Verizon Does a Good Deed: Won't Charge Sandy Struck Customers for Text and Voice

[dgstorm]

Sometimes Verizon certainly makes it easy to be angry at them. Between rate hikes, broken promises, locked bootloaders and long waits for updates, it's not hard to be frustrated. Sometimes, however, you just must give credit where credit is due, and in this instance we shout out a hearty "kudos" to Verizon for something they did recently. In the wake of hurricane Sandy, Verizon has chosen not to charge customers for both voice and text if they were in the areas affected by the super-storm. Here's a full quote with the details,

Dear Valued Customer,

Verizon Wireless continues to focus its efforts to assist customers in the regions hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy. We announced November 4th that customers in portions of New York and New Jersey will not be billed usage charges for domestic voice and text usage incurred between October 29th and November 16th 2012. No action is required by our customers to be eligible for this program.

The following Q&A was made available to assist with additional program details.

Am I eligible?
This program will support customers in the following impacted areas:

New York: Bronx County, Kings County, Nassau County, New York County, Putnam County, Queens County, Richmond County, Rockland County, Suffolk County, and Westchester County

New Jersey: Atlantic City, Bergen County, Burlington County, Camden County, Cape May County, Cumberland County, Essex County, Gloucester County, Hudson County, Hunterdon County, Mercer County, Middlesex County, Monmouth County, Morris County, Ocean County, Passaic County, Salem County, Somerset County, Sussex County, Union County, and Warren County.

What do I need to do if I’m in an impacted area?
Nothing, we are proactively taking care of this on your behalf.

What if I’m not in an impacted area listed above?
Please call customer care at 1-800-922-0204, where we’ll address additional requests on a case by case basis.

Will this program provide me credit?
This process will remove voice and text activity incurred between 10/29/12 and 11/16/12 for those in the designated counties. You will not see an actual credit on the bill, but simply won’t see any usage charges for voice and text activity during that period.

Will I still be billed for monthly access?
Yes, you will still be responsible for monthly access charges.

Can I still be billed usage outside of these dates?
Usage charges will apply to usage outside of the date ranges of 10/29 – 11/16. So there is still a possibility of charges for usage before or after those dates.

Why is the end date set for November 16th?
By 11/16 we’re hoping that the lives of our customers impacted by storm will have returned to pre-Sandy normalcy.

I received an alert that I am close to (or over) my usage allowance for voice and/or text, is this correct?
You may still receive normal usage alerts during your bill cycle for voice and/or text usage. If you are an account owner you can manage alert preferences, including opting out, by signing into My Verizon. See Usage Alerts for additional details.

What else is Verizon doing to support impacted customers?
We continue to assist recovery efforts in the Northeastern United States in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy by:

• deploying Mobile Wireless Emergency Communications Center (WECC) trailers in hardest hit areas
• supporting public safety agencies with additional wireless communication devices
• opening device charging stations in impacted areas
• offering device charging and free domestic calling at its open retail locations
• match customer text-to-donate contributions to American Red Cross relief efforts up to one million dollars
• suspending late fees during the storm recovery period

All this is in addition to our round-the-clock efforts to restore network coverage in the affected areas.

Source: Verizon Support

 

[pc747]

good to see. With that said I believe all the carriers are doing that or something similar so I am thinking vzw did not want to be left out (bad for pub).

 

[soulpatch]

they should be waiving the data charges as well since many of these people are now reliant on their phons as their only internet connection to look up items for help, phone numbers, email family/friends, ect. Skipping that is basically giving nothing up and just a fake showing of compassion in my mind...

 

[pollardhimself]

Guest their re-distrusting that new $30 dollar upgrade fee

 

[dgstorm]

Guest their re-distrusting that new $30 dollar upgrade fee

So, you are implying that all those extra fees are there to help cover costs for PR stunts whenever there is some random disaster?

Perhaps in the future (if we have more transparency), they won't call it an upgrade fee, they will call it the "Potential Random Disaster - Make Us Look Good Fee."

What other creative names might we see for fees?

 

[tjk629]

Verizon always does this during natural disasters.

 

[JoDroid]

If you lived in the Sandy Storm area you would appreciate it as I do. I was fortunate as I did not lose my lights or landline but there were thousands who did and still don't have any heat! I had a huge tree fall on my Jeep Cherokee which still has not been removed, but I consider myself very fortunate as some trees that fell killed people or ruined homes.

Verizon also set up many kiosks for people to use their chargers, phones and internet service. Thank You Verizon!

 

[jseah]

So this would suck for the people who has switched over to Share Everything since they get unlimited calls and text anyways. It won't cost Verizon anything.

 

[UncleVanya]

No good deed seems to go unpunished.

Sent via Tapatalk...

 

[FunN4Lo]

I am in Southern Louisiana. VZW has done this several times for us. After Katrina and Gustav I had 1,000+ bills (Katrina was several months in a row) with overages because of storm conditions. They waved those excesses after I asked the first time, and then automatically after that.