The SHine Has Worn Off!

Question

     I was an AT&T customer for over 9 years. Our area is very rural and they had been promising to get a stronger signal in our area for a long time. My husband finally said; "Why are we paying for services we are not actually getting. Lets switch to Verizon, they have a great signal here." We researched the idea and we spent 7 hours on a live chat with a Verizon agent on Christmas Eve. We were promised seven lines with no deposit on one account as long as we signed all 7 phones up at once. We did, it cost us $987.00 to end all of our contracts early. We ordered our phones with the representative and got all excited. The boxes arrived and we discovered our first lie; we only received 5 phones and one was not even one we ordered. I activated my phone and found out that we had to travel 21 miles south  Verizon dealer to activate the other 4 phones.
     After arriving at the dealer, we were told that we had to go there because our signal was not strong enough at our house to do the total activation. (Boom! Should have sen the warning sign then.) The phone we did not order needed to be activated so that we could port over the number. (Boom! Another warning sign, we could not port over any numbers but 2.) We could not figure out why we only received 5 phones and not the original order of 7. (At this point we were jazzed with the strong signal.) It took over 6 calls and 12 hours worth of time on the phone to find out that if we could not add any more phones to our account unless we wanted to pay deposits on them of either $350.00, $275.00 or $150.00, depending on who we talked to. (Boom! Another sign.) One of the phones we did not get belonged to our oldest son who is an EMT and they receive their life threatening notices by text, for example: there is a gun at the scene, or a life threatening viral agent has been spotted or released, etc... Well he does not have a phone now so his life is in danger at this point.
     We have already shelled out more money than we had, and they wanted more to get the other two phones. Well we found out that since our son was an administrator on our other account, that he could start his own account without having a deposit. That was great, but now we have to add his little brother to it or pay a deposit on our account. Since I did not have more money to throw at this problem I now have to keep track of two bills. An agent felt bad for us at this point and offered us two Ellipses 7 tablet for only $49.99 and $10.00 a month. I jumped at the deal, than I discovered after we ordered them that we still had to pay  the $150.00 deposits. At this point I had no choice because they ordered them for me. (Boom!) After all of these issues I was still trying to get the phone we did not order returned and we wanted the phone we had ordered; nope now because the agents did not put a note on our account about the issues when told, the 14 day return policy was up and we had to buy the phone we ordered instead of getting it for free. (Boom! Another $299.00).
     Now the end of January comes around and all of a sudden our signal is now gone! We cannot have a conversation for more than 25 seconds before the call is dropped. So another 48 plus hours on the phone with agents from Verizon, with at least 7 work orders submitted, and nothing can be done. Our phones want to connect with the Verizon tower just out of reach instead of the towers being rented by Verizon in our area (Thumb Cellular). They say the problem is Verizon's and Verizon says its theirs. All Verizon can tell us is that we can buy a micro tower to boost our signal for $250.00, no way in he** am I putting out more money for something I already pay for, a phone signal.
     Now the latest kicker is that I had insurance on all of my phones and tablets, but found out that on my daughter's phone that is no longer even offered for sale by Verizon, in order to have the broken screen fixed on it, I have to come up with $99.00 in order for them to fix it. (BOOM!) I am at the end of my rope paying and paying for promises and services I do not get. I cannot recommend this company to anyone at this point. The only redeeming part of this company is the people we have dealt with, they have all been so nice and tried to fight the red tape that is the company policies. Does anyone know what I can do or have any suggestions of how to et the service I pay for without me shelling out more money? The shine of the new hope that we called Verizon has worn off!

Answer 1

Smartphones (except Apple® iPhone®)
$8/month per covered device
$99 non-refundable deductible per approved claim for devices lost, stolen, or damaged
Two replacements in a 12-month period with an equipment maximum of $1500 per claim (in New York, two claims per policy year.
details of the insurance plan you agreed too are here.  Calling Features: Total Equipment Coverage | Verizon Wireless
as far as cover issues.. same here ! i was in a great 4g area. now my text message and picture messages barely go through. along with dropped calls etc. Verizon admits network faces traffic pressure in big cities - CNET