Number, Please

It began when Verizon sent an offer that seemed too good to be true—and it ends that it was too good to be true, but I needed to take the journey to realize that.

The Freedom bundle put together my local, long distance, and DSL services in one attractive package at $69.99 a month, an offer I simply couldn’t refuse. Sign me up, I said, and they did. I called AT&T and canceled my previous service, thrilled to be saving money (finally) on monthly telephone service.

Ha: the laugh is on me.

The first V bill was $130.80, almost double what I was supposed to pay. I called V and questioned the bill, but it had to do with changing over my service yada yada yada. Okay, so I paid the extortion and waited, as was suggested, for the next bill to reflect the correct amount.

The bill came: $99.26, better, but still significantly over the promised $69.99 per month, so I started the calling process. It used to take one call, but now, it takes all day and a dozen different people and extensions to get no results!

Lauren at V, told me that the $69.99 is, indeed the correct price—for the Freedom bundle—but the DSL service is additional; hence, the $99.26, which is the correct amount.

No, I replied, that is NOT what I was told: $69.99 for the whole deal.

Well, repeated Lauren, the $99.26 is the correct price, and she was sorry I had been given incorrect information. Is there anything else she can help me with?

Yeah: I now was paying V a total of $230.06 to get phone service that was going to cost me $69.99 a month, or a total of $140, $90 less than I have already paid. Not acceptable.

When I asked Lauren for the BEST price V could give me on local and long distance calling, she said … the Freedom bundle, at $69.99 was it. I hung up and called back to AT&T, my former carrier.

That took a full hour and 4 different people: no one person could actually tell me how much it would cost to go back to the service I had with them previously—and add on DSL. At the end of the very long hour of getting nowhere, I was finally told that AT&T does not provide DSL in my area, effectively ending the discussion.

I did change back to the AT&T basic local and long distance service, but with the additional fee for “local” long distance and toll fees: 5¢ per minute, with no clear definition as to what “local” long distance is and how it differs from toll calls. However, at $26.95 per month, when added to the $31.99 for the V DSL, I was going to be ahead: $58. 94 total, but I'll have to pay 5¢ per minute for my TiVo to update each night, which may cost about $5 per month, so I’m still under the V Freedom basic phone service, and $35 under V + DSL service.

Great; time to call back V and tell them scrap the telephone service and just leave the DSL service intact.

Ah, said Pat, you have really been given misinformation. Surprise!

Seems that if the proper coupons/credits had been given, indeed the combined Freedom bundle + DSL would have been $69.99 per month, so would I like to correct that error and continue with my V service?

Why hadn’t Lauren told me that? I began 2 hours ago with V, with Lauren, and she indicated that $69.99 is the bottom rate for V telephone service.

Pat has no idea what my conversation was with Lauren, but … she wishes I had talked to her first because she could resolve this issue quickly and I would get the price I was quoted and live happily ever after.

Too late: I’ve already switched to AT&T and I’m paying a $65 “activation fee” for the switch, so I’m not going to pay that again and again.

There is no fee, says Pat, at least not from V.

But AT&T specifically told me that V charges $65 to switch the service to AT&T, but Davis offered me a discount of $25, so it’s only going to cost me a one-time fee of $40, quite a bargain, what?

Not true, responds Pat, and, if Pat disconnects my V service today—and AT&T takes until tomorrow to submit the request for the number switch, I’ll have to get a new phone number.

But, that’s not what AT&T told me: they made the switch TODAY, so there should be no disconnect and I would not have to be issued a new number, right?

Pat hesitated, and then told me that she wouldn’t risk it if she wants to keep the same number, so I said, hm, guess we didn’t have this conversation, right? I’ll call back next week and see if the stand alone DSL order for V has been shared with AT&T.

The lies blend together, the programs and costs and customer service providers begin to swim in a huge mass before our eyes, and it suddenly seems as if we have been wrong all along and should be grateful for whatever service is chosen for us and pay whatever price we are required to pay for whatever service the various companies want us to have.

Therefore, I’d like to thank Linda, Marianne, Netta, Debra, Lauren, Melissa, Pat, Lou, Allan, and Davis for making me finally see the light today, and allowing me to be back to square one, not quite certain what my current service is, who’s going to provide it, or how much it’s going to cost. Guess I’ll just wait for my next bill to arrive and see what I’ve agreed to this time.