Verizon Wireless

When I see VERIZON’s RED logo, I think DEBT and ANGER. (As a Verizon customer, you’ll experience a lot of both.)
Our family purchased the «Quad» bundle plan through Verizon which advertises for ~$ 150 total ($ 59.99 for «triple play» bundle and $ 89.99 for «friends and family» plan).
This past year, we have paid a staggering average of $ 458 PER MONTH for these services! Note that’s over 3 TIMES the advertised amount. In one year, we paid Verizon $ 5,496.17 for services! Is this not insane?! $ 458 per month for 3 basic cell phone lines (only 1 of which receives internet– and this was a recent upgrade), basic DirectTV (NOT Fios), basic internet (NOT Fios), and minimal landline services! Let me repeat, $ 5,496.17 in ONE YEAR! (not even including the costs of new cell phones).
Most of these fees are attributed to Verizon’s deceptive practices. These deceptions are so pervasive, I am at a loss for where to begin. Honestly it’s abominable. Please contact me for specifics– I cannot enumerate all the deceptions, trickery, and lies in the short span allowed by Unilocal.I’ll gladly speak with you (and even help identify better alternatives) if you contact me at my email address below. I would hate for any other individual, family, or business to needlessly experience what our family experienced.
Please, avoid Verizon at all cost. Do not use automatic bill pay because once they have your money, they will likely not refund invalid charges. Additionally, there really is little recourse– for example, contacting the Better Business Bureau is unhelpful as Verizon is already rated an ‘F’ (or Failing) with the Better Business Bureau. If for some reason you’re still tempted to purchase Verizon’s bundle, consider the quality of services you’ll be receiving:
Wireless: Bottom line, Verizon punishes customers for their loyalty (ie no-​contract cell plans through a prepaid plan such as «Straight Talk» are far more economical and superior). In the past year alone, our family would have saved well over $ 2,000 had we switched to prepaid phone plans offering drastically more minutes, texts, web, better reception than Verizon (here in Pa, Verizon calls used to get dropped at our home where I now receive 4 bars with Straight Talk), free 411, and no contracts (hence no termination fees). I really can’t identify a single disadvantage to choosing an ideal prepaid plan (such as Straight Talk).
Television– TV is extremely limited in local channel selection (not even premium packages offer an adequate selection). For example, expect to miss out on most of the Philly sports teams’ games. And you won’t catch local high school or the Iron Pigs (the local minor league team) which are regularly broadcasted on cable. Oh, and prepare to have a hole drilled through the side of your house upon DirectTV installation (no, they won’t tell you this prior to installation).
Internet– At the moment I’m typing this (~8pm on 1÷13÷12) our internet connection has been out for over 4 days and counting. My neighbor (who does not have Verizon services) has internet connection. I was told by Verizon this outage is due to «regular updating.» When our internet is working, it typically clocks in around 0.78Mbps download and 0.69 Mbps upload. Generally this is acceptable for casual internet browsing, but it is substantially less than the 1.2−3.0 Mbps advertised.
Phone– Well a landline’s a landline I suppose. We have bare minimum (no caller ID for example) and it seems sufficient.
In conclusion, unless you want to pay nearly $ 500 a month for inferior wireless service, poor television selection, unreliable internet, my family and I recommend avoiding Verizon (and if you have Verizon, I’d pay the termination fee and get out before the excessive fees accumulate.) Please feel free to contact me (Brian) at BGabes27 ‘at’ Gmail. Let Verizon’s RED logo be a forewarning– you’re in for a lot of RED-​FACED ANGER and RED DEBT.