When it's an actual attempt at theft by fraud.
I awoke yesterday morning and saw an email from Verizon. The email said that my order was being prepared for shipment.
Seemed like a phishing email to me, so I checked the return address on the email carefully. It looked legit and so did the link included. To be sure I didn't click on the link, but went to what I know is the actual Verizon web address.
I logged in and sure enough, the order was there. It took me a while to hunt through the various pages and find a phone number to contact customer service.
Well, "service" by their definition, but clearly not mine.
It took two tries to get through the useless automated responses and talk to an actual person. The person told me that it was too late to stop shipment, but if I either refused to accept delivery or took delivery and sent it back unopened, they would automatically cancel the order.
Uh, that's fine, but how did the order get placed. She didn't know and couldn't tell me how to find out.
So, we ended that call and I had breakfast. While thinking about it, I decided that this should be reported to Verizon security as a fraudulent order.
So, I dialed the number, went through the automated process and got another woman with a heavy accent. She assured me that she could cancel the order and would transfer me to the security people.
She transferred me to the Verizon IGNORE THE CUSTOMER hot line where I spent 30 minutes on Hold listening to computer generated sound that was supposed to be music.
While I was waiting I logged back into the Verizon website and chose "Chat with a representative." Eventually, someone replied and gave me the direct line to Verizon Security.
This resulted in 15 minutes of Music while on Ignore before I hung up.
A third call the Verizon, back through the automated system and finally got a human. This person actually did cancel the order, gave me ticket number for the cancellation, and a separate one for the fraud report and told me that someone would follow up.
I spent some time printing to PDF all of the information about the order on the Verizon website as well as the emails the system generated. That included the UPS tracking number on the not yet shipped phone.
This morning when I woke up I had two emails informing me that the order was cancelled. Then I received a tracking update from UPS that the shipment had been returned to Verizon.
Then I received a voice mail from someone with a local number asking me if I wanted to complete the order.
Talk about one hand not knowing what the other is doing.
While typing this, I received another email that says they are looking into my billing dispute. That's because they project a $400.00 increase in my bill next month, followed by 35 payments of $41.00 a month to pay for the phone.
Which means that I have to keep a close eye on next months bill to be sure that they actually did reverse the charges.
A couple of points to consider.
1) Not every email that looks like a scam is. Read them carefully. A trick I use is to set the email to read as plain text only. That allows me to see the actual email address that sent the email. If it's a Gmail address, it's a scam.
Only once you are sure it's legit can you change your email view to HTML and click on a link. Or, if it's someone you do business with go directly to their website and log in.
2) Verizon customer service is horrible. Then again, they all are. They try to avoid letting you talk to a human as much as possible. You can say "Agent", "Representative" or press the zero button and eventually you will get there.
3) Keep records of everything, including the names of people you talk to on the phone.
4) Be patient and persistent. Since customer service is horrible, you may have to make multiple phone calls, send emails, and if you have a smart phone send texts.
I awoke yesterday morning and saw an email from Verizon. The email said that my order was being prepared for shipment.
Seemed like a phishing email to me, so I checked the return address on the email carefully. It looked legit and so did the link included. To be sure I didn't click on the link, but went to what I know is the actual Verizon web address.
I logged in and sure enough, the order was there. It took me a while to hunt through the various pages and find a phone number to contact customer service.
Well, "service" by their definition, but clearly not mine.
It took two tries to get through the useless automated responses and talk to an actual person. The person told me that it was too late to stop shipment, but if I either refused to accept delivery or took delivery and sent it back unopened, they would automatically cancel the order.
Uh, that's fine, but how did the order get placed. She didn't know and couldn't tell me how to find out.
So, we ended that call and I had breakfast. While thinking about it, I decided that this should be reported to Verizon security as a fraudulent order.
So, I dialed the number, went through the automated process and got another woman with a heavy accent. She assured me that she could cancel the order and would transfer me to the security people.
She transferred me to the Verizon IGNORE THE CUSTOMER hot line where I spent 30 minutes on Hold listening to computer generated sound that was supposed to be music.
While I was waiting I logged back into the Verizon website and chose "Chat with a representative." Eventually, someone replied and gave me the direct line to Verizon Security.
This resulted in 15 minutes of Music while on Ignore before I hung up.
A third call the Verizon, back through the automated system and finally got a human. This person actually did cancel the order, gave me ticket number for the cancellation, and a separate one for the fraud report and told me that someone would follow up.
I spent some time printing to PDF all of the information about the order on the Verizon website as well as the emails the system generated. That included the UPS tracking number on the not yet shipped phone.
This morning when I woke up I had two emails informing me that the order was cancelled. Then I received a tracking update from UPS that the shipment had been returned to Verizon.
Then I received a voice mail from someone with a local number asking me if I wanted to complete the order.
Talk about one hand not knowing what the other is doing.
While typing this, I received another email that says they are looking into my billing dispute. That's because they project a $400.00 increase in my bill next month, followed by 35 payments of $41.00 a month to pay for the phone.
Which means that I have to keep a close eye on next months bill to be sure that they actually did reverse the charges.
A couple of points to consider.
1) Not every email that looks like a scam is. Read them carefully. A trick I use is to set the email to read as plain text only. That allows me to see the actual email address that sent the email. If it's a Gmail address, it's a scam.
Only once you are sure it's legit can you change your email view to HTML and click on a link. Or, if it's someone you do business with go directly to their website and log in.
2) Verizon customer service is horrible. Then again, they all are. They try to avoid letting you talk to a human as much as possible. You can say "Agent", "Representative" or press the zero button and eventually you will get there.
3) Keep records of everything, including the names of people you talk to on the phone.
4) Be patient and persistent. Since customer service is horrible, you may have to make multiple phone calls, send emails, and if you have a smart phone send texts.
