Create a website detailing exactly how you did it. Then offer it for sale to Verizon. I bet they'd pay dearly to buy your silence.

The skinny of it is that when I signed up for wireless internet (EVDO) service, I asked that the device be billed with my cell phone. There was apparently some issue whereby they asked to issue it with a different area code. I asked if it would affect billing. I was told that it would not. They ended up generating a brand new account for the device, which not only forces me to deal with two payments per month, but also increases the cost by 20 dollars each cycle, as there is a discount if the device is associated with an existing cell. I called and asked that it be switched back. I was told that the billing would be pro-rated and transferred over. I said if that was the case to cancel my automatic billpay for the EVDO device, as it should be zeroed out. I was told that it was zeroed out and that the auto billpay would be canceled. Lo and behold, I was billed twice for the same service: one with a (407) Orlando area code and one with a (617/781) Boston area code.

I called and tried to explain that it was already paid and offered receipts. No dice. Disconnected and transferred continuously. I responded to billing @ verizon.com with the details. No response. Sent certified letter via NetPost Post-e-Digital to ensure not only that something was sent, but also the contents of the letter. They claimed this was never received right up to the point that I brought a scan of the text with a signed letter from a company supervisor at Post-e-Digital.

Basically, the company's claim was that I “overpaid my Florida account and underpaid my Massachusetts account”.

Not once did I receive an apology from them. Only the business day before court did they offer to do anything. Prior to that, they would not, on good faith, fix my credit reports. All this after having complained to the BBB, my state attorney general, etc.

I came to court with receipts from my bank showing payment had been made for over 1200 dollars for over a year, even into the current month! I also called Verizon beforehand, and did not mention this issue and simply asked them to send me a printout of payments received. They even had it listed as received! Still, they were unwilling to listen to me.

I spent a tremendous amount of time compiling paperwork, including the disputes filed with the credit bureaus and proof of debt collectors' contact AFTER the lawsuit was filed.

If anyone wants more detail, let me know. For now, I must sleep.

~ Poodleman

P.S.: I would strongly suggest exhausting all other avenues prior to filing a lawsuit. You cover your bases and build documentation for the case. Make sure that you get as much as possible in writing. Certified mail, email, complaints to official agencies, etc are all great items to have. When I went to court, I said, “your honor, I did beyond what could have been expected of any reasonable human in order to work this out with the defendant. I contacted them via every means that I could think of and it took the business day prior to this case to get any substantive response from them.” This helps regardless of what the matter entails. Keep your paperwork safe! I rented a safe deposit box for this purpose, as I was thinking of doing so anyway. If you are disorganized, keep a set of copies in another location, perhaps with a relative, so that you will always have your material with you.

Do not be afraid to sue if you are truly in the right. If you feel that you cannot achieve your goal after having done everything reasonable and then some, you have earned the right to escalate the matter. And with this escalation, there is a sense of finality, regardless of the outcome.

I respect all your efforts --- good to hear you won
but wouldn't you conclude that your efforts had zero net effect on their business practices?

chipcollector said:Here's a question for you...........

At any time did they offer to settle with you rather than have a judge decide?

If so, what were the offers?????

Thanks

PS CONGRATULATIONS

Yes, they did offer to settle. Their offer was to eat the court costs, zero out the account (really), to stop pursuing payment, and to notify the credit bureaus to delete the account. They never offered to accept responsibility, never apologized, never treated me with any respect, and never offered so much as to pay for my mailing costs for the letters that they claimed never to have received. I told them that the reason for consumer protection laws was to prevent abuse such as this and that to simply do what should have been done (and would have been acceptable) a year earlier was not fair. My wife and I went through tremendous aggravation as a result of their refusal to listen to me up until the point of the lawsuit. I will tell you this though, as I joked with my wife and as I mentioned in court (at some risk), it took not only a lawsuit, but an Eon, that being the Verizon rep's last name in order to get a response. I will forgo giving out her first name or location to offer her some degree of confidentiality, which I probably would not be afforded had they won.

BrainySmurf said:Create a website detailing exactly how you did it. Then offer it for sale to Verizon. I bet they'd pay dearly to buy your silence.

It's a shame that my brother left website design. He could have done it for free and it would have looked more professional than I could manage. Funny thought though...

codename47 said:When I went to court, I said, “your honor, I did beyond what could have been expected of any reasonable human in order to work this out with the defendant.

One note, it isn't necessary to exhaust EVERY possible remedy before suing. Once they break the law, it is broken. As stated, they aren't likely to be in any hurry to fix it. That said, you do want to have a paper trail, but a certified letter followed by non-response is usually sufficient to head down to court.

The "working it out" part becomes more important once the suit is filed, because they'll claim that they tried to settle, and their BS offer of court costs and no money is a joke. Make them pay, and yes it never hurts to haul a rep in personally.

While, factually, I do agree that you are correct in not having to exhaust EVERY available alternative, I personally would do the same again. The reason being is that the atmosphere within the courtroom was quite different and the defendant seemed quite awe-struck with the paper trail that I came in with. When the defendant claimed not to have received the certified letter, I indicated that there were also BBB complaints, emails, etc. This was quite damning evidence and certainly helped my case. Believe me, I would love not only to skip all the miscellaneous crap prior to the lawsuit but also to flay and salt the defendant. However, the paper trail seemed to carry quite a bit of weight with the magistrate.

Still, green for you, as I do agree.

Edit: grammar

so Verizon sent some sort of representative or lawyer to your small claims court case?

great job !!

lesson learned for me .. keep paper trail

good job op.