Moving to Non-FiOS Area and Being Charged Contract Breach Fee

Question

I am a faithful Verizon Fios and Wireless customer who has been very content with the products and services Verizon has offered over the years.  Recently I’ve been having a major dispute completely out of character from what my experience has been.  I am moving to an area that does not have Verizon Fios, so I am unable to transfer my Double Play Package to the new residence.  According to the customer support specialists, since “high speed” internet and telephone are available at my new residence, I am forced to either extend my contract for the meager services that are available at my new residence, or pay a contract breach fee of $170.  When I initially spoke with the sales department to sign up for the Double Play Package, I specifically asked about, and was guaranteed that if the same services weren’t offered in a new residence that I would not be required to pay a contract breach fee.  Knowing that my job as a Department of Defense contractor could result in my needing to change locations, as well as the fact that my lease would be up during the contract period, there was no way I was going enter into the contract without that stipulation.  So the situation is either that the sales representative was incorrect, or purposefully misleading.  Regardless, I will be moving to a location that is not fully supported by my current contract.
I am a Department of Defense contractor with the Army Wounded Warrior Program, and as such I work primarily from home.  The “high speed” band width offered at my new residence by Verizon of 3 mbps does not remotely meet my needs.  I currently pay around $150 a month to Verizon Fios for actual high speed internet with a bandwidth of 150 mbps and an HD television package, capable of streaming video, video-teleconferencing, 24/7 internet access, etc.  If I were to extend my contract at my new residence I would end up paying $49 a month for 1/50th of the performance, a telephone service that I do not currently even have or need, and zero television service.  This is idiotic.
The bottom line is I am moving; I have a contract with Verizon with stipulations that were either erroneous or dishonestly represented, for services not available in the area I’m moving to.  The attitude and response I got from the customer support representative I spoke with on July 28th, 2014 was basically too bad, deal with it, pay up or Verizon will take this to collections.  Collections…for $170?  Amazing.  As an MBA I am educated in ethical business practices.  Her approach was unethical at the very least, and bordered on extortion.  Pay up or else.  I was very clear with this individual on what I do for a living, what my requirements are, and the basis of understanding in signing the contract originally.  This is like a catering fee for $500 a plate banquet and getting a Happy Meal in a fast food restaurant…and getting threatened for not agreeing to food or location.  Demanding $170 dollars because Verizon is not capable of providing services I require is ridiculous.  I’ve been an exceptional wireless customer for years and an exceptional FIOS customer for 3 years.  It cannot be the $170 profit that Verizon is worried about, because from a business standpoint this is the situation: If I am charged the $170 for disconnecting my current services I will cancel all other Verizon contracts forever.  I am a 27 year old business professional and spend roughly $1500 a year on Verizon Wireless products and services.  If I continue to use Verizon Wireless products until the age of 60, Verizon will have made roughly $50,000 in revenue over the next 33 years in today’s dollars.  Even if you discounted that at 5% (which is a purposefully high number from a capital budgeting standpoint) you stand to forgo a present value of $24,000 in revenue.  That means you’re compounded return on the $170 dollars will be about -5% per year.  The immediate loss by present value standards will be -99.29%.  That’s what satisfied, dedicated customers bring…and for some reason your service representatives don’t grasp this concept and would prefer that I completely leave Verizon as a disgruntled former customer and get the one-time $170 erroneous breach fee.  Asinine business model.
The bottom line is that I am going to cancel my FIOS contract next month soley because Verizon is not able to provide the services I require, which is fair.  Now, further down the road, the decision on whether I will be a FIOS customer again is going to hinge on my experience to date.  If I am unfairly coerced into paying the $170 fee I can honestly say I will no longer use Verizon for any service, wireless or otherwise.  I would prefer to pay a little more, lose some connectivity now and then, basically spend my money elsewhere, than be dealt with this way.  As a customer going through all this, the breach fee is a pivotal decision point as far as my future as a customer with Verizon goes, as I’m sure it is for other former and future customers.  My lesson learned from the support representative and my experience with Verizon as a whole right now is that I would be foolish to enter into another contract with your company if this is how I, as an exceptional customer, am going to be treated in the future.
I would seriously appreciate a call from someone I can discuss this reasonably with as soon as possible.  I do not want to directed to support services for this.

Answer 1

I was suprised and disappointed to have had the same expericne as Marc12 when I canceled my Verizon FiOS triple play service today. As with him, I needed to unexpectedly relocate for work after living in my current location for a short time (a little over 1 year) and the area where I'm moving does not offer Verizon FiOS. Overall I have been satisfied with FiOS and would have been happy to continue using their service after moving, but because they don't offer it in my new location that isn't possible. I'm already frustrated that I lost a lot of money by buying and selling a house in such period of time and it certainly was not my intention to move when I signed up for Verizon service (otherwise I would not have bought a house). It feels unfair to be charged a termination fee when I don't really have a choice about moving and I have no option to continue using FiOS. I asked about waiving the termination fee due to the circumstances but the two representatives I spoke with today on the phone refused to honor that request. As with other commentators on here and as Marc12 laid out with his business background, this seems to be a puzzling business decision/strategy by Verizon b/c while I had been happy with FiOS the last 14 months, this turn of events today does not particularly make me want to sign up for Verizon services in the future should I live somewhere where it is an option. It is also a puzzling decision b/c when I briefly lived in an apartment here prior to buying a house last year I had TV/internet with Uverse. Uverse did not charge me a termination fee despite me having had a promotional deal with a contract when I moved even though I only used their services for about 3 months b/c I bought a house in an area where they don't offer service. Their rational for not charging a penalty was that I was moving to an area not served by Uverse. I don't understand why Verizon is adopting what I think would strike most folks as an unfair practice of taking advantage of people who need to move and don't have the option of continuing their Verizon service.  It would be great to talk with someone at Verizon who has the authority to make an exception to this cancellation penalty as the two represenatives I talked with today when I canceled my service claimed they didn't have that ability and then claimed that there was no else I could talk with who did have that authority. I also really think that Verizon should rethink this policy. It's unfair, it seems to strike other people that way based on the comments here, it's out of line with their competitiors, and it's creating ill will among customers who were previously happy so that Verizon can save a trivial amount of money compared with the fees they could generate from these same people if they used Verizon in the future.