[PLUG-TALK] More Cell Phone Weirdness - Verizon Minutes List

[Rich Shepard]

On Mon, 16 Feb 2009, Richard C. Steffens wrote:

> We have 2 cell phones with Verizon and are on a 700 shared minutes plan.
> Most months we don't get too close to 700 minutes, but this month (ends
> Wed, 2/18) we are in the 600's. Knowing this, I look at "check balance" on
> http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/index.html every day or so. Last Friday
> it told me we had used 602 minutes. Saturday, I got a text message from
> Verizon warning me that we were getting close, might want to up our plan,
> and to call them about it. I called. The lady said we had used 640
> minutes. I asked why the web site showed 602 minutes. She said the web
> site is 3 hours behind real time.

> Has anyone else had occasion to check their Verizon minutes often enough
> while near the end of a billing period and/or close to their plan limit?
> Have you encountered this discrepancy?

Dick,

   We have 2 phones with Verizon service, 450 minutes per month each. I've
had to teach my wife that the times shown on the phone bear little relation
to the times charged by Verizon, because the company rounds up to the next
minute ... even if you're over by a couple of seconds. (Once, and only once,
did I end the billing period with exactly 450 minutes used.)

   While I've not used the web site, I regularly call #646 to get an update.
Sometimes the time at which they report usage is just a few minutes before I
call, sometimes it's a day or so behind. It is the time they report when you
call that number which they use for their billing. And, they'll send a free
text message with the information so you don't need to remain on the call.

   Yes, their web site is well behind the rest of the world. I've looked
there to see if a payment was credited and learned that while it has been,
that's not reflected on their web site.

   Verizon's tech support is better than their other customer support, but
both suffer because it's too large a company to care about any one
individual customer.

Rich

-- 
Richard B. Shepard, Ph.D.               |  Integrity            Credibility
Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc.        |            Innovation
<http://www.appl-ecosys.com>     Voice: 503-667-4517      Fax: 503-667-8863