CS center manager, will be either unable or unwilling to do anything but waste your time on issues like these. However, these overseas people will be incredibly polite as they misinform you, fail to answer questions, fail to resolve anything, and contribute to your circulatory problems.
@f00l Seconding this. I’d be surprised if that individual front-line support person wasn’t communicating in good faith.
Her corporate overloards who should give her accurate information, on the other hand… they’ll know that what they tell customer service types is what will get told to customers, in the style of a game of Telephone. They’d rather you be nickeled and dimed by “taxes” than go to the extra effort/cost to make it clear that you’re paying Verizon to help Verizon pay its own taxes or government-mandated fees.
Ah. Mystery fees. Comcast tried to get me with a similar one. They added a “Universal TV Fee” around January this year. If you ask them, they will tell you it is a tax. But like Verizon it is just a donation to their coffers.
Thing is, I don’t have any TV service from Comcast. When I called them about they promised to fix it. Next month: surprise! Your being charged for TV service now. And the Universal TV Fee is still there.
Called again and flipped my shit. Refused to pay any bills. Threatened to involve my state’s AG. Took 2 more months to resolve. I wish I could ditch Comcast, but I have no other broadband options.
@fibrs86 I just made my very last phone call EVER to the filth that is Comcast since I just moved to an area that has Google Fiber. I will never have to negotiate service fees ever again!
I really lucked out on this one (and I’m sad that more people don’t have the opportunity to get away from Comcast…), but it sure makes life better!
Mystery fees should be sufficient justification for putting the CEO, top management, and the Board of Directors into stocks for a year.
This post kind of makes me sad. It’s just reps trying to do a job with the tools and info given to them. If you’re really gunning to make waves, different channels will be more effective. BBB, social media, look into who the local muckity mucks are, etc. Additionally, you can file a complaint with the FCC if you feel you’re being charged illegally. https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/understanding-your-telephone-bill
@alexthegirl BBB is particularly good for this, I have found. I actually just filed a BBB claim against verizon yesterday. There were thousands of claims but all marked as “resolved to the customers satisfaction”, so your pretty much guaranteed to get some of what you want.
@MrGlass
The BBB allows businesses to decide that the claim was resolved to the cistomer’s safisfaction. Perhaps many of them are so resolved. And a fair # not so resolved.
@alexthegirl
I am not commenting on CSR’s. Only their corporate higher-ups.
@f00l I didnt know that. During the BBB process I had to accept the businesses response, and I assumed if I didnt it would show up not to my satisfaction.
Either way, BBB is an easy way to break through to top tier CS
@alexthegirl @MrGlass BBB has been very helpful to me in everything from a car sale where the dealer tried to walk off with the registration fees and taxes to roofers. I recommend them in any situation like this. Even when they can’t get it resolved, they are very helpful and know where I should go next. In my experience.
Verizon sold us to Frontier. We haven’t had internet service in our area since 08/21 - especially lovely with a budding hurricane about to hit us. Calling them is like talking to the proverbial brick wall - WHEN you can actually get them to answer the phone. First living tech. whom finally answered on 08/23 says our area is down because they are “upgrading the system in our area”. Called back yesterday & different tech. insists that our internet should be working … insists we go thru all the motions of making sure our modem is plugged in, etc. Yeah, right - like we wouldn’t check that first? Even the guy in the Frontier truck down the road working on the box all week admits our entire area is down, has been down, & they have NO idea when it will be restored; so why lie to us on the phone? On the up side, I have learned how to use my cell phone as a mobile hot spot for my laptop, but that doesn’t help at all with the DirecTV issues about needing the internet to update whatever it needs.
One of these days, there’s going to be a lawsuit about the way companies claim that their “fees” are “taxes”. A tax is something directly charged by the government. A fee that pays for a different government fee should be called a surcharge at best, not a tax. IE, “911 Surcharge” shows up on all of my bills.
Like when they say “Thank you for calling.”
@thismyusername
"We value your time"
@f00l
"Your call is important to us."
After Vonage lost a lawsuit over patent infringement, they concocted a new “Intellectual Property Fee” for “legal compliance expenses”. It started at $1/month and quickly ballooned to $3/mo. I threatened to cancel and was put on a 1-year discount where my plan was $10/mo. After taxes and fees it was still pushing $20.
I’m with Ooma now.
@SpenceMan01 Yes, Ooma. When I got my device I told my phone company to sit and spin on their fists.
Although, my Ooma phone started out costing less than $3 a month, but now costs over $5 – I know that’s splitting hairs, but a 66% increase is pretty significant.
@SpenceMan01 ooma is my go to. Although I do wish they offered more service tiers. Currently I pay taxes and fees only so it’s a couple of dollars a month. I would love to be able to pay for Google voice integration without all the rest. Or if I could just pay a small amount to allow automatic call forwarding. Still Ooma is the best option if you want to keep a landline and keep everyone from having your cell number.
@Jasonf1984 have you checked out Obihai?
@walarney I have thought about it, especially when I see it on sale but I honestly don’t think it’s worth the change ooma is good enough. Tbh I am a former medic and I believe it’s important to have 911 service and pay for it. I haven’t looked into it recently but I think that there has been problems with obihi and getting the proper 911 information. I like that knowing my daughter can call and be pretty certain that they will be able to help even if she can’t give info.
