Nov 9, 2013
Well, perhaps people would be less alarmed if the message from billing had been made directly to their wireless phone and contained a less threatening and more respectful message. My payment was only a few days late, and my wife had already sent them a payment, so I think it was inappropriate to dunn me. Moreover, because I do not always check my mobile phone message, their dunning message had originally been made to my land line (which is not Verizon), and the caller ID was suspicious (Gates Cherokee). Only later did I find a message on my mobile phone with instructions to press a number and make an online payment or have my service turned off immediately (this for being < 1 week late with my payment). I chose instead to contact Verizon Wireless customer service directly and spoke to a nice young man who listened patiently as I explained that I am a longtime customer, whose payments are always on time, and was aghast to have received a threatening call from billing to pay up or be disconnected. I also explained about mysterious call to my land line, explained about all the complaints on the internet about calls from their dunning number (6143609213), and warned them that they risked having many customers (including myself) find another mobile service provider because of this. The young man offered to block all further calls to my phone from their dunning office and to also promised to add me to a list of people whose mobile numbers should not be shared with their 3rd-party partners. Finally, I told him to pass on my complaint to his superiors. If Verizon acts accordingly, then they may have saved this customer. Otherwise, I will change providers and never look back.