The Verizon/Alltel merger: The consumer promises and issues

Verizon, one of the biggest national cell carriers, today announced plans to swallow one of the smallest, Alltel. For consumers, the possible merger raises promise. And, like many such deals, it also raises a number of issues and questions.

Despite their differing size, the companies share a number of attributes that bode well for consumers in a possible merger, beginning with high customer satisfaction. In our recent surveys of cellphone service, both carriers have been standouts for connectivity—that is, for minimizing problems with lack of service, full circuits, or dropped calls—and for customer service.

They also have networks that are technologically compatible—being heavily digital and using CDMA technology. That promises to increase the chance that customers of one company will get access to services now offered by the other, and that subscribers will more fully benefit from an expanded, joint network. It may also minimize the problems that ensued after two other recent cellphone mergers, involving companies with divergent technologies. The Sprint-Nextel merger, in 2005, brought together one company that used a CDMA network and another that used Iden technology. The 2004 merger of Cingular and AT&T married one company that used several technologies, including older analog networks, with another that had a heavily-digital GSM network.

A number of questions and uncertainties remain, however—beginning with whether federal regulators will allow the merger to proceed, and when. (The companies themselves are aiming for completion by year's end.) Consumer advocates will weigh in on the deal's benefits and pitfalls. Those groups include Consumers' Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports, which is already flagging such issues as whether provisions may be required to help cell subscribers in some rural areas where Alltel is the leading carrier and Verizon may be a close competitor.

—Paul Reynolds

Comments

[Iko]

I see a lot of complaints but nothing is done about it. I have 2 phones that were transferred to Verizon and one of them is not working with the service in the area of were I work. I don't know what to do anymore, The tech support has no answer for me and claiming that I'm the only one with the issue and they are lying!! they won't let me out of the contract and I can't use the phone all day till I go home. I know my phone is good since it works in other areas. if anyone knows what can be done please let me know. nissimiko at gmail. please help!

[tanya]

i HATE verizon prepaid...first of all i was told by a customer service rep that i would be gaining more with the verizon network b/c i was a alltel customer but in reality i have received nothing but poor service...i roam everywhere now and am being charged .10 for every text message....how is this when i have unlimited txt messaging...customer service stated that nothing changed as long as i refurbished my account with my monthly amount of 69.00....after refurbishing my account for 70.00 on 11-13-2009, i received a txt message stating that my balance had reached 3.00 on 11-17-2009...in 4 days my 70.00 refurb had been eaten up.....after calling customer service i was told that i had to make only one lump sum refurb instead of using two additional 35.00 refurbs.....with alltel this was acceptable as long as i did not confirm the total refill until both pins were entered on each refill.....what else will verizon come up with to screw former alltel customers? looks like i will be changing to boost mobile....verizon has completely ruined alltels reputation

[Carly]

The Alltel/Verizon has been a nightmare! The horror is that it has cost my 78 year old Mother, who's living on a fixed income, over $300.00. After the switch from Alltel to Verizon was completed, my Mother's pre-paid cell phone, with over one-hundred and seventeen dollars of time, no longer worked. The kind-hearted, compassionate folks (not) at the new Verizon store told her she had to purchase a new phone, new pre-paid card, pay for the activation fee, and all the surcharges, taxes, and other fees they deemed necessary. With Verizon's pre-paid plan, my Mother is now having to pay $0.25 per minute instead of her previious rate of $0.15 per minute with Alltel. Verizon said they could not add the $117.00 balance from Mom's old phone to the one they said she had to buy. Verizon said this transition would be a smooth one. Flat-out truth is, Verizon LIED!

[WOW-Confusion Anybody?]

So, my wife and I have been on the same Alltel plan for the past 7 years, and we were informed that once the merger was complete, we could "re-up" our contract from the Alltel contract that expires in July '10 to a Verizon plan.

We went into Verizon on 11/8 to look at phones and plans because my wife wants to get into the touch screen world with the Droid and we were told 2 different things from 2 different associates at Verizon.

This entire situation has really flipped my wife's lid as she has NO patience for sales people that don't have their story straight and don't know how to answer seemingly easy questions.

Is anybody else having problems with contracts at Verizon?

[Ken]

Had a good signal with Alltel. Bad signal since Verizon merger. Lots of droped calls and voice mails coming in anywhere from 1 to 6 days late.