@Jasonf1984 I did subscribe to a 911 service for my Obi for a while, but gave it up at some point during the Google Voice going away/not going away debacle. For me, Obi was a (free/one time cost) way to keep our phone number (which is connected to various rewards programs and such) while not continuing to pay for a landline (and have a backup if cell service goes down for some reason).
Dissertation what now?
Verizon - Ack! I dropped them for cell phone service a year ago. And while Comcast also sucks wind (I will drop them for cable once my contract is up), somehow - Xfinity Mobile (separate entity) has remained great for me. I never have to contact anyone for problems, and my service always works. My bill is always very low, and total taxes and fees every month is around $1.28 to $2.24 (depending on gigs used) - no extra fake charges for anything. I am just waiting for the ball to drop when Comcast realizes they have a good and fair service, and decide to correct that situation.
@mfladd I wondered about that. I have them scheduled to hook up new internet when I move next week and the guy told me they have cell service for a pretty good rate and unlimited and there’s no throttle cap (they operate thru Verizon towers). I hadn’t heard anyone with it to make a judgement call. Good to hear!
@lseeber Surprisingly, it’s great. And I am in the same boat you are - I need Verizon towers for my work geography. I notice no difference at all. This service is sooooooo much cheaper than Verizon. Look at this thread I started a year ago about it.
https://meh.com/forum/topics/xfinity-mobile---thoughts
To have the cell service you do have to remain a Comcast Internet customer. That is not a problem for me since they’re the only game in town with the speeds that I require.
I did have to purchase a new phone since at that time I was due for an upgrade. I don’t know if they are providing chips for other device yet. Something to look into if you have a newer phone.
@mfladd Great to hear! Thanks for the info and the link. I had a hard time believing the guy when he told me $45 and no cap. I will def be giving him a call. I have a Moto z force and I think they can only transfer the moto z force 2 according to their list online. But that’s okay too. My phones been acting hinky for a while now anyway. Thanks!
I’ve been held captive by Verizon for 20 yrs. They are the only service that works where I live and that’s even a fringe area. Next week… I move… and I’ll be free!!! I never had too many complaints about them until this past yr after my husband died and they screwed me over a few times. And not in a good way. Right after I move, they’re gone!! hallelujah!
@lseeber Look into TMo I live in rural east Texas and Verizon used to be the only network with service at my house. Tmo actually has a stronger signal and , faster service at my location now. I would never have guessed that 6 years or so ago. I use Mint Mobile using tmo towers and the service is going to get significantly better once they begin turning on more of their 600mhz spectrum. In a couple of years they will be a true Verizon competitor at least in 4g.
@Jasonf1984 I’ll take a look but are they local to you? I’ve never heard of either.
@lseeber never heard of T-mobile? Or Mint Mobile. Mint mobile is just a mvno of T-mobile. Like Cricket uses AT&T or Boost mobile uses Sprint network.
@lseeber I was very pleased and pleasantly surprised I would have never dreamed that T-Mobile would have worked in our area in a hundred years. Good luck I have gone to prepaid and never look back don’t regret it a day in my life.
@Jasonf1984 Oh… hahaha… TMobile, yes… doesnt work out where I currently am. Had it when I moved here and had to drop it. Mint, no… not familiar with that.
@lseeber how long ago was this? In rural east Texas it did not work until the last couple of years. I am sorry that you are stuck with Verizon. There’s ways to get Verizon service without the bs fees, high prices. Rokmobile.com offers a very competitive plan and so does red pocket if you are willing to pay for 6 months to a year in advance. https://www.cnet.com/news/mint-sim-vs-red-pocket-which-carrier-has-the-better-240-annual-plan/ if you wait around for a good coupon it’s even better.
@Jasonf1984 It’s been a while but other people that visit with it can’t use it out here however, I’m moving next week and will have all options available. I was hostage to Verizon for 20 yrs but no more after next week!!
@lseeber I am glad that you are going to have other options. I went as far as building a large reapeter antenna on my house to get away from Verizon b4 tmo service improved. Once you get where you are going I encourage you to look into mint or red pocket vs going with the big 4. Red pocket uses all 4 networks and provides very reasonable prices as long as you are willing to pay 6 months to a year. Same with Mint, mint is the best on the market price wise as long as you pay upfront for 3, 6 or 12 months.
Howdy, I’m a Verizon Wireless tech support agent that also works in chat. This isn’t an official message or anything, just my 2 cents.
All of the Verizon customer service is US based (since I saw someone commenting on overseas) It definitely sounds like this person was misinformed at some point. Our internal resources and training, just like the external FAQ you shared with them are pretty clear that there’s a distinction between taxes and surcharges. The surcharges are not legally required but many of them do go directly towards taxes that Verizon Wireless pays. Without knowing too much about the situation my best guess is that your lines have different usage addresses. As an example for me I have some lines that are used in Ohio and some lines that are used in Michigan and I have the addresses set to match. The Ohio lines pay different regulatory surcharges because of the Ohio address. That’s something you normally will see with taxes as well.
A few yrs back I was having a prob (don’t remember what)… and called them… I was given an answer. The next billing cycle… problem still existed. I called again. Was given totally different answer and I said what the other person had told me. They told me… “he lied”.