Does anyone actually read contracts with Verizon or do you trust your rep will help?

Question

This is my "verizon" experience.  I've sent the following letter to various people with no response as of yet.  I'm wondering if i'm the only person in the world that does not understand why it's perfectly acceptable to charge someone for service they are not getting?  Any comments are appreciated.  See my letter below:
Dear Verizon,
I’m an original Radiofone customer (mid 90’s).  Then I was an Alltel customer.  Then I became a Verizon customer.  At peak, I had four lines I think.  For the last few years, I’ve had three and most recently I’ve had two.  My husband was moved to his office’s plan. We gladly paid the cancelled fee a few years ago for that as we wanted his number, although I probably could have asked nicely and you guys would have waived it as Verizon is so great to deal with, or they were.
Now his company line is with T-Mobile.  I finally bit the bullet and left you guys.  I didn’t want to but we have four lines, all unlimited minutes and text. One line has 2.5 gb of data and the other three have 500 mb of data.  My bill is $110.00 a month.  You can’t beat those prices.  Although I’ve been having some issues like I can’t get phone calls in my house, even on Wi-Fi and I’m on my second tech call support of the day.  I don’t have a contract, I own my phones outright and still own the Verizon phones I had (several actually) so I figured if I can’t get good service, I’m going back to Verizon.  Well, that was before I got wind of Verizon’s “***** the customer on their way out the door” policy.
When I called a couple of weeks ago, I learned that one of my phones was in contract and one was out. We talked at great length about how the services are paid, for the month before, and she told me what my cancellation was ($75.00 since one phone was under contract still).  I told her that I’d have the T-Mobile phones on Friday (July 12th) and I’d be porting over the lines then so I’d only owe $75.00 and a “few days of service, right”?  “Yes, ma’am”, said the Verizon girl. 
Fast forward to today, I have my $90.99 bill in my hand and called.  I wanted the amount through the 12th of July so I could add it to the $75.00 cancellation fee and pay.  That’s when I was informed I owe these lines through August 7th. I argued with the rep today, told her I had no intention of paying for service I do not have and had the girl informed me that I would be paying for the whole month, I would have waited till closer to the beginning of August to port the phones. 
It was then when I was told, “Well, it’s in your contract”.  Ok, maybe it is.  Who reads these contracts?  No one. Is there anything in it that’s negotiable?  No. When I called to get the cancellation fee, this girl knew EXACTLY what I was doing and EXACTLY what day I would be porting the numbers.  She knew I was calculating my last bill and at no time did she tell me that I would pay the whole month.  If someone changes plans in the middle of a billing cycle, Verizon is MORE than happy to pro-rate that, but leave them and you are *******, is that the policy?  Now that I’m unhappy with T-Mobile, my first thought was let’s all go back to Verizon as they are worth the extra money if it works like it should.  What good is cheaper service if it doesn’t work?  But I am absolutely livid right now and as things sit, Verizon will NEVER be an option for our family.
So here’s my plan. I’m going wait to see if you guys will do the ethical thing and pro-rate me for the month, ESPECIALLY since I was lied to or misled on the phone when I called to get the cancellation fee.  Then I have a call into a finance manager in the family.  I have every intention of paying the $75.00 cancellation fee but what sort of hit will my EXTREMELY high credit score take if I don’t pay this $90.99.  We bought a truck a year or so ago and our credit rating was in the high 700’s and T-Mobile approved us for 10 lines minimum.  I’m sort of thinking that a charge under $100 won’t affect me enough to worry about.  If you aren’t going to pro-rate my bill, and please don’t take this as a threat, I will make it my life’s mission, and with the help of Facebook pages, to make sure everyone I know understands Verizon’s lopsided pro-rating policies and how they treat their customers because according to your reps, I should know better and should have read my contract (are you kidding me?). Bet I can get one million likes by the end of the year. 
As you can tell, I’m pretty mad.  Had I not called just prior to changing, I would think this is my fault and I should have known your policies, but that’s not the case.  I called to get the policy and cancellation fee explained to me in detail and it wasn’t, ESPECIALLY since the rep had my porting date long before this bill generated.  This all could have been prevented. 
I await Verizon’s response.
Sincerely,
Stacy
>>Personal information and profanity removed<<
Message was edited by: Verizon Moderator

Answer 1

First of all, I am sure you will definitely get 1 million likes. There are several people who dislike Verizon, but even with 1 million likes, that still means less than 1% of their customer base. And I am sure several of those likes will be from "former" customers like yourself which would mean an even smaller percentage.
Maybe it happened different than you described, but the way you explained your story you did not ask for the policy on cancellation of service. You asked "I told her that I’d have the T-Mobile phones on Friday (July 12th) and I’d be porting over the lines then so I’d only owe $75.00 and a “few days of service, right”?" In this explanation, you are not asking about the policy. The statement is correct, problem with your question is you did not ask if Verizon bills for "partial months". Unless there is something you are leaving out, you also DID NOT ask for the policy on service cancellation. Yes, you would be paying for a "few days of service" but the smallest increment when you cancel service is to the end of your billing cycle. The ONLY time you ever receive a bill for a partial month is when you begin service with Verizon. NEVER when you are a current customer.
You said you talked "at great length" about how services are paid including I assume paying a month in advance for service which is how Verizon has done business for as long as I can remember. You also say your bill closes on the 7th of the month. Well that means Verizon would have "billed a month in advance" for your service on July 8th. Now you may have said you were porting on July 12, but Verizon does not have a crystal ball and not all customers follow thru with their plans. When you request a port from another provider, Verizon does not cancel your service UNTIL the port takes place. They do not cancel your service and then trust the port will proceed on the specified date. Since Verizon would have billed you for a "month in advance" on July 8, did you also ask if you would get a refund of a portion of your bill? You don't say you asked that question, but you may have done so. I assume you didn't, otherwise you would have pointed that out I suppose.
It is doubtful you will get any pro-rated credit on the remainder of the billing period, but good luck anyway.
I am in no way trying to be pro-Verizon here as I have been labeled more times than I can count. Just trying to point out Verizon's policies are easy to find in the contract. Also anyone on these forums would have been able to give you the correct information.
I am aware there are several people who claim to have been lied to by CS reps. Whether it is a lie or simply a misunderstanding, I don't know as it has NEVER happened to me in the many times I have interacted with CS. Of course, I try to research the question prior to asking CS if they give an answer which contradicts the contract or a "partial" answer which sounds like what you may have gotten when they confirmed you would be paying for a "few days of service, right". Technically, that statement is correct, but what they failed to explain to you was that you would have already been billed for a full month and would not get a refund. Technically when you spoke "at great length", this was explained to you, at least as you have mentioned in your story. As this part of the question may have been several minutes from your question about pro-rating, you may have thought it didn't apply. Quite possibly a simple misunderstanding, I have no way of knowing. Partial answers when you fail to ask the correct questions sometimes sound like lies.
Finally, good luck with your new provider if you choose to stay with them.