Verizon Wireless Verizon Verizon told my customers my phone was disconnected while out of the country and doesn't care! Acworth, Georgia

I cannot adequately express my sincere frustration with the lack of customer service I have recently received from Verizon today! 

I was leaving the US for an 8 day trip to Costa Rica. Prior to leaving I dialed 611 and asked if there was anything I needed to do in order to send and receive calls and messages while out of the country. Since I was using an iPhone 5, the customer service representative indicated that I didn't need to do anything - not even dial *228 to update my roaming profile. 

I left the US, placed two calls while in Costa Rica, and sent and received text message for the next 8 days. I was surprised when I returned to the US that not only did I not have any queued up voicemail messages, but I had nearly a dozen voicemail messages on my OTHER telephone lines (home and office) asking me "why/when did you disconnect your phone," "are you still in business," "is everything okay." When I spoke to my clients, friends, and family, they all told me that they received the message "We're sorry but the number you have dialed is no longer in service." You can imagine the shock, frustration, and horror that went through my mind when I found out that many of my clients now thought I was out of business!!!

I called Verizon customer service the day after I returned. I wanted to find out why there was a problem and what can be done to ensure that it doesn't happen again. I was on the phone for 45 minutes with one CSR and one technical support engineer. The engineer told me he would call me back within the next 24 hours - which he did not.

I just called customer service again (two weeks later) to let them know that no one ever called me back and that I would like them to credit my account (I have three lines with Verizon) for the 8 days I was out of the
country that my phone voicemail was not doing what I was paying Verizon to have it do - let people know I was out of the country and to take messages so I could return calls when I got home. They spent ANOTHER 35 minutes trying to troubleshoot and trace the issue. I expressed my frustration that I'd spent nearly an hour and a half to help them troubleshoot why the service I pay them for wasn't working and, at this point, please just credit me for the 8 days my phone didn't work. That doesn't even begin to account for my time and potential loss of business, not to mention how bad Verizon made me look to my customers. 

This is the clincher!!! The CSR told me that they don't have to credit me anything since voicemail is free!!! I was speechless. She then told me that she could credit me for half of the usage for those 8 days - a total of $5.32!!! UNBELIEVABLE! I have been a Verizon customer for nearly 9 years, have all of my cell phones with
them, and have always evangelized their impeccable customer service. Well, today, Verizon has failed miserably and I want to make sure that others don't get caught in this trap. BEWARE!  

Verizon is happy to take your money! They don't care if you don't get the services you pay for!

They will waste your valuable time running you through circles!

When a long-time, valuable customer expresses frustration, they should act like they care! They obviously DO NOT!!! 

Think twice before you do business with Verizon!