Long time customer and am VERY unhappy with Verizon.

Question

At the end of June, my contract for 2 of our phones was up. I called in to lower my plan to something more affordable. I had been on the 1400 minute plan with grandfathered in Unlimited Data for over 4 years and my bill was about $239.00/month. I have was told at that time that our three no-contract phones could get Unlimited Talk/Tex and 4G data plan for $145.00. So I agreed to that and hung up. One week later, we went to a local Verizon store and upgraded 2 of our phones. The salesperson NEVER told us we were giving up the discount per line since we were going back on contract. He never told me we were not actually ON a 4G plan, but apparently a 10G. I received my bill, and it was MORE than I used to pay. I called Verizon on the last 2 or 3 days of July, and was told I wasn't on the plan I asked for and that there was no such thing as a plan for $145 for 3 phones. I told her I would not pay for 10G when I didn't need it, I had ordered a 4G plan. She said she would investigate and call me back that Friday (Aug 1). She did NOT call. I called today (Aug 4) and talked to someone (Wallace) 40 minutes explaining the situation, and we got cut off. He did not call back so I called again and finally got Amber - she fixed my plan the best she could down to about $178 per month.
I would have NEVER given up my unlimited data plan if I had known all this would happen, and I would have NEVER got new phones and went on contract. Now I am STUCK with a 2-year contract or pay $340 PER PHONE to terminate because it is over 14 days.
This is SO WRONG. It is THEFT and DISHONESTY. I was told one thing, given another, then no disclosure of what would happen if I went on contract, and then I find there is no such thing as $145 for the 3 phones.
Verizon needs to FIX THIS! I would LIKE to cancel my contract for good. But I would have to pay $340 per line and this is WRONG when they are the ones that messed up. I do plan on reporting this whole incident to the Better Business Bureau today, although I don't know if it will do any good. NO ONE would let me speak to a Supervisor!!!!
I am LIVID and I deserve to be treated better. Always paid my bill on time and have been a good customer.

Answer 1

There seems to be a lot of confusion here.
First of all, with your 3 NO CONTRACT smartphones you CAN get 10 GB of data on More Everything for $145. 10 GB of data = $100. Add in the line access fees for 3 smartphones at $40 each for $120. That is a total of $220. Subtract the line access fee discount of $25/line for being out of contract $220 - $75 = $145, so you very well could have been on a 10 GB More Everything plan for $145. You must sign up manually for this discount in your MyVerizon account, though. I don't think it takes effect automatically. Simply sign into your My Verizon account and under change features, add the discount.
When you upgraded your phone AT A DISCOUNT, you are no longer out of contract as you must sign a new contract and therefore LOSE ELIGIBILITY for the line access fee discount. Your bill will go up by the $75 discount you were receiving an no longer qualify to receive. This is not something that Verizon must tell you or even should tell you. They are only required to tell you that you are signing a 2 year contract for each upgrade. It is up to you to realize that you will not get a "no contract discount" if you are under contract. That just seems common sense.
There are a couple of thing you can do. It sounds as if you did not manually add the discount for the "no contract line access fee". Since you only upgraded 2 of your lines, you can STILL get that discount on your "no contract" line as long as it is a smartphone on that line. The discount will be $25 if you stay with the 10 GB data allowance. Your bill then should be $195 + tax/fees.
Another option would be to lower your data allowance down to the 4 GB data plan you "thought" you were getting. In that case your line access fee discount for the no contract line will drop to $10, but your data plan will only be $70 instead of $100 for the 10 GB allowance. In this instance, your bill should be $180 + tax/fees.
Of course if you receive any discounts through your employer, that will come off the data allowance charge.