And it happened tonight down in South Boston!
Barry Tuck had been fighting Verizon Wireless for four months over his bill. With the changeover from Alltel to Verizon, his bill had climbed to over $800. Every time he called them, he’d get no answer to his problem. Verizon had no sympathy for him and disconnected his service. So, what’s one person going to do against a big company?
Barry had an idea. He headed out on a mission, armed with a piece of plywood and can of spray paint. What did he do?
When he told me of his plan, I thought he was nuts. I thought I was going to get a story of either a guy arrested for civil disobedience or a story about a guy getting ran over on Halifax Rd. Turns out I’m writing a story about a guy who get exactly what he wanted.
After being confronted by Verizon store management, Barry stood his ground and said he was doing nothing illegal by standing on the public right-of-way and holding a sign. Store management even tried to take the sign and threatened to call the police. Barry didn’t back down. On the next visit out to him, the manager asked “What’s the problem?”. They talked and the manager went back inside. Barry did the right thing and took his sign down while Verizon worked on his bill. On the next visit out, Barry’s bill was taken care of and his phone was reconnected.
Well done, Barry Tuck. Congratulations on taking a stand and getting what you wanted.
You ROCK!!! This made my day, and I’m proud of you taking charge.
Just one question… how many honks did you get?
Not sure, according to some friends on facebook, they honked while they drove by.
well, I am impressed. More of us need to stand up for things. Glad it turned out well for him. Perhaps they will be more interested in working with folks from now on.
always love stories like these.
Definitely, you are your Mama’s boy! Really, why can’t they carry on Alltel’s great customer service.
Job well done, Barry! I am not looking forward to dealing with Verizon when our contract expires. I miss everything about Alltel. I might need to borrow your sign soon!
Way to go!!! I know exactly what you have been going through. We too had our bill doubled for 2 months after they took over. And get this, they charged us $15 PER PHONE LINE to reconnect!! We have 4 phones. That is $60!! We are looking to switch but since we live here in South Boston, we don’t have much of a choice with good service? What are we to do?
They have us where they want us!
I had Alltell but i never had any signal around Clover or Charlotte County so i switched to U S Cellular and now i have great signal in most places i go, although they are a little more expensive but being able to use my phone is worth the extra 12 bucks a month.
Thanks. I am soo glad to finally have this resolved. It was an interesting evening.
My August bill was over $200; I had never gone over my
minutes before and I have had a cell phone since the late 1990’s. My plan is $39.99 and usually it is around $45 per
month. I called the rep and I found out the free minutes
starting at 7:00 p.m, now starts at 9:00 pm. I never got a
notice of this change. The rep said he would deduct $50 and
pass the decision making on the $167. I will check on the
balance in a couple of days. I may have to borrow Barry’s
sign!!!!!!!.
Ann Compton, you aren’t alone. According to the responses I have been getting on my FaceBook, a ton of people are still having problems. It may take that step in making yourself known.
You guys might have to organize yourselves to get together and fight it out. Kinda like I did, just by myself.
*note, I still have the sign.
Barry, I’m glad that you were able to get Verizon to listen to you and fix your problematic bill! Nice work! I wanted to respond to those consumers out there who believe they’re victims of sketchy billing practices but are hesitant to use unorthodox methods and take it to the streets as you did. Instead, I work in the consumer advocacy division of the company Validas, where we electronically audit and subsequently reduce the average cell bill by 22 percent through our website, http://www.fixmycellbill.com. Put simply, Validas guards against the frivolous and unnecessary charges that over-inflate an estimated 80 percent of cell bills. You can find out for free if fixmycellbill.com can modify your plan to better suit your individual needs by going to the website.
For more info, check out Validas in the media, most recently on Fox News at http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/consumer/conlaw/lower_cell_phone_bills_072409 .
Good luck to everyone reading on further reducing your expenses in this tough economy.
Dylan
Consumer Advocacy, FixMyCellBill.com
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