Verizon

NBC Boston Responds: Dropping a Verizon Line Due to Illness

When John Harmon was having problems with Verizon cancelling his wife's phone line following her illness, he contacted NBC Boston Responds for help.

Harmon’s wife Linda was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s in 2015.

“When they diagnosed it at an early age, she was 62, and it kind of progressed rapidly,” Harmon said.

As the disease progressed, Harmon made lifestyle changes and wanted to cancel Linda’s phone service with Verizon.

“It was just a waste of money, because my wife didn’t use the phone, and I was paying for it every month,” said Harmon. “She couldn’t use it anymore. She didn’t remember how. And I just wanted to kind of take care of that issue.”

Harmon says a Verizon customer service representative told him he needed to fax them his power of attorney since the line was in his wife’s name, but he ran into problems.

“I tried to follow the instructions they gave me: faxing out the power of attorney and following up with them a few days later, but they kept telling me that they never got the fax,” explained Harmon. “I sent it again. I called them at least once or twice a month just to follow up, but every time I called them I had to tell the story over and over again, like starting from scratch.”

After three months of trying, John contacted NBC Boston Responds, asking for help. We got in touch with Verizon and they contacted John.

“I had to fax the power of attorney again to her and she did get it and she called me about an hour later and helped me resolve the issue,” said Harmon.

Verizon cancelled the phone service and credited John $545.44 in previous charges. We reached out to Verizon for comment and they told us, “To protect customer privacy, we don’t comment about specific customer issues.”

“It was a very quick response, very thorough,” said Harmon. "I really appreciate it, because it’s one less thing that I have to worry about and it’s off my plate.”

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