Verizon Customer Fakes Death to End Contract
Trust us when we say we can relate about the horrors of trying to end your cell phone contract early, but also trust us when we say there are better ways to do it than the way Chicago consultant Corey Taylor chose. After reading online that cell phone companies will terminate contracts without a penalty if the person named on the contract dies, Taylor whipped up a fake death certificate and had a friend fax it in to Verizon Wireless. He expected to receive condolences, but instead got questions about the document's authenticity, and was eventually found out by those crafty Verizon agents.
Ultimately he was forced to pay up to get out of his contract, which is a drag, but he's a lot luckier than some other cell phone users. Instead of possibly winding up in Federal prison for document forgery, those who want to get out of their cell phone agreements might consider some safer alternatives such as trading their contracts through CellSwapper or CellTradeUSA? Or, if you're a Sprint customer, you could just try calling them every day for a month ...
From textually.org
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
CCRAIG @ Aug 20th 2007 9:25PM
WHATEVER IT TAKES.
ActAdvGirl @ Aug 20th 2007 11:42PM
I don't blame him! A few years ago, my mother died and even though I followed their instructions to fax her death certificate and letters testamentary, AOL continued to debit her checking account. The only way to disengage them was to close the account.
Dave @ Aug 21st 2007 12:42AM
Verizon ? It would have been smarter to say that you spend a lot of time at your friends apartment near Belmont & Central where they have poor service and request to cancel since the problem will never be resolved without them adding a new cell site!
Cathy Edwards @ Aug 21st 2007 12:43AM
When my Dad passed away, cellular one wanted all kinds of information after submitting a copy of his death certificate. He wasn't even under contract with them anymore, and was on month to month and we even paid the last bill!
Anibethc40 @ Aug 21st 2007 3:33AM
That idiot who signed up for verizon only to fake a death to sign himself out of a contract will be warned that people won't be taking his death seriously. His complete wacko behavior will not tempt me to leave Verizon. I am staying with Verizon forever and ever, and I hope this quack will not be tempted to sign up with AT&T because he will even regret making this stupid decision. Verizon is the BEST and it will always be the Best wireless provider from then on. Verizon has the best service and it will continue to outshine AT&T.
Happy @ Aug 28th 2007 12:07AM
I've been a Verizon subscriber for over 4years....never had a problem with service...but on the other hand my sister is with AT&T....she has problems with dropped calls....I always kid her and say---Ver-iz-on........I don't care if AT&T has that Iphone.....their service doesn't match Verizon's......
Syed @ Jan 25th 2008 10:42PM
Oh please, Verizon is as good as it gets. You can't match their service. I have bits of service in the subway. If he was really that desperate to lose something so good maybe he shoulld've really done it.
LM @ Mar 20th 2008 7:56PM
AOL doesn't charge you to cancel an account - all you have to do is call and cancel and they will stop billing/debiting. Why would you send a death certificate?
Nancy H @ Mar 26th 2008 11:46AM
LM: While you may not have had problems canceling your AOL account, I've heard far too many stories of pitbull-type resistance on their part not to believe there's a big hunk of truth in them.
One of my closest friends spent 6 months trying to cancel her AOL account because she couldn't get online to cancel the account!
In our faceless business world, some people have found it nearly impossible to find someone, ANYONE to agree to end their subscription, and often the only recourse is to dry up the money well, i.e., close either the bank account or credit card it's being charged to, but some have faced legal action after doing that.
Just don't assume that because your case was handled simply and easily, that everyone's experience has been the same. It hasn't.
Colleen Whitlow @ Mar 27th 2008 8:44PM
I happen to like Verizon as my wireless provider. I had Cingular and I had a lot of dropped calls and no signal in a lot of places that I had a signal with ATT.I cancelled my Cingular on the day they told me to,since it was the last billing day & then they charged me for another month, because they said I had to cancel it at midnight of that day to avoid paying another month. Nice! Thanks for crappy reception & service Cingular!