[Melissa]

My husband and I have been with Alltel for the last 9 or 10 years without any problems. After the merger we were continually getting dropped calls, calls going straight to voicemail which we were unable to retrieve. I had a Treo 700 and it wasn't working at all after the merger. We went in to the store and they said if we switched to a verizon plan and upgraded our phones the problem would go away. Of course the new plan was about 90.00 more per month for the same plan we had with Alltel. I also had insurance on my phone with Alltel and they said I didn't and our phone bill was over 250.00 more than usual because they said we only had 500 minutes on our plan and we had 1000 minutes with Alltel. All of which I couldn't prove because we paid everything on line and didn't have any paper copies of our statements. We decided to give them another try and went into the store to add both of my sons to our plan if they would be willing to give me a new phone since mine wasn't working. We also agreed to go to the new Verizon plan that was more expensive and they refused to give me a new phone. We had just moved and most of our family and friends were with Alltel now Verizon so we didn't want to switch due to the free mobile to mobile. The people in the store said they couldn't help us at all and we needed to call customer service from our phone in their store. We did and my husband explained the whole thing and they had the notes where I had called and they troubleshooted my phone and confirmed it wasn't working properly. He asked them to replace my phone with an equivalent phone and we would stay and add both of my sons. They said no and my husband said you don't want to keep customers or help us out. Needless to say we went across the street to TMobile and we got 4 lines with double the minutes we previously had with unlimited internet, email, and texting for 139.00 per month for all phones. Each phone also gets 5 faves so that helps with the people outside of our network. We have not had one problem at all. Tmobile waived all of our activation fees and were wonderful. Funny the next day Verizon suddenly wants us back and offers to give me a new free phone along with my kids and give us the same plan for the same price and they would pay any cancellation fees we had with TMobile. We said hell no we would never come back to them. We knew if we did they would up our bill as soon as we switched just as they did with the merger. VERIZON WIRELESS SUCKS......

[Melissa in ARK.]

Have ALL the SAME complaints as the Rest! Alltel in ARK. was EXCELLENT! Especially the customer service! Verizon customer service is "duck and dodge" IF you get to communicate with a representative, they play dodge the question, but mostly they DON'T communicate (duck you all together)!! Signed up on website account. Say they'll respond to emails WITHIN 24 hrs. - 2 WEEKS LATER I get my email answered! They hope every Alltel customer drops them, don't know about you guys, but when someone takes over a company isn't it just WISE business ETHICS to treat ALL CUSTOMERS EQUALLY, NEW as well as OLD!??
Today, they turned off our phone service for non payment - NO NOTICE WHAT SO EVER!! & they want $35 PER LINE reconnect plus the totally outrageous fee of $312 for ONE month, Alltel only charged me $189 a month for the same service AND was ever so kind at "reminder text messages",( I am a forgetful person ) Not to mention I ACTUALLY GOT my calls AND messages WITHOUT these HORRIBLE connections Verizon calls a "service" - Looking for new provider, I feel lucky after reading complaints, our Alltel contract is up, but I'm not signing with Verizon THAT'S A PROMISE!! Any good Services?

[Kate]

I have been having all the same issues: Full service but dont get calls, drop calls, delayed text messaging ect. I was working with alltel for months to get it fixed after they started the merger and the phone merger is now complete as of 4 days ago and now im smacking my head aganist the wall talking to verizon. After 4 + years i left them for alltel and would never go back. Now im trying to get the networked fixed and now they tell me $400 to cancel (2 lines) or $450 to buy a new verizon blackberry. Has anyone heard of any class action lawsuits or matters about this merger.. if there isnt one.. there should be!

[Long-time Customer with multiple accounts and lines]

