dianahc

Thanks! - I will report back tomorrow. In the meantime, has anyone successfully signed up??

FYI - TWO people from Verizon promised me a call back today and NEITHER of them called. I have both of their email addresses and just gave them a SHARP poke in the ribs. I don't really feel up to getting on the phone and trying to fight my way to either one of them tonight, but I will try again tomorrow. I think I'm in some netherworld or limbo now with NO plan, NO label to send back my tablet, and at risk of having been deemed to have prematurely canceled my plan with no replacement. I'm going to be REALLY pissed by tomorrow morning. They don't want me pissed.

Has anyone successfully negotiated this "deal?" I have been online and on the phone for literally HOURS today trying to complete it, and as far as I can tell, it is NOT POSSIBLE to do it through the linked joint-branded Verizon/FMCA site, nor through a human. To add to the complication for me, when the original deal fell through in June, I was using an AT&T hotspot I was very dissatisfied with, and didn't want to use. In early October, we had a nearly 3 week RV trip planned during which I had to work, so I went down to a Verizon store and told them the sad story of how Verizon screwed the FMCA and me over in June. We came to an "arrangement" where I signed up for a new unlimited plan, with 22 GBs of 4G, then throttled to 3G; this service was to be delivered not via a JetPack (because it would cost $200 for the JetPack), BUT through a Samsung tablet with a hotspot feature which for some reason was free. So, I reluctantly agreed to this arrangement (the tablet of course doesn't fit in a pocket or even my purse), but they PROMISED me that once the Verizon/FMCA deal was "fixed," I could easily change to the FMCA plan and swap the tablet for the JetPack. Are you laughing at me yet? You should be. 10 days into the trip, I got an email warning that I was about to reach my max 4G allotment of 15 GBs. WHAT?? I had 22 GB! So I spent nearly 2 hours on the phone with Verizon, in which I learned (1) you only get 15 GB of HOTSPOT usage when your device is a tablet; and (2) the tablet itself when left on is constantly EATING DATA as it goes on the internet by itself. I was told to shut off the device or at least the data when not using it as a hotspot, and given a restructured plan (for more money of course) which gave me some more GBs to finish the trip, and was told that when I was NOT traveling, I could downgrade the GBs to a cheaper (~$60/mo) plan. So I downgraded it a few days ago after getting back from the trip. Then today, I got the email that the new Verizon/FMCA deal was in place. But - you have to sign up online only - how can I manage that, where there was a swap of tablet for JetPack involved?? After buying TWO MORE YEARS of FMCA membership, as required, I TRIED to use the website - tried to sign in as an existing customer, but the site wouldn't work - including the links for a representative or "contact us." It insisted on having an EMPLOYEE cell phone number - I'm not an employee of either FMCA or Verizon! So, I called Verizon. After innumerable explanations of the whole sad story (and about 45 min on the phone), I was able to get my existing service plan changed to the FMCA $49.99 deal - MANUALLY, BY VERIZON, not via the internet site. But when I tried to negotiate the purchase (for $0.01) of the JetPack, we hit a brick wall. I ended up having to tell the customer service rep that I had to GO - I had to get to the bank and it was already 4:30. He said to call customer service back later, and he'd have all the notes in the file. Laughing again yet? You should be. So about 6 PM, I started again to try and solve the problem. I called Verizon and after explaining things to 3 or 4 different people, finally got with a guy who supposedly knows what's going on - or was willing to learn. We tried a half-dozen different ways that didn't work, including emailing him the link to the Verizon/FMCA website. We decided I should try to go back on the Verizon/FMCA site and try to buy the JetPack as an accessory - after innumerable attempts a variety of ways, I almost got there - it offered to sell it to me for $0.01 - but ALSO wanted me to agree to an ADDITIONAL $20/mo line access charge!! I told by now new buddy Ryan that that was a big f'ing NOPE, and after I read to him and then EMAILED him the notices from FMCA and other links to the Verizon/FMCA website detailing the deal, he agreed that there was no line access charge mentioned in the agreement. I then spent a lot more time on the phone while Ryan attempted to figure out WTF to do. He finally came to the conclusion that what I needed to do was to start over - sign up for the FMCA deal as a NEW customer, and then when that was done, he would cancel my old account and send me an label to send back the tablet. OK, I guess - after going through all the crap with Verizon already about setting up the old account and auto-pay, which didn't kick in to take care of the FIRST bill, so on the one-month anniversary of getting Verizon, I received 2 emails and 2 phone calls saying I was DELINQUENT on my account - not happy about it, but OK. So, I went through the whole process of signing up as a NEW customer for the Verizon/FMCA deal. And this time VOILA! I got the $49.99/mo + $0.01 JetPack deal! Ryan promised to call me tomorrow to set up the cancelation of my old account and sending me the return label for the tablet. I got a sale confirmation email, and Ryan hung up. And then I got a second email: "We have received your order; however, this transaction cannot be processed because your information already exists in our system. Please place this order as an existing customer by going to My Verizon. At this time, your credit card has not been charged and we will hold your order for 7 days from today's date. You can contact the Credit and Order Review Team at 866-338-7390 if you have any questions." I sent Ryan another email: "AAARRRGGGHHH!!!! FIX IT!!!" I am waiting to hear what happens next. Diana Cox

