Overcharged without notification - plan to leave Verizon

Question

I have been a Verizon customer for a number of years (estimate about 6 years) and until recently there were no concerns.  I had my phone (the primary) with unlimited data, unlimited text and unlimited call.  I had added my wife with a BASIC PHONE LINE, my eldest son with a smart phone and data (2GB), my middle son with a BASIC PHONE LINE and also added Verizon's home service so we had 5 lines total with only two requiring data.
On January 29th, 2014 I went to the local Verizon store with two of my children.  My eldest and my middle - both looking to upgrade their phones that had been eligible since October 2013.  My eldest traded in his iPhone 4 for a new iPhone 5s and my middle son upgraded his Samsung slide phone for an iPhone 4s.  During the discussion with the sales representative I was informed that the total data usage was very low and well below what my son had as an additional smart phone with data at $30 per month.  I was then told if I switched from my unlimited data plan (not offered any more - I was "grandfathered" in) to a shared plan with 8 GB of data between the 3 smart phones the increase in my monthly charges would be a little less than having a separate plan for each.  The approximate amount of the increase I was told (with witnesses) was between $20-$30...so I estimated about 15% with fees and taxes.
NOTHING, AND I MEAN NOT A WORD was said about my wife's line or my home line.  In good faith we made the changes, and because of the trade in credits we ended up paying an initial fee of just over $22, so I felt everything was going to be fine - I couldn't have been more WRONG!!
I paid an initial bill of $239.46 which is what I had been paying before we had made any changes.  I received my last invoice with a total due of $358.53!!!!  I also have my next payment due of $308.76!!  Can someone please explain how that is a $20-$30 increase?!?!?
I did some digging and discovered that my wife's line had been increased from $9.99 to $30.00 per month and my home line had been increased from $9.99 to $20.00 per month AND we were being charged a month in advance for ALL lines with the smart phone lines all increasing from $30 per month to $40 per month and my original UNLIMITED from $29.99 per month to $40 per month BUT NOW WE ARE SHARING...how is THAT a better deal?!?
I went to the local Verizon store this morning to see if I could get an explanation and resolution to this obviously egregious oversight on my bill.  I was told, in no uncertain terms, there was nothing that could be done.  I was offered a SMALL discount on the current payment but no real explanation on why I was being pre-charged for all of the lines when we had been customers for years.  I gathered that the impression was we were under a new contract.  I view it as as a REVISED contract (terms of data usage NOT the number of lines).
Regardless of what I was told I take issue with what I view as a clandestine and unethical means to make money at the obvious expense of the consumer.  Furthermore because it was not explicitly explained to me or anyone in my family that there would be a significant increase in either my wife's or home line monthly fees I view this as a breach of contract terms and thus the contract appears to be null and void.
As I stated, I was expecting an increase to my monthly bill due to an additional smart phone but to have an increase on EVERYTHING leading to a total well above what I was told on January 29th is questionable at best.
I expect some form of response as well as remediation on the terms of payment on my bill.

Answer 1

OP, I am sorry for you.
Not letting you know about the changes to your wife's line and the home phone line - this is nothing out of the ordinary. The rep knew VERY WELL if he hadn't lied to you - he wouldn't get the sales. It's very common at verizon and they won't do anything about it since you agreed to it.
Let's just say somehow I came to know at least 50-60 verizon retail reps in my area, many of them make $120K+ a year just by selling phones. I have to say, in my life I have never met so many immoral/unethical bunch of people in one place. I have seen reps high-fiving each other or even managers joining in to "congratulate" a rep because they used a tricky pitch/tactic to con a customer into buying something. I have seen reps pushing smartphones and bluetooth headsets to a 98-year old great-grandma who can barely stand up and on two feet. I have seen reps pushing jetpacks to a guy who came to disconnect a line that belonged to his wife who died 4 days ago. I have seen managers instructing the reps to tear the accessory boxes so that the customer is less likely to return the accessories. Disgusting.