Dear Editor:Verizon employees are very polite and inept. They only know how to say two things: I am very sorry you have been transferred and May I put you on hold for a few minutes while I review your account. They also don't know the difference between a Credit and a Debit and are totally clueless on how to deal with problems their employer has created. I make this assertion after spending 1.5 hours of frustration talking to 10 different people who kept transferring me from Customer Service to Financial Services and back again and finally disconnecting me. The story is quite simple. On May 9, I made a payment of $192.56 to Verizon, through their web account. They promptly misapplied that amount; then on May 16 I get a bill showing that I have a credit for $192.56 in an account that I don't recognize. On Jun 4 I got a letter from an attorney claiming I owe $192.56 on this account that I don't recognize and threatening to place my account on collection. I contacted Verizon and here is where the fun began. I asked them how can that account be delinquent when Verizon's bill showed a credit. After being transferred back and forth between the Payment Department and the Customer Service department, they agreed that Verizon had made a mistake and that they would correct it. It didn't end there, unfortunately. On June 25 I received a new bill for the aforementioned account and now it shows a balance of $385.12 (twice 192.56), that the account is delinquent and that it has been referred to a collection service. I called Verizon again and after spending 1.5 hours in the phone and talking to 10 different people, they can not find the aforementioned account. I asked for a letter from Verizon, stating that and exonerating me from any due charges on this account but nobody seemed to know who could write that letter. So I asked TO WHOM can I write a letter about this situation, since I want to have a record that I am disputing this bill and no one at Verizon could give me the name of a Department and its address so that I could send them a letter stating my case. The Customer Service Department says that only the Financial Services can give me that address, and you guessed it, The Financial Services Department says that only the Customer Service Department can give me the address. I went back and forth between these two departments until somebody purposely disconnect me. I did not call back because I didn't want to spend another 1.5 hours in search of an address. I am writing this letter to warn other Verizon customers to be on the alert for unjustified collection actions and to warn them that they will be dealing with the least gifted people they can imagine when trying to resolve a problem. It will not surprise me to receive another collection letter in the mail since Verizon employees don't have the skills and training necessary to solve problems they created and Verizon is happy keeping them that way. Jorge Montero Downey

********** Published: June 28, 2012 - Volume 11 - Issue 11