Verizon M2M minute usage complaint... anyone wanna help change it?

Verizon minute usage complaint... anyone wanna help change it?

Good observation. I have not noticed as I never use all my mobile to mobile minutes. However, I agree. If one makes calls during the n/w times and are on a qualifying plan, those minutes should get deducted from that "pool" of minutes. Though this allocation of minutes has not effected me <yet> I will call Verizon. I will, however, hold off on the other suggested actions. I think all companies should be given a chance to correct/change issues before they get lambasted on every public forum or have complaints filed with the various
consumer orgainzations.

 

Verizon minute usage complaint... anyone wanna help change it?

Thanks for the info, now I know how to control those M2M minutes. I had no idea.

 

Verizon minute usage complaint... anyone wanna help change it?

I think it must be different for different regions or plans, I have unlimited nights and weekend and 1000 m2m and have inspected my bills closely. It always deducts from my night/weekend first and only deducts from my mobile to mobile during peak hours. In fact I do most of my mobile to mobile calling in off peak hours and I am never billed m2m after 9 P.M. When this controversy started on a nother thread here I even called Verizon and they said it was something that was changed in the not too distant past. Maybe it has not taken effect nationwide? Or could it be due to different plans?

 

hrana

By your own admission, it appears you have no valid complaint against Verizon. They openly disclosed their terms. When you signed, you accepted the terms whether or not you read them. If you are within your 15-day cancellation period, you can leave their service. Otherwise you'll either have to pay to get out of the contract or keep the contract for its full term.

"Freedom" in the United States works both ways. You have the freedom to make choices and people who own businesses have the freedom to dictate the terms under which they are willing to conduct business, provide services, etc. Perhaps one of the most basic demonstrations of this right of businesses are the signs we see in thier entrances, to wit: "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone...."

Personally, I find your complaint completely frivolous.

 

My CSR told me clearly that my M2M minutes would be depleted before N/W minutes. for this reason, I only call landlines during N/W's or cell phones from other companies that won't affect my M2M minutes. I agree that I wish this wasn't the case, but unfortunately it is...

 

The exact same thing happened to me. I think verizon was getting even b/c my plan expired this month. Well to make a long story short: I only call my bf (who has verizon too) and i dont think i was calling him too much but my bill was 120 one month. Looking closely to detail billing, i noticed that most of my calls to him werent even counted as M2M mins. I still had like more than 100 M2M mins left but they got counted as peak mins causing me to go over my limit. I called customer service twice asking for them to audit my bill. They said they would call back but guess what? they never did. those bastards. i hate M2M mins now. im in for a changing that and getting my 70 bucks back.

 

I would have to say the same about what you said, KevinJames. I believe, we as consumers/customers, have a right to voice our opinions to the companies about thier policies, whether or not we signed a contract. I just signed up with Verizon, and had no idea they took out the M2M minutes first even during the N&W. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels like they've been cheated if they just found out as well. I'm well past the 15-day policy. Some of us don't feel like its fair, so we voice our opinions. Don't call it "frivolous" just because we have a right to our own opinion.

 

Yes, we all are entitled to "opinions." However, in this case opinion won't stand up in court. What will stand up is what the law says.

Would you really expect or want to walk into any wireless firm and have them require that they read you the whole contract. Most consumers would be outraged--"Don't treat me like a child. I know how to read. I can read the details later."

So the sales people give you the sales pitch and some rudimentary legal info. They also give you a copy of your contract. As you've noted, they also make full and public disclosure on their website. As an informed consumer, I always make sure to read the terms BEFORE accepting service. You did not. Why is that Verizon's fault?

 

Has anyone actually used up all their 1000 M2M minutes? I am just curious.

I would be confident that IF a customer went over, they could get credit back (that one time). However, changing the policy is another matter entirely!

 

Yes this topic has been brought up a number of times in the forums out there.

I have the Family AC plan whereby the additional line gets 250 M2M minutes...and so if these minutes always get used first even during my unlimited nights and weekends, then that's not much of family talk plan.

One of the reasons why Verizon may be hiding behind ambiguity is because of how things work differently between markets. In my market I can't even get a breakdown between Peak and M2M minutes whereas in some markets you can. We all know that Verizon is in the midst of a billing upgrade to consolidate their billing systems and so perhaps that will eventually bring about nationwide consistency in how things work.

Legalities aside, the way this plan works is flawed and after having intense discussions with several Verizon CS reps, they also agree that this needs to be fixed and hopefully soon. I've mentioned it about a half dozen times already. I'll probably even walk right into the busiest Verizon store full of customers and voice my opinion out loud to the reps about how I don't like the way M2M minutes work. That'll get people's attention.

 

I personally agree that Verizon makes it quite clear in its terms of service that the mobile to mobile feature works first then the night & weekend minutes. So they've done nothing wrong in that sense. I also think its quite all right to petition them to change their billing hierarchy. Keep in mind, that changing a billing system's hierarchy can have issues in and of itself due to upgrades necessary. With ALLTEL there is the same hierarchy because, for a long time, ALLTEL offered only unlimited mobile to mobile packages so it made more sense to use the M2M not the offpk first. Now things have changed since the M2M is nationwide but I doubt it will change because the nationwide M2M is much more expensive to the carrier. (Especially in ALLTEL's case because unlike Verizon, ALLTEL's mobile to mobile is anywhere on its National Freedom Network where there is great exposure to roaming fees. It is not limited to a specific mobile to mobile network.)

