[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] mrbonine:
Et tu Verizon

Thanks for the info. I did have the MyVerizon app installed, I believe. I don't remember it requesting root, but I sometimes click through those things without paying too much attention (since I'm fairly careful about what goes on the phone); the reason I install software requiring root is to access it (circular, I know) so, they are doing what they must to run. I appreciate the suggestions about other call centers, etc. I do have the contact information from the single most helpful and polite (funny how that goes together) person I talked to through this debacle. I'll drop him a quick note, but really, since they never even bothered to call back, it's clear to me that they want me to leave. Paying over $200 per month to be treated like crap is not something I could ever do. They are big, very profitable, and don't care about anything but extracting cash from people under contract, or too complacent to leave (I'm in the 2nd category until now). Being in a codependent relationship with Verizon is not only self-defeating, but irrational. Until we have some politicians owned by the people instead of corporations we have no chance of reigning these folks in. Sure, they employ lot's of people, but an army of good people working against the best interest of everyone is not good, it's an uncontrollable menace: just look at the banks that gambled with people's homes, lost their bets, then collateralized them when the bottom fell out of their own septic tank of greed. The entire world economy hit an air pocket, but we're still letting the same greed intoxicated pilots fly. My only regret is believing their lies as long as I did. I deserve better, and it's won't be particularly hard to find it. Since the 4.4.3 G3 (nor the 4.1.2 for that matter) are particularly compatible with the GSM carriers, and Samsung is the lookout for the felonious Verizon, I'll probably get a Nexus 5. I think the G5 is better for several reasons, but that's too bad. All of the tech and marketing in the world will not make me "grateful" to manufacturers or carriers that somehow feel controlling how you use the equipment you buy from them is somehow acceptable. The money Verizon cares about is the corporate contracts, since they can manage that process much better, the revenue is less volatile, and they don't have to take calls from subscribers, wasting the money that could be spent on acquisitions, and expanding their market oligarchy. Public utilities create natural monopolies. There are not 2 sets of power lines, or water lines, or sewers running into your home. And the idea that competition from fiber will for improvements from Comcast is false, prices may move, but service will not get better. Only when barriers of entry are low can new competitors help drive down the price of entrenched utilities. We could all create our own mobile system on meshes of unlicensed 5.0 Gig or other spectrum, but it would be very costly to do that and linking this metropolitan radio webs would be tricky. But probably, someone is already working on that. Ask a HAM radio enthusiast about how they handle phone calls over shortwave. They have licenses, yes, but the technology to connect 2-way voice wireless signals to PSTN phone calls has been around for many years. Big corporations exact huge profits and drag down anyone that needs the services, the trick is to find creative ways around them, most importantly by thinking outside of the feature/function cage they've placed around us. Soon, you'll be able to buy just the cable channels you want, perhaps. I have hundreds and I generally watch less than 10.

The accusation flung at me by the enraged employee is little more that hot air. It reflects a corporate culture of mendacity and blame. My fault was to allow him to take control of the conversation, for a millisecond. Whatever I've done to the software on the phone (which, as you noted, was not a ROM change) it's still my phone and not theirs. They don't even provide the "insurance" to replace the failed device, a third party does. I didn't stop my phone from working to get a new phone. Had the replacement worked as well or better as the one it replaced I would have been happy. Now, I'm going over a week with no phone and they will never get paid for that week. The longer it takes to resolve, the less on my final bill, which will be coming up soon. When folks have experiences like this it's best to communicate the problem to the FCC (as if they cared) and their state PUC. Not that they will do anything about it, but it's important to remember they have a duty to regulate whether this group of appointees cares or not. The only thing that affects Verizon is withdrawing my monthly gratuity and when that happens because of abuse, manipulation, and possible fraud, the regulators need to be informed, if only so they can't say they didn't know.

Thanks for the reminder that they have no business asking questions about rooted phones or ROMS. That lingering guilt that one may have done something Daddy Verizon doesn't approve of is there, for sure, but since what I was accused of I didn't do, it was easier to just say, no, I didn't do that.....when I offered to factory reset TWICE during the call and he pretended not to hear me I realized it was all just a manipulative game played by a bully. No, no lunch money for you today, dude. I think they actually hire volatile people and use them as scarecrows. If Verizon didn't want their customers to be exposed to abuse, they'd fire these guys. The second guy was so cold, trying to do the right thing, but hating it. If you've ever been to a time-share presentation and not purchased one, you are familiar with this game. It's not only wrong, but it reflects how truly manipulative and immoral the employers are, they are paying the guy to be insulting, intimidating, and thuggish. So many large companies act this way, it's amazing we let them get away with it. The only way to stop it is to stop paying them and tell them why. I worked in a small hardware store in a small town 30+ years ago. Even when customers were trying some trick, like returning something they didn't buy from us, or a more elaborate ruse (I'll bring the old stuff back tomorrow......), I just explained how it worked and enforced the process; I never shouted, "You are so busted...." These were customers, some making honest errors, some trying to take advantage, but there were none I didn't want to come back again, because it would be bad for business and likely make an enemy. After I leave Verizon I will never give them another dime ever, and I think they honestly don't believe that.