This past July when I purchased my iPhone I had the choice of canceling my Verizon Wireless contract which expired this month, or continue it. After reviewing the cost differences, it was about the same cost to keep the plan active until December 2007 instead of paying the cancellation fee.

In order to do this, however, I had to merge my phone in with my wife’s phone and convert both plans to a family plan.

I called Verizon Wireless and told them to change both phones to a single family plan. I made it brutally clear that I did not want either phone’s contract expiration dates to change. After all, my goal was to cancel my old Verizon line this month. I don’t need two phones. If either contract were to be altered, then I did not want to move forward.

The contracts for both my wife’s phone and my phone were due to expire this month.

My plan was to cancel my old Verizon phone when it expired this month, and then transfer my wife’s phone over to AT&T so I wasn’t making two payments to two different carries, and she could reap the benefits of being on the same system as me.

Last weekend I called Verizon Wireless to find out what days the contracts were to end, so I could move ahead with my plan. Much to my surprise, I was told both contracts don’t expire until July 2008! Both contracts were extended by one year! WTF?

I explained to the customer service rep on the phone, who was very helpful, that there was a mistake. I never agreed (verbally or in writing) to this contract extension change. Why would I? The goal was to keep my old Verizon phone active as a backup phone until the contract ended, then I would cancel it without any fees. She looked at my account, apologized for the mis-understanding, and then said she would go ahead and set the cancellation date for both contracts to today, December 12th, even though both contracts were originally to expire later this month. Awesome, right?

I thought everything was going fine until today when I called Verizon Wireless to confirm the contract end dates were, in fact, changed to today. The rep said that they had not been changed, but a supervisor was reviewing the request from the rep I spoke with this past weekend, and it should be done today. I requested that a rep call me when the change was made. She said no problem!

I got a call today at 3PM from Verizon. The rep instructed me that the contract was extended by one year because of the family plan change I had made, and that I had agreed to this change. Excuse me? I whaaat? I explained the situation again to this person, and she flat out refused to change it (again, this is after another rep this past weekend said no problem!) I asked to speak with her supervisor.

I then spoke with a “supervisor” named Sheree at x7414. Again, I explained my problem to her. I got nowhere. She kept on saying that I agreed to the contract change which was necessary due to the plan change I had made. She also kept on stating that Verizon sent a contract change agreement to me in the mail and I had 30 days to contest it. I never received this contract change agreement, otherwise I would have canceled it immediately.

The conversation escalated, my voice got louder, a few expletives escaped, and I demanded to speak with her manager. She refused. Sheree said I had to write a letter. Why? So they could ignore and refuse me by mail? No thanks. I asked for her last name and extension. She refused. I said, “so you have my first and last name, my phone numbers, my address, and probably my credit card information, but you won’t give me your last name or extension?” She finally coughed up her extension (7414) but that was it.

In the end, Verizon flat out lied to me. I asked that this plan change be done as long as the original contract end dates would not change whatsoever. They did change it (two contracts, mind you), and I was not told of this change. Verizon Wireless lost two customers for good, but they don’t seem to care. I have been a long-term customer for over 15 years, but again, they don’t seem to care.

I could cancel both phones, but due to Verizon’s illegal contract end date change, I would have to cough up $150 per phone ($300 total) for the cancellation fee.

I can’t think of any other options, but if anyone knows of someone at Verizon Wireless that can help, please contact me. I was lied to, and I will not sit quietly until this fraudulent behavior is rectified. Needless to say, I will no longer use Verizon for anything and hope this article deters others from using Verizon for any service they may offer.

Exactly one week ago I took the plunge and snagged an iPhone at my local Starbucks (what, Apple didn’t tell you that you could buy one at Apple stores, AT&T stores, and now Starbucks?) After the initial excitement of having the coolest gadget in the world wore off, I began to really use the iPhone for my daily mobile phone tasks… calling other humans, reading and writing email, and surfing the web.

I couldn’t put the iPhone down, and every other person I showed it to was in awe of my groovy new Star Trek-looking device. I remember doing the same thing with my Q after I’d put a hot new app on it like Skype or the SlingPlayer. I’d show it to a friend and they would be totally impressed with the technology. The biggest difference that I’ve noticed is that with the Apple iPhone I never have to show someone how to get to the app or how to use it. I’d have to do that with the Q, but not the iPhone. The interface is the iPhone’s biggest breakthrough. Yes, it has shortcomings, but no other mobile device on the planet can touch the iPhone when it comes to its slick, finger-loving touch screen interface.

I don’t miss my Q one bit. In fact, a friend of mine who still has a Q stopped by the other day to play with my iPhone (he too was blown away). While he was thumbing through its awesomeness, I took a look at his Q. Even after a few days, I couldn’t believe how archaic the Q now felt to me. It really felt like I was stepping back in time to the dark ages of mobile phones.

So, with the hype and excitement out of the way, I’ve decided that the Apple iPhone is a keeper. No need to wait 30 days, no need for further testing, this is the phone for me. As for my Verizon contract? I had another 1.5 years on my current contract, so canceling it would have cost me $145 (they pro-rate it from $175). We needed another phone in the family, so I downgraded the mega voice+data plan I had down to an extra $10/mo on our family plan to keep it going with an older Motorola flip phone I had lying around. End result: Verizon lost $90/mo but they can still consider that contract in their mega customer count.

I never thought a phone purchase would make me leave Verizon… until I saw the iPhone. Nice job, Apple. Bad move to pass on the iPhone, Verizon.

BTW, check out this funny video, iPhone Day.