military e-mail address

[Diana]

Hello - My son is in training school in Mississippi but when he graduated from boot camp in Great Lakes, IL he went to a nearby mall for Verizon wireless service (cell phone I guess). Anyway, he is suppose to get a military discount each month on his bill but it not getting it. They said he could go into a local Verizon store but there is not one in the city he is in. I was told that they would give him the discount if he would provide his military email address. He said he does not have a military email address only his personal email address. Can anyone help with this? Thank you all.

[Achseh]

I do know that I had to supply my military email address (I'm a Dept. of the Navy employee) to find out what the discounts were for both Verizon and Cingular (now AT&T). When I went to sign up for AT&T they looked at my ID, but I didn't have to supply anything.

I had to be present. I would have him ask if he could provide a faxed copy of his ID or a letter from his Chief/command?

[Diana]

Great suggestions.

Thank you -

[Mary-Ellen & Tim]

Diana:

Keep a copy of his travel orders and anything else that would show a military address. Bring them in to a Verizon store near you and shame them into doing the right thing. Or, ask him to talk to someone in his training unit that is local who could help him as well. He should have a military ID on himself and that should be sufficient.

If you and your son keep having a problem, please write back and we'll go to our Verizon store in BJs and talk the problem over with them and then get back to you.

Don't back down, and neither should your son.

Also, get the name of each of the persons you work with and we can, if necessary, contact Verizon corporate headquarters and they'll bang some heads. The Verizon Vice President responsible for the Wireless Division helped us on an issue, but not like yours. She was so helpful and got our problem resolved expeditiously.

Bring a copy this message and show it to them and tell them point blank that if they want to play tough, we can play tougher and they won't want to hear directly from corporate headquarters. Tell them they have "X" days to resolve it or you will get back in contact with us and we'll contact corporate for you and have them get in contact with you as well.

Regards,

Mary-Ellen & Tim

[Diana]

Hi Mary-Ellen and Tim,

Wow. I am going to follow up on your suggestions tomorrow. I appreciate your time and direction and offer of assistance. I learned today that a military email address will not be issued until he reports to his first duty station. I am hopeful others are not being cheated and that this was just an innocent mistake.

[Tina - PNM]

My son gets a discount. He put me on his account and I called them up and gave them all the info thye needed and thye gave him the discount.
Call them up!!!!!

[Diana]

Hi Tina,

I wish I had been able to get this resolved "over the phone" last night. I was on and off of the phone for over an hour. I do have to admit the the supervisor was very kind and willing to help but did not have the authority to make things happen.

[Molly mom of 2 + 330,701 sailors]

Wow this is good info as my son has Verizon wireless that he got at great lakes Verizon store and no one said anything about military discount. And he was in uniform !
I do know that if they are deployed and you give them a copy of his orders they will suspend his account for free.

[Molly mom of 2 + 330,701 sailors]

just called and yes there could be a 17% military discount on his phone and on his wireless. BUT he has to be the account holder ..... and he is on my account. So we will have to change that !

[Barb K.]

Molly,
Hello, and yes your son has to have his own phone in order to get the military discount. My son just got his own phone through Sprint and he gets the discount and they will turn off the phone while he is out to sea at no charge.

Barb K.

[Diana]

Hi Molly,

My son was in his uniform and was in the very same store. He was told that he would receive a military discount. I appreciate the information about suspending the account for free if they are deployed. Everyone is so helpful in sharing their knowledge.

Thank you,

[diane {Shawns mom}]

My son has Nextel..and when he went to BC they suspended his account @ NO charge...His recruiter just faxed over some paperwork..the same thing went for his truck insurance-and truck payment and no the payment was not deferred...
Nextel has a special department-Redcross and military....
IT sounds like each company has different rules...
Everyone should do some checking
Great info....

[Jeanine #762]

Kenneth has T Mobile and when he got it they told him at the store at the mall in Gurnee that he was signed up to receive the discount. Well. Lo and Behold, no discount plus which they double billed him last month and really put him in a bind. When that mess was straightened out, he now has the discount and the double bill is put back in his account. He was also told that all he had to do when deployed is to call and tell them and they would suspend service at no charge. Also warned him to be careful that if he got drunk, and I thought my little boy, LOL, and called them they would reinstate it and if he called from overseas watch out.
Also to watch out for the international calling cards, as they might not work if they are purchased here in the states? Anyone know anything about that or is there another strand about that? Just looked and no strand so perhaps will start one unless someone has more up to date info.
I wonder if sailors should leave a copy of military ID and orders with someone other than themselves. Also that packet about all the classes and hours they spent in further training. Counts toward college credits or something I think I heard? Validity???