I live in an area that is long distance from all the people I love...even those who live near by.
When we moved here in 94, well...the only option was to pay more for a "foreign exchange" so we wouldn't be long distance for everyone to call us, or for us to call them .
When we moved here in 94, well...the only option was to pay more for a "foreign exchange" so we wouldn't be long distance for everyone to call us, or for us to call them .
Well those days are gone, as now just about everyone has pretty good cellular service in their homes, or free Long Distance with their different kinds of phone connections.
So my question is why am I still paying for a foreign exchange on my land line phone? Good question, if you ask me.
So my question is why am I still paying for a foreign exchange on my land line phone? Good question, if you ask me.
So I did it, I "Ported Out" my land line number ( which was costing me way more than it should) to be my $9.99 per month secondary line on our Cellular Family Share calling plan. I can add a message to this line giving my "new" home number, and eventually drop the old number.
Then, I called good old Verizon Communications, and set up the cheapest landline service I could ($16.95 per month I think), with no Long Distance, as I can use the cell's for that. This was around May 18th. They also assured me, yes the old number was shown as Ported Out from their company on May 18th.
So, fast forward to Tuesday. I go to the mail box and get a new bill for my old number, and this is not a final bill... it is a "your paying for service from 6-13-2009 to 7-13-2009" bill....
This is bad news... if you have ever had to call Verizon Communications Customer Service... well... it is a warped land of transfers.
I spent my first break being transferred no less than 4 times. To quote each of the Customer Service Representatives " I am sorry, you have a foreign exchange line, and I will need to transfer you to...."
I than spent my whole lunch hour also in the land of call transfers again. It was at least 4 more transfers, to get to someone who (after putting me on hold for the umpteenth time) said they could "resolve my issue".
I now have a disconnect order #, and hope this is the end of this mess. She said they will credit my service back to the day the number was Ported Out. I will believe it when I get the confirmation that they have canceled the old land line number's service, since it has been on my cell phone for over a month!
I work for a Communication Company, and when I hear a customer complain about being transferred... I can honestly have empathy for them!
Verizon is awefull!!! We had Verizon Cell for 12 years, and wanted to cancel one phone 3 months early, before the "contract" was up, they still charged us the $200, jerks.
ReplyDeleteWe have Comcast home phone(no long distance $) and internet and cable now, and havnt had any problems.
Oh and we have ATT cell phones.
Ack! The bureaucracy can be frustrating! I hope everything is squared away now.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry you had to go through that. I know how awful calling those places can be! I hate having to be transferred over and over! Oh, and holding! Please!
ReplyDeleteI hope it all works out!
Verizon bad. Very bad.
ReplyDeleteOh I so know your pain!! I have Sprint and literally I have to call them every month for a mistake on my bill, and I kid you not I am never on the phone for less than 1 hour with them...My record is 4 hours!! Who has time for that crap?!?!
ReplyDeleteHow frustrating! You would think that with modern technology, those changes would all be inputted into a computer, a date and time scheduled for the change to occur, and voila! You have what you requested. Clearly not!
ReplyDeleteAhh, how I love the old "pass the buck" routine, so you have to tell the story over and over and over again! Customer service at it's finest!
ReplyDeleteThere is hardly any company the will let you talk to someone...I am afraid that they must be doing it on purpose cause any company that wanted good access to a live person...would do just do it!!!
ReplyDeleteDon't just love red tape?!? Boy, that can really make your blood boil.
ReplyDeleteI hope things get worked out ASAP!
That is one of the challenges of country living. When we first moved into our house, it was long distance everytime we picked up the phone. Now we have Comcast Triple Play with phone, internet and cable and it is fantastic. HOWEVER, it is not available everywhere -- we were barely able to get it because we live so far from the paved road -- our nearest neighbors are too far away.
ReplyDeleteOh what a pain! I hope it is all finally taken care of. We don't have a land line here, just our cells. The only calls I ever got on the regular phone were telemarketers =)
ReplyDeleteOh, PS - will put up a button for you to check out hopefully this weekend sometime, the next 2 days are a bit busy!
ReplyDeleteyeah i hate it when i have to call and do this kind of stuff! it is so frustrating, i hope you get it all straightened out soon :)
ReplyDeleteWow, who would have thought you would get so much feedback on a post about phones?
ReplyDeletePhone bills suck! that is all I have to say!