 

I am a customer service rep for verizon, for the Southern Ca market. To answer a few questions about the mobile to mobile...
1. Southern Ca is the only market that the M2M are applied no matter what hour that you call.
2. We are in the proccess of converting our billing system so that in the near future, your m2m will not be applied during the nights and weekends.
There are alot of new features that will come when that is done.
Emily

 

If Verizon would just offer unlimited m2m minutes, all these problems would be solved so quick.

 

OoOooh, unlimited V2V minutes...the thought just makes me smile.... hehe

 

I don't have Verizon - I have T-Mobile, which means unlimited M2M (yay family plan!) - and I use approximately 1700-2000 M2M minutes a month.

 

And just what do you hope to accomplish by going into a store and voicing your displeasure when the store is busy? Are you trying to make yourself look stupid? Why not just call somebody on their landline after 9p and this whole thing could be avoided?

 

The billing conversion has already happened in Northern Ca and will most likely be complete by April of this up comming year.
BTW just for that person who question yes people do use up 1000 m2m min
Emily

 

I too work for VZW as a CSR in NoCal. I've seen customers use up 1000 MTM min. I don't see it often but it has occured every now and then. There are far too many cries of "You people are shafting me for my money!" in this market, but my response is always that the information is disclosed in the contract and on the web site. It is your responsibility to read that three page legal document before you sign for the service. You have the 15 days to cancel w/o penalty. If your outside of that period... Well. There's really not much else to say. The "I'm gonna cancel service unless I get credit!" threat doesn't work in my daily routine. Pay the EFT and move on. I know it sounds disgruntled/jaded and off topic, but you have to read everything! The same people that complain about Verizon Wireless will head over to AT&T Wireless, not read the fine print and have the same issues with them and move on to another company.

My buddy over at ATTWS verifies that the same complaints we get on a daily basis are one and the same. It's a never ending cycle.

 

Oh, I understood perfectly why you complained. I agree that the current way the MTM is deducted is a bit... Flawed to say the least. But I've never heard a complaint about it until now. Customers usually have no problem voicing their opinions over the phone. I've explained how it works time and time again and the majority accept the clear explanation that I give. I even had a customer tell me that it was a gread idea!

If the company changes the MTM min policy out here in California/Nevada/New Mexico/El Paso, TX/Utah/Arizona, ect... Then I'm all for it. There is nothing wrong with voicing your opinion about any thing the company does. However, The things I've noticed is that just because one market area of VZW does it one way doesn't mean that another market area will follow it's example. For instance the 6 to 9 peak hours was in effect for quite some time in other markets. The majority of the market in the west area (IE: CSR's, Customers) griped to marketing and about a month later they switched it to 6 to 8. It was that way for about a year until just recently. The change was made and could not be overruled. Voicing your opinon works and things can change, but there are somethings that are set in one market that will not change. I'm not here to start a flame war or step on any bodies toes. I'm just bringing a rather blunt perspective from the insides. I'll voice this concern to my supervisor and manager in the next meeting and see what comes of it.

BTW there's nothing flawed about how the company advertises and whats in the fine print. The fine print is for you to be informed about all aspects of the terms and conditions and your rights as a subscriber to the service. Its standard policy for everything to be disclosed. (As it should be with every wireless company in California.) The legal teams won't allow that to occur and risk a law suit.

 

SodoMojo,

You're trying to tell people on the family plan to call on the landline during offpeak hours? So the way the family plan works is that it's best I call my wife from my Verizon cell to a landline available to my wife during the offpeak timeframe? GET REAL!

I'm not trying to b!tch about the situation but trying to inquire about it to see if Verizon will make headways with the changes. If you don't mind having someone with their hand up your arse like a puppet then that's your business. And it's not like we're gonna protest about this and hit some Verizon employee over it. Things get done step-by-step and some people want to jump in to provide a little push. For example, I had an international flight with American Airlines and by mistake my reservations were made with my nickname. After 9/11, security has been tight and you really have to travel with tickets matching your passport/birthname. American airlines CS told me over the phone several times that I COULD NOT GET MY FIRST NAME RECTIFIED on my tickets. They said Impossible even after arguing my case that there had to be an avenue to rectify this problem/mistake. They were suggesting that a buy a brand new ticket with the correct legal birthname because American Airlines had absolutely no way to fix the name. I went to Ohare airport to speak with the Ticketing Supervisor about the situation and he rectified it and issued a new ticket at no cost - you cannot change the name in the system but there are authorized avenues to fix the problem by issuing a new ticket with the new name without a fare change. What I'm trying to say is that it's up to you how you want to have your pants pulled down and butt-banged, but there are avenues out there to rectify things and some people are pushing the bandwagon harder than others.