6
Lesson learned on bundled services
Verizon logo displayed on a building in New York City.
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TEXT OF INTERVIEW
Steve Chiotakis: Dennis Streed from Newberg, Ore., had gotten an ad from Verizon offering a bundle of services for $77.99. The 83-year-old went to the store, asked the rep to sign a contract stating there would be no hidden fees on his bill -- that the true cost each month would indeed be $77.99. It wasn't. And that's when the trouble began. He joins us this morning to talk about his ordeal. Good morning Mr. Streed.
Dennis Streed: Good morning.
Chiotakis: So why did you drop this contract?
Streed: Because at one time I was a collection manager for a finance firm, and I'm somewhat familiar with the gimmicks.
Chiotakis: And they said $77.99 for all of these services, not a penny more?
Streed: Not a penny more. I did everything but pound the table saying I won't pay a dime more, and I will not sign any contract, I will not sign up, unless you agree to that.
Chiotakis: So what happened?
Streed: The four or five people who I talked to down there all said the payment should be $77.99. And we keep getting these higher and higher bills. Then the state general manage of stores and sales actually gave me his phone number, and we've been on the phone. Very nice guy. And he said, "No, you just pay the $77.99, I'll take care of the difference."
Chiotakis: So they cut you all off?
Streed: They cut off TV, Internet, just everything except the land line. Then we did get a note saying that they were going to cut that off next. Now remember, we've had that as long as Verizon's had a phone line up here. Been very happy. Never been a day late. Never missed a payment.
Chiotakis: What kind of lesson did you learn here?
Streed: Well, don't ever go for any bundling. Keep everything separate. Smaller lots. Your television with one. Your TV with another, so that you can't be completely destroyed. See, we've had three great-grandchildren born in the last six weeks, and one more coming next Wednesday -- so four of them. And here we get telephone calls: Hey, what do you think of pictures of the kids we sent you? Well, we don't even have email. But what kind of guy would be if I rolled over and played dead and said, well we'll pay twice what you said you charged. It wouldn't be ethical to me.
Chiotakis: Well Dennis Streed, thank you so much for joining us over there in Newberg, Ore.
Streed: OK. And thanks to you.
Chiotakis: And we got in touch with Verizon about the Streeds' problem. They seem to be amenable to keeping their end of their deal.
Les Kumagai: As a courtesy to this customer, we will restore and provide the services ordered at the rate the customer was quoted.
Chiotakis: That's spokesman Les Kumagai from Verizon.
First of all, the representative said "as a courtesy". What courtesy? I thought that was the agreement. I had a similar situation where my second phone line almost got dropped and was eventually ported over, but under a separate account. I got told multiple times they would consolidate and I would not have an end bill, etc. 3 months later Verizon FIOS had a collection agency after me for the second phone line which was finally bundled into one account. I was lucky and had a Veizon engineer send a back channel email up the chain. An executive called an cleared it up 3 days later, but 5 months after I had gotten my service started.
This is the way it is for cable, telephone, gas and electric companies. (Especially electric companies in deregulated markets) You cannot get any of these services without all these extra fees, and you cannot get an upfront statement of what the added fees are going to be. They just won't tell you. They claim they do not know and the only way to know what the total monthly payment is going to be is to get your bill. And the free market has failed to fix this as there is not one of these services which chooses to compete by offering "Up front truth about what your bill will be". And what's worse is that so few people make a fuss about it, and that enables these companies to get away with it. Praise be to Mr. Streed for making this an issue. I hate to ask for more government, but in this case there should be a new law requiring these providers to tell you up front what the bill will be, and detailing all the added fees and taxes, and stating which ones were required by law and which ones are added at the choice of the provider.
"Les Kumagai: As a courtesy to this customer, we will restore and provide the services ordered at the rate the customer was quoted. " Does that mean Verizon should be going through all of their records and charging people what they claimed they were going to charge? It seems to me that Verizon has admitted lying, shouldn't they be punished or be forced to make right by their customers now?
We had a similar experience with Verizon Fios--with the exception that we didn't have Mr Streed's foresight to demand a "contract" from Verizon saying it would not cost over the agreed-upon deal. We greatly regret ever having switched from Comcast. What a mistake! our costs are worse, the taxes higher, and we actually have fewer choices than before. We had to call each month at the start of the contract to challenge costs we did not know about and then wait for credits. These guys care only about getting new customers, they'll say anything--and then it's all in their court. Making me wish for Comcast again is a surprise, to say the least! But I'd go back in a heartbeat if it weren't for the penalty cost.
