Cancelling contract due to Overcharges and NO RESOLUTION

Question

I have been a Verizon customer on a plan with my mother for over 5 years now. I recently moved out of state and wanted to upgrade my phone to an Iphone before I moved. Because I was not an "authorized user" on the account (my Mother wanted to be the sole contact since we shared a plan) I was unable to make any changes myself, so my mother called in to authorize the data package plan and iphone purchase so that I may come in and pick it up without hassle. At that time it was SUGGESTED that we downgrade the text messaging package on my line as I was not nearing the usage alloted and it would save us money. My mother, not even knowing what a text message is and finding even her flip-phone difficult, agreed to this as it would save us money and would be the best option for us. 
Fast forward a month and a half later, my mother forwards me our next two bills wondering why the two combined are nearly 250 dollars over what they should have been - the overcharges - extra fees for text messaging! She immediately goes into the store to remedy the situation. The initial clerk had switched me from a 5000/mo text message plan to a 500/mo text message plan, so this time the clerk offered to again switch me back - to what I was BEFORE the suggested switch. He then tells my mother there is nothing to be done about the overage charges but I "should be fine from here on out." 
Thinking this is a case of poor customer service, I call the customer service hotline. After being transferred through multiple people, and ending up at the resolution center I thought I had finally made progress! The woman I spoke with agreed with me, and looked at my usage since I have been a customer and said - in her words - "I'm not sure why you were advised to downgrade your text message plan. You've never been under 500 messages. Ever." She then assured me she was going to remedy this. Her resolution? 20% off of the total of each bill - which equals out to be roughly 48 dollars, leaving me with a 200$ charge to front in addition to our normal usage. 
This is incredibly poor, no, it is downright atrocious, customer service. I refuse to be part of a company where they do not take responsibility for problems they caused. I am livid that I am to be held accountable for a change suggested by a verizon clerk. When I mentioned this to the CUSTOMER SERVICE hotline I was told that I had ample opportunity to go online and look at my usage and figure out the best text messaging plan for me and that they cannot be held responsble for the difference. So, she's basically telling me that clerks are useless and to figure everything out on my own? What is the point of having customer service clerks in-store to "assist" you if I have to do everything myself?  There is no way had the clerk looked at the history of our account could he have not seen my average text message usages. The only options are either he did not look, or he did not think through his advising and clearly made a poor judgement call.My mother has since made me an authorized user on our account because we can't help but feel that they have taken advantage of her obvious incomprehension of anything cell-phone related. 
I told the resolutions department that I was going to immediately look into switching to a different company. While at the time I do not think she took me seriously and only offered an insencere "sorry to hear that" I have since done such that and have found that I can not only save money by switching to sprint, but that I can also receive more (unlimited data and text along with additional minutes) for less! At this point, I would rather pay the ungodly contract cancellation amount than consider staying with a non-customer based phone company. 
Has anyone else experienced anything similar? Was your issue resolved, and if so, how was it handled? I, of course, am telling everyone about this experience and am looking to receive as much information about what others have experiences as well. 
Thank you!

Answer 1

Did your mother give them permission to use your account history to make suggestions about your service during that particular phone call? If not, the rep may have violated the law. At any rate were I you, I would file a complaint with both the BBB, FTC, and also look into filing one with the new federal Consumer Finiancial Protection Bureau.
I am in the process of having my attorney draft a lengthy complaint against Verizon because of the 5 lines on our account 4 of them have had to have the phones replaced more than 30 times; my phone has been replaced 15 times in the last 13 months by Verizon's own count - my count is actually much higher. Last Friday, one of the reps I spoke with let it slip that Verizon slows down certain services on your line, i.e., internet connection speeds, download speeds, if your account is past due even just one day and the amount you owe is more than $29.99.  Additionally, a Tech Support Rep told me that the order for my replacement phone could not be processed because my account was "seriously delinquent" ( 8 days, of course it was more than $29.99 as we have 5 lines).  I spoke with a supervisor and she told me the same thing.  The saddest part is that just that morning my husband had made payment arrangements with Financial Services, but that didn't stop these reps from initially using scare tactics to try and make me pay my bill RIGHT THEN.
Verizon's overall customer service, quality of service, and image has taken a nose-dive since they got in bed with Apple; it doesn't even look like the same company it was.  I remember in the not too distant past that the one of the first things a Verizon Rep would do when a customer called in was to offer even a $5 discount on their bill just for the inconvenience of having to call in at all.  Now they treat you as if you are BOTHERING them just by calling; talk to you as if you are an annoyance.