Verizon stinks and you should not use them.
I have never known anyone to have good service from Verizon. Nobody has been pleased with their customer service and even before this story I would have never gotten a phone from them. However, this story takes the cake.
First, you need to read the story of Edna the dog. This poor dog was taken and then apparently tortured and killed by some punk kids.
Now you can read how Verizon, instead of doing the right thing, this happens:
The detective working the case, who asked me not to use his name, says he got a search warrant and faxed it to Verizon on Nov. 16, but it took 12 days before he got a list of calls made to Whiting. The city was charged $150 for the search.
Verizon charged police $150?
In most cases, says Verizon spokesman Lee Gierczynski, “the company charges no fee or a nominal one,” but in a “very small percentage of cases, Verizon will charge reimbursement fees for gathering information it does not routinely maintain.”
The fee covers some of Verizon’s costs and it makes no profit, he says. In a wired world, I find both the slow service and the high cost hard to swallow.
A crime has been committed. Another police source tells me the service is no better for other crimes, such as kidnapping, when time is crucial.
In Edna’s case, the detective says, he must now get another search warrant to connect the phone numbers he has to subscribers. He couldn’t say what the charge would be or how long it would take.
Let’s all be clear, any fee charged by Verizon goes towards the bottom line. They can claim that they don’t profit all they want. In reallity, they are profiting from this poor guys loss. They should have done the right thing, found the data immediately, and at least help this man get some closure.
And in a letter from Edna’s owner he states:
Verizon charges $500 an hour for searches, and some companies add an additional $150 per phone number researched. It costs Verizon nothing to do this, its pure corporate greed at its worst.
I couldn’t agree more. Pure greed. You can contact Verizon and share your views on this matter.
412-633-5574
Lee Grasinsky, media relations, Verizon.
Update: Edna’s owner posted a response here.