First, switching to verizon phones will not take care of coverage or billing issues. I've switched my phones at no charge and all except for one are working as they did with our Alltel equipment. The one line has had no service on it for 10 days now, and of course troubleshooting thru tech support, trips to store to switch out to a different phone. All working fine on all lines up until the change of equipment. It seems as though that one line is stuck somewhere in "activation-land" and the systems won't release. A number change didn't help. I'm now on my 3rd "case" to get resolution, and as far as billing issues, it won't help. It will only get worse if you try and switch to a verizon plan with same features. This is the worst merger in the telecommunications industry I've ever been exposed to, and I've been thru the ATT Wireless to Cingular to ATT and this Alltel to Verizon is nothing but pure chaos. Even though the same reps, no one knows what is going on. Poor training, and lets not even get into systems. Only good thing I've found so far is the early termination is declining with Verizon instead of the straight $200 per line. It starts out at $175 and declines each month you complete. My new phones cost me nothing, as Verizon actually waived all costs of new phones, claiming that my billing issues were due to equipment (BS...I work in telecommunications and it has nothing to do with equipment EVER) so I bit and got the new phones and only extended my current contracts by a couple of months but in the long run if I end up leaving Verizon, I'm still ahead of the game with my ETF's. It's amazing that when you have all of these lines and all are working perfectly and your friends' phones are working perfectly that one line will not work at all, and it is taking this long to fix the issue and get it working. BTW, the only towers we have here are alltel and verizon, and when the tower ID is pulled, it is running on the same tower as the rest of my 13 lines, including 2 aircards. Only difference is the PRL in that phone (and yes we have tried several different phones on that line) is stuck on 30046, which according to a friend in tech support is not a PRL for Alltel or Verizon, and no amount of *228, flashing thru the computer at the local store or having advanced tech support do a hybrid push will resolve it. And you know what the real kicker is..besides we are all wireless, gave up our Verizon home phones and dial-up a few years ago due to poor customer service and network problems, the "case" that actually got completed/worked came back "poor coverage area"?????? WTF??? How can it be poor coverage area when my other lines are working perfectly as if we never lost Alltel. ROFL!!!!!!!! And as for customer service, no it is not customer service. When I have to call in every day regarding the same issue and go over the same exact details of my issue or I get put on hold for 20-30 minutes at a time, listening to the same old hold music, just to be told nothing....that is not customer service. Yep, there go the post-call surveys and the JD Powers awards....it's coming. You can bet I am leaving bad survey scores on "how likely are you to recommend Verizon Wireless to your friends" and also on "How well do you feel the rep. understood/resolved your issues".

[carly erickson]

I too have been a victim of the Alltel/Verizon merge! Its a little easier to bare reading that I am not the only one dealing with issues with Verizon. Every month I have a $400 + phone bill from Verizon, a huge difference from my expected monthly $70 Alltel bill. I call and ask the questions and they never seem to explain how or way, and have yet to fix it. There answer is, until I buy a Verizon phone and become a ''full on'' Verizon customer, I'll be receiving extra charges. And this is OK? They dropped my phone insurance, and I was forced to change to different plans I didn't want. The latest is my phone got water on it and since I don't have insurance I can't replace it. I told them I wish to suspend the service till the end of my contract this month and they told me if I do that they would have to extend my service for 3 more months.... umm, ok because the sense of that is what? Oh, money right. I was happy with Alltel and I don't think its ok that we as customers who give our money to these giants are able to treat us this way. So what can we do? Is anyone else looking into legal actions of any sort, or should we just bite the bullet and look forward till the day its over? I'll be happy to be done with the service this month.

[Lori]

We were a loyal Alltel customer. Great service, never any problems. After the merger we started dropping calls, never receiving voice messages. We could be in the same room and call each other and the calls would not go through. I called customer service and they told me until I got Verizon phones we were going to have this problem because they could not update my phone. Went to Verizon and they told me I could not get a verizon phone because my Alltel contract was still valid. I asked to sign a Verizon contract and they said I had to wait until my Alltel contract ran out. I told them customer service said that I could have new contract & phones because my phones did not work properly. Verizon store said that was not how it worked and they could not get me a Verizon phone because I was not due for an upgrade. I left the store only to call customer service again and they told me to go back to the store I could have new phone & contract. Went back to store only to be told by manager this time that they could not help me. I even tried to buy verizon cell phone & pay full price but manager told me it was too expensive and I didn't want to do that! Needless to say I left went to Sprint & am loving it. Alltel wants $600 early term. fee but I don't feel like I'm the one in default. They are. They did not hold up to their contract and I had to go elsewhere. What can you do?
Frustrated beyond

[Cindy]

I hate Verizon. I have been an Alltel customer for years. NO problems. No dropped calls. Reliable service. Clear reception. Ever since Verizon took over I have ZERO service anywhere in my neighborhood, my phone bill increased (for exactly the same service and no overages), and customer service is horrible. I made a contract with ALLTEL years ago with NO knowledge they would be selling out to Verizon. Why are we obligated to stay with Verizon? I don't like knowing I am stuck paying $200 a month for the next year for shoddy service, and I refuse to be stuck with $400 in early contract termination fees. Is there anything we Alltel customers can do?

[Rachel Johnson]

I loved alltel!! Can't say the same for verizon! We have 4 alltel prepaid phones in our house. Alltel a dollar a day. With transition, verizon 3.99 a day!! WTF????? 478.00 a month are they freaken crazy??????

