Verizon Wireless Is A Thief! $1,200 Deposit Being Held For Ransom Somers Connecticut

In June of 2007 our family bought 3 cellphones from the Verizon Wireless kiosk at Circuit City in Enfield, Connecticut. We were so excited about finally getting cellphones! The salesperson told us we needed to give them a $400 deposit for EACH cellphone before we could have service. We gave them a check for $1,200 which they put through as a debit and it was credited and accepted. We were told that after one year of paying our bills on time, we would automatically get the deposit sent back to us.

Well, June has come and we have not received our deposit so I decided to call. The Financial Services Department of Verizon informed me that they only had ONE DEPOSIT of $400, not $1,200. I explained that in order to get 3 cellphones we had to put down a deposit of $400 for EACH, so they had to have the $1,200 on record. Nope. When we were at the Verizon kiosk supposedly there was a "computer glitch" that happened, so the first month we received 6 bills with all different amounts. We went back to the kiosk and the salesperson there "fixed everything and combined all the bills to one account number". That was fine and dandy except this salesperson DELETED all the other accounts and you guessed it, she deleted any deposit information from these accounts so it shows that we only gave ONE $400 deposit not THREE.

I have called Financial Services and talked with "Garland" who assured me that he would look into this and get back to me. He never did.

I called Financial Services again and talked with "Chandra" who assured me she would look into this and get back to me. She never did.

Finally, 4 weeks into dealing with Customer Service hell and Financial Services hell, I have a contact person in Customer Service who actually did file the proper paperwork AFTER I had to send proof of the check that was cashed three different times.

This person got back to me only to inform me that it would take FOUR TO SIX WEEKS to get my deposit check back! I informed her that I was not paying my Verizon bill until I had that check in my hands and that Verizon was NOT to apply ANYTHING from that deposit towards an outstanding balance. She said she would "note the account", but I have a feeling Verizon WILL take money from a deposit that was rightly mine and should have been sent back over 1 month ago.

If you are having this problem with Verizon, when you talk to someone, anyone, get their direct line and extension and also get their Supervisor's direct line and extension. Not that you will get them, you always get their voice mail, but at least you will have someone to talk to instead of having to go through the entire story time and time again (as I did countless times). They will apologize for your "inconvenience" 100 times but that really doesn't make a difference. They say customers are their number 1 priority and that is a crock.

I will update when and IF I get my deposit back. And, then, we will be leaving Verizon as quickly as we can.

Lisa
Somers, Connecticut
U.S.A.