RIDICULOUS customer support and invoice due to fraud - Still not resolved since April

Question

I am posting my story from the past 9 and a half months here only because I’ve tried many many other ways to get in touch with Verizon about issuing a billing credit but have received TERRIBLE customer service during this entire time.  I am now trying any other means possible to get in touch with the proper people at Verizon to get this matter resolved.  It is a very long story, but this has been our life since April.
Beginning in April, we received a couple emails stating that there had been a change on our wireless account.  Thinking nothing of it, we continued on until the three phones on our account started getting shut off.  Calling Verizon, they stated that there were indeed changes made to our account and they shut our phones off to prevent any future changes.  We had to cancel our online MyVerizon account to prevent hacking into the account to make changes.
Weeks went by with our phones being turned off for days at a time and the fraudulent international minutes starting to rack up.  Every time we called customer service, they would ask us if we were making the hundreds and hundreds of minutes of calls to and from Jamaica and Cuba – no, we only make less than 50 minutes of calls a month. They would eventually turn our phones back on but it would never be fixed.
After many weeks, approximately 30-40 hours spent on the phone with tech and customer support, wasting a day of vacation to work on this problem in a Verizon store, approximately 5,000 fraudulent international minutes, and a $10,725.48 bill for April (YES almost 11 THOUSAND DOLLARS), the problem was finally solved.  The final outcome was to credit back all the fraudulent charges on the next bill, and I demanded 6 months free service because of all the inconvenience we had to deal with.
During the next bill, there was a credit balance of $1,029.44, which made sense to me because our monthly bill is between $150-$160, plus about half a month of having our phones shut off.  After our normal monthly charges, the May bill had a credit balance of $871.55.  The June bill was fine.  The July bill was fine.  The August bill was fine – a $414.26 credit balance with the words “DO NOT PAY” next to the balance.  The September bill is when it hit the fan again.
On the September bill, there were $986.02 of “Other Charges”, mainly state sales tax and the Federal Universal Surcharge.  $838.08 of it was specifically on the one line that only has a $9.99 monthly access charge.  Does $838.08 of sales taxes and surcharges on a $9.99 monthly charge make sense to anyone?
I called on October 10th– the person who I spoke with said they would ‘research’ it and call me back by 4:00 that day.  Never did.  I called back on 10/22 said they agreed with me that $986.02 of “Other Charges” does not make sense.  He was able to credit back those charges, but they would not appear until the next bill and it should still leave a $261.10 credit balance.
Then the October bill came in the mail with no credits issued. I called on 11/12 and found out that the supervisor from the last person who said the amounts should be credited back would call me by 11/14, but they would push them to call me on the 12th instead.  Never called back on the 12th.  Never called back on the 14th.  That’s when our phones were shut off again because of non-payment.
I called back on 11/14 and was transferred from customer service, to fraud, to customer service, to billing, to fraud, to financial services, to customer service.  Finally the last person I spoke with said it was a billing issue and she would fill out the necessary paperwork to get the charges reversed and our phones turned back on. The credits should appear on our next bill (where have I heard that before).  And she even gave me her email address so we could follow up with each other.
The November bill had arrived and on it there was now a $1,059.65 balance due!  Again, messages were received demanding payment.  I reached out to the last person via email on November 25, November 26, November 27, December 4, December 9, and December 16.  I am not surprised that I have never received a response from them.
I called customer service on 12/3 where the person submitted all my information into fraud to have them investigate.  She then gave me a ticket number and stated I needed to call fraud. I called fraud on the afternoon of 12/3 and was on hold for over an hour with no one picking up.  I called back on 12/4 and fraud stated they cannot give billing credits, so I was transferred to financial services, who said they only accept payments.  Then I was transferred to customer service.  That person agreed that something was wrong and would ‘research’ it and call me back the next day –they never did.
I called customer service on 12/10 and they said it is a fraud issue – that the sales taxes from the $10,725.48 bill back in April finally caught up and were billed on September’s bill.  I asked why I would be liable for sales taxes on an invoice I was NOT liable for? They said since it was a fraud issue, I would have to speak with them.  So I was then transferred to fraud, who said they would need to research it and call me back later in the day.  Of course, they never called back.
Once our phones were shut off again for non-payment, I called back on 12/11, demanding to speak with a supervisor of a department who could issue credits.  I again was transferred 9 times between customer service, financial services, billing, fraud, and back again.  I did learn that the bill was so high because we haven’t made any payments in the months after the fraud.  I said that we were promised 6 months free, and there was a credit balance, and that our bills, with the credit balance, said “DO NOT PAY” on them, why would I make a payment?  No one could explain, other that our bill is so high because we haven’t made a payment.
Finally, on 12/11 I was able to speak with a young woman who again said she submitted paperwork to the billing department to have them look at it. The process would take 24-48 hours. She also gave me her email address, and she’s been very responsive to my inquiries regarding the status, even though there have been no status updates.  On 12/16 I spoke with her again and she said she hasn’t heard back yet, but at least she was able to turn our phones back on.
On 12/16, my wife visited a Verizon store in hopes that an actual human may be able to help.  The representative in the store called customer service and received the same run around and was bounced around to several different people.  My wife then got on the line with a helpful customer service rep (I believe the same rep who has at least been responding to my emails, although she cannot resolve the matter).  This woman at least found out that the original over credit was for international taxes that would come at a later, unknown date.  This was never told to us and thought it was the 6 month credit of service we demanded and hence, have not paid Verizon since the credit was applied in May (with the words "DO NOT PAY" written on each bill).  My wife then spoke with someone in "customer relations" who offered only $150 to resolve this $1,000 issue.  After stating we wouldn’t accept anything less than the full amount, she then gave the name and number of a customer service manager.  The manager returned my wife's call promptly but argued that nothing could be done because we have not paid our bill in 7 months.  She would not listen to history of what has taken place and would not accept our offer to pay December's bill for our normal monthly service and then continue forward.  That phone call was disconnected at 4:30PM EST on 12/16.  Four voicemails have been left for her and as of 12/17 at 1:30PM EST, none have been returned and the "manager's" name is no longer on the voicemail box for that phone number, when it was on the first attempts to reach her.
We are giving until 12/20 to settle this issue.  I see two options:  1.)We will take our money and sign up with a different carrier. Verizon will not receive payment for the amount that is said to be owed, since we do not owe this money, and we will go to the state attorney general.  Or 2.) Our account can be credited, this issue settled, and we will continue to be happy customers, who pay on time, in full, every month, dating back more than a decade.  This, again, has taken an astronomical amount of time and energy to try and settle this.  We really should be receiving another 6 months free service.

Answer 1

Take verizon to small claims court, do it now. Pay the small court fee and take them to court.
You must also write a certified return receipt letter to Verizon's remittance address and dispute all the amounts in question.
Get all your paperwork together and names places and dates of contact, see the judge. Its that simple.
Don't even bother jumping through hoops with verizon wireless. But do as I told you to protect yourself and your rights and your credit. Verizon has to answer court summons. Let them come to you. Let them contact you and settle.
I doubt you will get six months free. But hey it doesn't hurt to try.
Good Luck