Sorry for over reacting, sometimes I get upset

First week of this past November I made a long distance collect call to my sweetie to tell her that though the Amtrak was some three hours late, dropped me off about 3:00AM in a strange town, I was OK. Then when I got back home and the Verizon bill came it was surprising to see that call, short as it was, amounted to over $30.00. Well so what ! one call in a 'special' situation is OK, so is the charge from the secondary company. BUT, we paid the bill promptly when it came in December, then they sent the charge a second time in January. After 20 minutes on hold they informed my bride that it was OK to leave out the amount of the collect call as they see it had been paid. Well my goodness gracious, here we are again, being billed a third time, and this time with a late charge. It seems that Verizon, the company which advertises so much and tells us how great their services are can't quite manage to figure out how to operate their billing system. Unless, that is, they feel they can make enough off of the people who don't check their bills. Ever try to quit a Verizon service ? They argue, bicker, harangue and fuss over why they just can't let you go. Enough ! My letters to our Attorney General and Utilities and Transportation offices may not do much, but at least I still have the right to complain. A'int this a heck of a note to put in the worlds foremost Gardening site. Well we are allowed to rant, within reason.
My apologies.

I hear ya Balvenie.
I'm a Verizon subscriber also.
I am CONSTANTLY being disconnected from my calls. I've visited my VZ office numerous times to try to get this rectified. They have "fix" after "Fix" after "FIX" - still I'm disconnected. Verizon charges me $34 a month for 5 hours. I spend most of that time initiating calls.... that don't connect or are cut off - then I attempt to connect again. There has GOT to be a tech explanation/solution to this problem. If not. I feel I've been extorted by Verizon.
Anyone out there who works for Verizon who can shed some light on this calamity?
Susie

I will personally tell you how much I dislike Verizon. 5 years ago I had several family verizon cell phones....No one in the family liked their service and they were always rude. I called to see when our 2 year contract expired, they gave me a date and then charged me 450.00 for early termination of one week. I was so angry that I told them to try and ruin my credit...i didn't care.................5 years later, they are still trying to collect and it is the only thing negative on my credit report....hasn't hurt me one bit...................creditors know about these telephone guys....kinda like the gym scam that goes on so many times....I am still very happy that i did not pay them....and won't ever...comes off of my credit report in less than 2 years....LOL

My sister called to have my mom's phone turned off... she wasn't allowed to because she wasn't authorized on the account. Luckily one of my parents at some point had told them that I could make changes on their account, otherwise, I guess we would have ended up with a bill after they shut it off for non payment--who knows how many months that would have been. My mom passed away, she can't cancel her service herself.

A friend called and tried to cancel her long distance package. She was told that her husband was the only person authorized to make changes on the account. Her husband passed away last year shortly after my mom did. They refuse to let her do anything to the account, and told her that they had to speak with her husband.

Moral of the story, if you have Verizon, MAKE SURE that you have both adults in the house authorized to make changes to the account, and if you have children, give them their name as an authorized person as well.

Try Singular instead. We have never had a problem with them. Would NEVER, EVER get MCI. We would do without service before we would have them in our house. LIZ

I'm talking about land lines... out here we don't have a choice, only in the long distance carrier.

Drop your long distance carrier altogether and get onesuite.com. If you're way out there like I am you probably won't have a local access line but that's ok, just a few more numbers to punch in. It's 2.5 cents per minute anywhere in the States (if I remember correctly) and overseas rates are amazing too. You buy as much time as you want (I usually just give them $20 and add another $20 when it gets below $5). I've been using them for, what?, maybe three or four years and don't have to deal with Verizon (before I moved) or ATT (now) long distance. Just make sure no one (including you) forgets and just dials the number straight. If you don't have a long distance service the cost would probably be astronomical. They give you a little card to print out so you can have one in your wallet when you're not at home and I have one taped on the phone too. These have all the info you need to know for dialing anywhere. It's waaay better than the phone companies' services.

Am I ever glad to see this thread. Our cell phone contracts are up in a few months
and it gives me food for thought on which company NOT to use.

:-) Karen Marie

On the other hand, Verizon is the most reliable cell provider in this area. After Hurricane Isabel in 2003, the people who had no problem getting through with their cell phones had Verizon. We have never had trouble with dropped calls, or access. When we were in Mississippi last summer, the people in our group who did not have Verizon had to borrow Verizon phones to call home. We tried Alltel, and Sprint, and neither one worked reliably at our home in Virginia, or our farmhouse in NC. We lodged complaints many times, but nothing ever changed. They always seemed to fail when we really needed them (like after the hurricane) Verizon has worked everywhere for us.

LOL I won't even tell you what my DH calls Verizon every month when he writes out the bill...but it's not nice at all.

If you have Verizon wireless and want out check this site out, gives you an idea how.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/12/verizon-increases-sms-rates-customers-now-free-of-their-contr/

We have T-Mobile cell phones, they are pretty great for around here. The family plan costs around $100 a month for the three of us. My husband, myself and my teenage daughter.

I think it all depends on how many towers are in your area, about the service you get. I have Cingular, and I have to stand on my deck, on one foot, with tinfoil on my head to get a signal.

You should post a picture!
We have Midwest Wireless. They are expanding, to cover the country. Some of the best service you ever had. They are also our internet provider. That is also wireless. Super fast.
My bill is $99 a month. That's the internet service & 2 cell phones. Unlimited minutes. Only time we pay extra is when we are very far from home. Last time we had extra charges we were 200 miles away for a whole weekend. My wife likes to use the phone! Only had $4.50 extra on that months bill. When we first had this service, we had some lapse in hookup. Now the only time I have trouble is inside some of the big stores or if I am between some hills on the road. I think about 90% of the people here are using MW. They also have super internet. All spam is thrown in a hopper. You bet an E-mail about once a week. You can go through it & decide if you want to open something. If not you just hit select all & it is gone forever. Also no viruses can get through.
Bernie

OMG what a picture defoecat, too funny! Thanks for the laugh this morning, I have to go wipe up now! LOL

One of the main reasons I do NOT have a cell phone.....

How much tin foil and which foot do you stand on? Will try it if I have to use our cell phone. Only it will have to be in our driveway.

Hi Robert, kind of wondered what you were up to these days...I see now, a fruitless battle with a corporate giant who can do as they please. I have Cingular and have had excellent service but I may lose them at some point because I will have to upgrade my phone, and if I do, the plan I have now which is a real cheapie will no longer be available. At that point, I may buy one of those pay as you go phones, because I do not use mine much at all. Nice to see you haven't lost your spunk.

Bonnie, we do need a picture.......LOL

My family of seven (all of them grown and away from home now) all have Verizon and we have never had a bit of trouble with them. I have very few places in my travels where I am not covered by a tower, and they all find the same thing. We talk to each other for free, of course. Most of us had service with other companies and were dissatisfied with all of them (dropped calls, poor general service, no towers where we went, prices going up, no help with less expensive plans, etc.). All of us have discontinued our land lines to save money. My Verizon phone is actually an obsolete model, but it still works great, does all I need, and they service it if necessary. We've all been really pleased with Verizon. I think all companies have unhappy customers although we might not hear about them.