Complaint Review: Verizon - Atlanta Georgia

I bought an iPad a year ago and signed up with Verizon for a data plan.  A few weeks into the service, I began to get popup messages on the iPad that said that I was out of data and that if I wanted to connect to the internet, I would need to purchase more.

I knew that I had not used up all my data for that month, so I called Verizon.  Simply getting in touch with someone took nearly an hour.  They confirmed that I had plenty of data left on my plan and said that there was a glitch that caused me to receive that message.  They then walked me through a "reprovisioning" process that was supposed to fix the problem.

I told them that whether or not a glitch caused this problem, it was a dishonest business practice and that I couldn't help but wonder how many people got the message that they needed to purchase more data while they still had plenty left on their plan, and how many gave Verizon more money to purchase data they didn't need.

I kept getting these messages pretty much every month, but I began simply to ignore them, as they didn't affect the functionality of the iPad - I was able to access the internet through Verizon even though it kept telling me (inaccurately) that I was out of data.  While I still found this to be dishonest and illegal, I didn't feel like wasting my time by calling them about it.

Then, a few days ago, I received the same popup message saying that I was out of data, but this time my iPad would not let me connect with the internet through Verizon's service.  I knew, once again, that I was nowhere close to using up all my data for the month, so I called them.  I told them again that this practice is dishonest and illegal and that it is not right to treat their customers this way.

The first person I spoke with at Verizon wanted to walk me through the reprovisioning process again.  When I told her that they had walked me through that once before, and it didn't resolve the issue, she got snippy with me, so I asked to speak with her supervisor.

When I spoke with her supervisor, the connection in the phone call went bad, and I asked her if she could call me back so the connection would reset, which she did.  After listening to what had happened, she told me that she would need to get tech support involved and tried to connect with me with tech support.

After she tried to connect me with them, I heard something that sounded like heavy breathing on the other end of the line (as in Darth Vader style heavy breathing).  After listening to this for a short while and asking if anyone could hear me or was on the line (no response), I stated that I was going to begin recording the phone call, which I did for a minute or so before disconnecting.

I figured that if there was some glitch or something that caused this, the person I spoke with would call me back, seeing as how she had my number and had used it a few minutes earlier to call me, but she did not.  This kind of behavior is unconscionable.  How many people out there are purchasing data from Verizon because they are told that they are out of data when they are not?

My iPad still will not work on Verizon's network.  While I'd like to get that issue resolved, I am more concerned with holding Verizon accountable for these dishonest business practices.