[Unhappy]

I am so UPSET with Verizon. The first month they took over my bill had never been over $220 went to $497, the next month $1011, and the next $900. Repeated emails to customer service and phone calls have gotten me no where. In my opinion they have breached their contract with me. They obviously are not honoring the contract I had with Alltel. We are not using our phones any differently than we were the day they took over.

[MANHATTAN KS]

Ever since Verizon bought out Alltel, and there was a update in my area, from the day that happened, my service has never been the same. Now I'm stuck in a one-year extended contract also. Yeah, I'm a sucker. I should have known when i walked into the corporate office here and an associate was cold-calling customers like crazy, trying to get them to extend their contract instead of helping the backed-up line of customers. I don't receive calls and my wireless internet service sucks! I used to be so happy with Alltel. WHERE IS MY RELIABLE NETWORK! I am supposed to be locked into a unlimited wireless internet data transfer plan. I better not see a 500.00 bill.

[Janae]

I just got a piece of mail from Verizon which now states that my bill will be $10 MORE than it was when I was with Alltel.

What a bunch of BS!

[Eric]

Since the Alltel/Verizon merger I am having frequent dropped calls that typically did not drop at all before the merger. I have a Samsung Muse and it has been very reliable. I went into a Verizon office (the Alltel store closed). The representative began to blame my phone and starting checking for water damage as a way to avoid responsibility. My phone has never seen water. He then states that only 2% of people have ever admitted to water damage (okay, so now I am being told I'm a liar-talk about adding insult to injury!) I have seen this type of practice from customer service before when I was in the stores and listening to other customers complain. I explained to him that my calls where dropping in places/areas that I never had problems (e.g. home, office, certain spots along the highway) and that my signal strength was horrible in the past 1.5 months. He confirmed 25 dropped calls on my past phone bill. I'm sure there are more dropped calls that were not registered on the bill. I even had a call drop when I was on my way to the Verizon store (only 1.57 miles from my home)as I was closing the door. This is so frustrating and ridiculous. When I was in the Verizon store I was told I could pay a discounted price for a phone and an additional $20 annual upgrade fee. Why am I being held responsible for a problem they created? I don't like any of the phones Verizon offers and I have a phone now that can't maintain connectivity. When I call Alltel customer service I get the same response from the customer service rep and the technical department. Do they think we are idiots! What I understand is Alltel contracts are valid until the terms of the contract expire otherwise a early cancellation fee kicks-in. Is all of this legal? Is there an attorney that can address these issues? Class action lawsuit? What recourse do Alltel customers have?

[JODY]

I HATE VERIZON. MY SON GOT THIS PHONE FOR ME RIGHT BEFORE GOING TO IRAQ. HE AUTHORIZED ME SO THAT I COULD MAKE ANY CHANGES. HE HAD A POWER OF ATTORNY DRAWN UP FOR HIS DAD TO PAY HIS BILLS WHILE HE IS DEPLOYED. I CALLED VERIZON ABOUT A PROBLEM LAST WEEK AND THEY TOLD ME THAT I AM NOT AUTHORIZED AND THAT THEY WILL NOT RECOGNIZE THE POWER OF ATTY. I TALKED TH THREE CUSTOMER REPS AND A MANAGER. THE MGR TOLD ME THAT MY SON WOULD HAVE TO CALL THEM AND RE-AUTHORIZE ME AND HE WOULD HAVE TO DO A NEW POA FOR HIS DAD. I ASKED HER IF I WOULD HAVE TO CALL THE GOVERNORS OFFICE TO TELL THEM HOW VERIZON IS TREATING THE FAMILIES OF THE SOLDIERS. SHE PUT ME ON HOLD FOR ABOUT A MINUTE AND THEN CAME BACK AND TOLD ME THAT I HAVE BEEN AUTHORIZED AND THAT THE POA IS IN EFFECT. I JUST HUNG UP. THAT TOOK OVER AN HOUR TO ACCOMPLISH.

[Kansas UGH!!]

We've had 2 cell phones with Alltel for a few years now. My phone broke and I went to buy a different one. They told me I could get one but it would only work for another couple months and then only Verizon phones would work So, we bought a couple new phones and switched to Verizon. No big thing it's all one company right? Then we got some bill from Alltel wanting an extra $200 for jumping from their contract. A phone call to Alltel resulted in them crediting the account for $200 eventually to settle the bogus billing. Now they want a late fee for the $200. Instead of correcting the bill and showing we never owed the $200 they tossed a credit in there to make it look like we paid it but late. Now we are accruing late charges/penalties of some sort on money we never owed and they agreed we did not owe it. When I call to try and straighten this out all I get is somebody that recites the amount owed and reads off what was owed previous blah blah blah. I don't get anybody that seems to understand the $200 credit was from Alltel to fix and over billing, not from us. How ridiculous to do business with them for 4 years and now I'm arguing with them over $14. I don't know if they're trying to do this to everyone that was with Alltel? It's not much and I can see where most people would just pay it and forget it. That could be some real money after awhile if this is repeated. I have no way of knowing.

