Verizon's corporate crapola reads: "Verizon is proud of its leadership and reputation as a world-class company that is committed to the highest ethical standards. Our Verizon roots have a long history of commitment to integrity and respect." -- Verizon | Code of Conduct
Meanwhile, in the real world, after paying $4.42 a month for 660 months.... 85-year-old man learns he needn't lease his phone.
HERMON, Maine -- Lloyd Overlock never had much reason to think about his telephone. The 85-year-old Hermon resident just paid his bills and knew the service was there if he needed it.I wonder how many million of the elderly are still shelling out for this scam? Posted by Vanderleun at July 29, 2007 2:15 PM | TrackBackBut Overlock, who for five decades has been paying a monthly fee to lease his phone, found out recently that the arrangement is a pricey, outmoded throwback to the days of telephone industry monopoly.
"I don't use it much; I just sit here and wait for it to ring," he said Friday during a visit at the cozy home he built himself and moved into back in 1952. That's the same year he got his telephone, a heavy, dark-gold contraption the size of a child's shoebox, with a solid-feeling finger dial. It hung on his kitchen wall all those years -- until last week, when his niece Roberta York was making one of her frequent visits from her home in Millinocket.
York said she peeked at a bill from AT&T lying on the kitchen table. As is the case with most area residents, she said, her uncle's phone service is provided by Verizon, so she was curious."I said, 'Uncle, what's this?' And he said, 'That's for my telephone.' That's when I realized he was still leasing his phone from AT&T," she said. "He got that phone in 1952, and he's paying $4.42 a month for it, every month."
Right away, she said, she picked up the gold receiver and dialed the customer service number on the bill to cancel the service. The friendly operator on the other end attempted to dissuade her, offering her uncle a 20 percent discount off his monthly rental fee and reminding York of the benefits of leasing.
"She said that if something goes wrong with that phone, they'd have a new one here the next business day," she recalled. "I was thinking to myself, 'If something goes wrong with that phone, I'll go to Wal-Mart and get one the next day.' "
Yep! Same thing happened to my dad. After he died in 2002 at age 82, I got a bill from AT&T for the rotary phone in the garage. I called them and cancelled the lease, and they sent me a pre-paid envelope to send back the phone. I don't know why they wouldn't let me keep it, but I really don't need a phone in the garage anyway.
He had two other newer phones in the house that weren't leased. I don't know when or why he replaced those two but not the one in the garage. I'm sure he had that one for about 30 years.
Posted by: rickl at July 29, 2007 9:43 PM"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated to combat spam and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.