Verizon bills dead guy, won’t allow daughter to cancel

Chris Spags Founder and Editor

In a tough economy, businesses have to do what they can to squeeze every last penny out of all of us, unfortunately. But what they do to you and me hardly compares to what happened to the daughter of a recently deceased man: She fought for months to get her father’s Verizon service canceled because, even though she mailed a death certificate, they needed her father’s PIN number.

Cynthia Lacy of Treasure Island could hardly believe a customer service representative at Verizon refused to disconnect her father’s telephone service.

Lacy sent the phone company a death certificate, showing her father, Bill Young of Calvin, W.Va., died in June. But not until repeated phone calls and a complaint to the media did Verizon finally cut it off — last week.

It seems Lacy did not have her father’s PIN (personal identification number) to access the account. So the representative refused to help her.

“Well, there’s nothing else I can do for you,” the representative said before laughing and hanging up the phone.

“This is wrong,” a frustrated Lacy said. “I’ve already sent them the death certificate.”

Fortunately, she got help from her local TV station to get through to Verizon and get the situation sorted out (they offered her credit back as of September. Gee, thanks guys). I get having corporate policies and whatever to make sure you’re not getting defrauded, but there has to be some flexibility going on. I’m surprised Verizon didn’t insist that she make her father do a limbo dance like it was “Weekend at Bernie’s” to prove the situation was legitimate. That’s the difficult thing about losing a loved one; every time you think you’re ready to move on, somebody insists you string him or her up like a marionette and make them dance the Lambada.

Pinellas woman’s Verizon fight shows why PINs should be shared [TampaBayOnline]

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