[May]

I am happy with Alltel, but ever since the merger, my signals are terrible. I've called in to complaint, and they said if I switches to verizon comepletely, my signals would get better. I thought alltel is verizon now, isn't it? Anyway, I think this is a scam! They're purposely making former alltel signals go bad so we would comepletely switches to verizon. Verizon are alot more expensive than alltel. I WANT OUT! Anyone know what choice do i have besides the $200 contract!

[Noelle Charles]

It's great and at the same time sad to see that I'm not the only dissatisfied customer with the alltel/verizon merge. I guess i was in the dark for a month or so because i thought surely alltel customers would have a choice whether or not they wanted to participate with the two companies merge. I about flipped when the nerdy dude at the counter in the alltel now turned verizon store told me that I'd have to pay $200.00 per line to get out of my contract. To keep my self from b*%ch slappin' him I got back in my car and called verizon's customer support only to hear the same exact thing along with this promising sales pitch. I don't think it's fair for customers to be tied into a contract with a company that we didnt initially choose. I happily added an additional line back in May for my kid and now i find that the contract is tied up until may of 2011. Verizon you suck! If you claim to be the best carrier/network in the country and according to "les" the customer service rep, the best in world. Give Alltel customers that door "to walk" if they choose. If you're "that good" trust that we may just come back.

btw-I left verizon due to customer service issues, high call volumes the leave you waiting for what seems like forever! I'm very disappointed that I wasn't given a choice to find another carrier.

[Heather]

I really, really loved Alltel given that the connectivity at my home was excellent. After the merger, I am having serious issues with call quality and an increase in dropped calls (I have had 2 just today, while I only had 2 or 3 over the past several years with Alltel). I use my cell phone for business, so all the dropped calls that I am getting does not bode well. With all the excellent ratings I am seeing for Verizon, I am rather disappointed. Wish Alltel would have hung around... might have to go back to AT&T. It's the lesser of two evils at this point! And with the iPhone at AT&T, they are swaying me I must say.

[Robert]

alltel has always been good and fair to me... Verizons customer support team now sucks... they fired all of the alltel employees and now cannot handle the alltel family. every time i call i wait for about a half hour to speak to someone just to be transferred. my phones texting does not work properly for some reason. i can send texts to anyone, but i cant recieve texts from anyone except alltel people. verizon sid the issue would be resolved today but it isn,t. the customer service represenative lead me to believe she was tech support and said i needed to buy a new phone to get my texting working right for sure and renew my plan... so far i'm extremely unsatisfied with verizons ways of handling this merge. i am a VERY UNHAPPY CUSTOMER right now and am very upset at verizon completely. they've treated me like crap since this merge..... urrr!!.....

[misty pharez]

Ok well i have not got my first verizon bill yet... i do not understand what in hell is going on i was told we would have a 20 day grace in the final merger...which was the 13 of this month... and my service was interrupted yesterday... waited on hold for verizon customer service for one hour and fifteen min... to talk to some one... only to drop the call after a 20 min explanation why my 125 bill was now 316.00... they did not bother to call me back... only to wait another hour this morning... to find out that they here back charging for something last month... 15.00 per line... i was also informed that the next month bill was already add even though it does not cut until the 13th of next month... alltel always sent out text message saying ur bill was due... and verizon informed me that they will not continue to do that... i had verizon before and they were horrible... now the good customer service of alltel has now been swallowed up by the useless idiots at verizon...i was also informed even though i do not want to be with or ask to be with verizon that i will have to stay in the rest of my contract with them which is another 7 months... is that what they r doing to all the contracts? we did not ask for them to merge... and there are reason why we r with certain carriers... customer service for one...

[Stacy]

I have been having issues with my "new" verizon account for the last two billing cycles and even more issues trying to get it corrected. I have had Alltel's wireless internet (because it offered the best plan and options) for a while. My account was bought by Verizon and they keep sending me and my husband bills for $500. My husband is deployed at the moment and when I call in to fix it, they explained to me that I'm not "qualified" to tell them that the bill is incorrect.

Is anyone else receiving bogus invoices from Verizon??? I'm so fed up with it that we are looking to switch every single one of our accounts from Verizon to another provider.