Monday, June 8, 2009

I Am A Verizon Sprinkle

You know that Verizon commercial where the family is talking to the Verizon guy in the ice cream shop? There are 10 sprinkles representing the friend and family numbers and then the dad dumps the whole container of sprinkles and those sprinkles represent all of the Verizon customers that can talk to each other for free.

Well, I thought I was a Verizon sprinkle. I have had Verizon since 2000. I finally got a new phone last year with texting capability. My old phone lasted 8 years and people commented that it was an antique. The guy at the Verizon store said it should be in a museum somewhere. Anyway, I'm getting off-subject.

May is always a high cell phone use month for me. People call me on my birthday and want to catch up. This is great but this time, with my nephew in the hospital, I was talking on my phone a lot more than I usually do. I thought that I had stayed within my minutes but I checked my bill today. I had gone over by $38! It costs me 40 cents a minute after my minutes are gone. I was horrified. I couldn't figure out how I had gone over by so much since some of the people that I talk to have Verizon. I checked my itemized bill and I was charged to talk to Verizon customers! I guess I never noticed before but Verizon calls have been counting against my minutes all along.

So, I called Verizon and got a recording. Because my bill is handled by Qwest the recording told me to call Qwest. I did so and suffered through the annoying automated Qwest guy. I don't know why but that guys voice really grates on my nerves. I talked to a nice Qwest representative from Idaho who was making jokes about out-running the law by crossing into either Washington or Montana because the Idaho panhandle is only 20 miles wide. He was funny. He said he couldn't see my bill yet because it hadn't been sent by Verizon but he was able to transfer me to a Verizon customer service person.

The Verizon woman looked at my account and said she needed a minute to read up on my plan. It was so old that she had never heard of it. It was really old. It was called the Wild West plan or something like that. It was only good for AZ, NM, CA, OR and WA and El Paso. The Qwest guy was like, El Paso??? What is so special about El Paso?) Turns out, with my old plan, I WAS NOT A VERIZON SPRINKLE! All of this time I have been watching those commercials and identifying myself as a sprinkle when really I was just an old, dusty chocolate chip that had fallen under Verizon's ice cream freezer :( I didn't notice because either I didn't go over my minutes or on the rare occasions that I did go over, the last calls that I made were not to Verizon numbers so I just paid the overage not realizing that other Verizon calls had used up my precious minutes.

The reason that I have kept the old plan so long is because the nighttime minutes start at 8pm. Night minutes start a 9pm with the new plans. I decided to do it though. I switched plans. It was close to the same price as my old plan, I get a few extra minutes, I am on the Nationwide network, and I am now a Verizon sprinkle so I can talk to all of those Verizon customers for free which will free up even more of my minutes.

The Verizon agent also gave me a $20 credit for the fees I incurred last month while thinking I was a sprinkle when in fact I was not. She started my new plan retroactive to the beginning of my billing cycle so that my new bill won't be split between 2 plans. She also told me that if there is a month when I think I will need more minutes I can call anytime before the billing cycle is over and get on a plan with more minutes, then when the month is over I can switch back to the lower minute plan with no penalties. So if 2 days before my billing cycle is over, I see that I went way over my minutes, I can jump on a higher plan and it will cover those minutes that I already used. That would be much cheaper than paying 45 cents per minute which is what my new plan charges.

So that's my riveting story of how I became a Verizon sprinkle. Now I need to find more friends on Verizon so we can talk for free!

6 comments:

Over the Cubicle Wall said...

Do you get whip cream with that? :)

I wonder if I am a sprinkle? I have been with Verizon for about 6 years now, but I have no idea what is covered under my plan. I have never gone over so I never checked the details.

Daizy said...

Somehow I think they charge extra for whipped cream. It's probably in the fine print. 6 years is probably too old to be a sprinkle. Do you have a nationwide plan?

Over the Cubicle Wall said...

Sounds horrible, but I really don't know. I am assuming so because I don't remember ever being charged extra for long distance.

Daizy said...

When I got my current job I had to go to Chicago for a week. My boss was calling me and I told him to call somebody else because I was being charged roaming. I guess I don't have that excuse anymore. :P

KoBold said...

"Sprinkle, sprinkle little star
How I wonder what you char
ge."

(I know it is a bad ditty, but I have the excuse that I am not native in English.)

Daizy said...

Ha KoBold, not bad. :)