Switching Mobile Phone Carriers

I recently upgraded my iPhone 6 Plus to an iPhone 12 Pro Max. Although I’ve generally been happy with Verizon Wireless for many years, yesterday I activated my new phone on Visible Wireless because of their competitive rates, unlimited data, and rebate for new phone purchases. It makes sense that if you keep your phone number when you activate your phone on your new carrier, your new carrier will notify your old carrier, and it should automatically cancel your old account. Based on many sources I’ve read, it is still a good idea to contact your old phone carrier. This is what Verizon recommends as well.

Ironically, I found it very difficult to contact Verizon. First I tried to login to my Verizon account. However, I was unable to login because my account had presumably been disconnected. That was a good sign that my account was terminated, but I also wanted to verify that I had a $0 balance. So I tried the online chat feature. While it lets you ask any question, it then proceeds to ask you to login before it connects you to a chat agent. My last resort was to call Verizon to speak to a live customer service representative. On my first 2 attempts, I was on hold for 20 and 45 minutes respectively, and in both instances I had other obligations to attend to so had to hang up. On my third attempt, a representative answered my call after about 30 minutes. He was able to verify that my phone service was successfully disconnected yesterday and that there were no outstanding charges on my account.

I asked the Verizon agent if he could generate an email stating that my phone service was disconnected and that I had a $0 balance. I was told that there was no email template for this kind of communication, so he was unable to do it, but he verbally reassured me that everything was OK. I had no reason not to believe him, but I think it would have been nice if Verizon automatically generated an email to acknowledge my account transition and to confirm my account balance. It felt to me that the second I was no longer a customer, I was not worthy of their attention. I think it is not unreasonable for me to expect better, and I believe Verizon could do better. However, I do understand that this is probably par for the course.

UPDATE: After switching from Verizon Wireless to Visible Wireless on December 1, today (December 5) I received the following email entitled, “Your wireless bill is available on My Verizon”:

When I read the subject line, I thought Verizon was billing me for some kind of termination fee. However, upon reading the body of the email, it does acknowledge that all my lines are disconnected and that I have a small credit balance. Perhaps “wireless statement” would be a better phrase than “wireless bill” but at least Verizon eventually followed through with written confirmation.