Verizon Termination ChargeSince December 2008, I have been having this ongoing Verizon phone saga. In short, I signed up with an "authorized" Verizon sales representative who sold me a plan that I was not eligible for. Verizon switched me over, put me on a plan that was the closest thing to what I signed up for and I was being billed twice as much as my previous phone company. I complained month after month about being overcharged and ultimately gave up a few weeks ago, and switched to a new provider to lower my costs.

First, let me say this is not my cell phone - this is my office business lines. I was perfectly happy with my previous provider, but I was told I can save about 8% each month, if I would switch. I switched, and was being billed by Verizon twice as much as my previous provider. I called Verizon after my first bill to cancel, but they put me on a new plan to make up the difference. Ultimately, my bill was still turning out to be about twice as much each month and after months and months of arguing, I switched.

Now my bill is a flat rate, set - and about half of what I was paying Verizon.

I received a bill this week from Verizon for over $200 for a termination charge. I called to explain the situation. I said, this should all be in your account notes, but I explained what the whole situation. Verizon told me, they only keep notes for up to 2 months and then delete them. In short, the rep didn't believe me but gave me a 50% discount on the termination charge.

Clearly, I am not happy. I think I am an honest person. I feel like a stupid Verizon sales rep (not on purpose) switched me to a plan that ended up costing me more. Verizon led me to hang with them just long enough so I can't switch out without paying a termination fee. Now I am stuck paying over a $100 for a service that cost me double, per month, what I was paying, with no added value.

A Verizon rep should be calling me next week to give me the run around again. I'll pay the $100+, simply cause I cannot waste anymore time on this. But I hope you all seriously think twice before switching your landlines to Verizon.

Update: On 10/16/09 a billing specialist called me back. I gave her the short version, she put me on hold for a few seconds after giving me a big sigh. She then came on and said, I have deducted the whole termination fee, please just pay the usage fees. So I mailed out a check for that.