Well, it is suspicious that they apparently were willing to allow FMCA to act as a reseller, based on the original invitation to the membership, until they apparently got too many requests for the soft rollout. And what I was asking for was how they were going to make it right by offering some sort of plan that was closer to what they offered FMCA, and was at least better than what was offered to the general public, which she refused to do.

FYI - a further not-very-informative response from Tiffany at Verizon (my emphases) - offering me nothing other than what is publicly available:

Wayne - I think that is included in our insurance - but I will go look. That could be a valuable benefit, to be sure. I have driven the RV once - for about 60 miles of relatively flat uncrowded highway in good weather, 3 years ago - but I would hate to HAVE to do it for any length of time, including merging, parking, etc. - you can see how comfortable I was ...

Well, if there is a limitation in the bylaws requiring MH ownership, then there needs to be a way of verifying it - otherwise, it is meaningless. As for the implied denigration of new members who only joined MFCA to get the Verizon plan, but who had no actual interest in the group - what skin would that be off your nose, but for the influx in membership "forcing" Verizon to renege on the plan? Seems to me, an influx of member dues for FMCA of "silent partners" who ask nothing else of the group but to be allowed to pay dues and get a good wifi rate plan would be ideal. In the interest of full disclosure, I am an owner of a motorhome (since 2014, including full-timing for 8 months) who joined FMCA for the rate plan - I'm looking over the other benefits before I decide whether membership is worth it, since I have insurance that includes towing, and am a GoodSam and KOA member too.

"Verizon started reading all those posts making it clear that FMCA had no plans in place to limit this plan to motorhome owners (or even RV owners)" I'm not familiar with the allegation that FMCA didn't limit membership, and thus access to this plan, to MH owners - it is part of the enrollment process, and I was asked whether I was a MH owner and asked for information about my coach in order to sign up. Could people lie about owning a MH? I suppose so. But Verizon should have known that as part of their due diligence - it is unreasonable to assume they didn't know that the membership in FMCA might grow based on this hotspot plan.

I decided to push things a bit, and Googled a bunch of email addresses of Verizon executives, starting with the CEO. 'lowell.mcadam@verizon.com'; 'martin.burvill@verizon.com'; 'Eric.Cevis@verizon.com'; 'roy.chestnutt@verizon.com'; 'Kenneth.Dixon@verizon.com'; 'ronan.dunne@verizon.com'; 'tami.erwin@verizon.com'; 'George.Fischer@verizon.com' I sent off my complaint yesterday, after trying unsuccessfully to get a better deal directly from Verizon. I got a pretty quick response from Tiffany O., Executive Relations, Verizon Wireless (cersWEExecutiveRelations@VerizonWireless.com). She promised to look into it, and to get back to me. She got back to me today, with what was essentially "too bad, so sad" - there was a "misunderstanding" that was the reason the deal was pulled (that's all she would say, although she mentioned something about FMCA being a reseller that wasn't right). When I asked her if she could at least offer something better than what was on their website, the answer was no. I made it very clear that this was not a satisfying answer, that what Verizon did was underhanded and possibly a bait-and-switch misrepresentation, and that it was very clear from the promotional materials that the plan was being administered by FMCA. I also said that I doubted very much there was a misunderstanding, except in the number of people who might accept the offer - and that that didn't sound like a legal basis for pulling the deal. I may have mentioned I'm an attorney and used class action language ("persons similarly situated"). (I am not personally that kind of attorney, however.) Please feel free to let these folks know how disappointed and angry you are with what Verizon did.