Verizon Hangs Up On You When You Record Them Back

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Wait a second, if the call is already being recorded by Verizon for "quality control purposes" why don't they allow you to record the call at the same time? What about, as a customer, asking for copy of the recorded call? Seems a bit on the shady side if you ask me.

“The breezy @verizon guy then asks me whether I’m ok with being recorded. I tell him I am, because I am also recording the call,” Olivier writes as part of a series of Tweets recounting his experience. “There’s a pause. Then breezy @verizon guy tells me Verizon DOES NOT ALLOW THEIR REPS TO BE RECORDED so he has to hang up.”
 
sfsuphysics said:
I wouldn't have said anything about recording the call, if one person makes a statement that a call may be recorded then that locks both parties into agreeing. It doesn't just work one way.
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This. Also, why does Verizon care if I record a call with them. They're already storing all of their calls in a database.
 
sfsuphysics said:
I wouldn't have said anything about recording the call, if one person makes a statement that a call may be recorded then that locks both parties into agreeing. It doesn't just work one way.
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Don't go getting people arrested now. In California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Washington doing what you just said is a crime.

Source
 
ryno9100 said:
This. Also, why does Verizon care if I record a call with them. They're already storing all of their calls in a database.
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Why do they care? Because when you have a bad customer experience, you can't just reach into their database to grab the recording and post it on twitter/tumblr/facebook/reddit to prove how shitty they are

They want to be the only keepers of the information. Remember, information is power.
 
CreatedTheMultiverse said:
Don't go getting people arrested now. In California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Washington doing what you just said is a crime.

Source
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Yes, in some states you must inform the other party. I told the frontier people I was going to record the call and they hung up on me as well. I also refused to agree to be recorded, so they were less than helpful. When I asked them how I knew the call was not being recorded, they said I just had to have faith in their word, to which I retorted "What like you told me 3 other times I would have a replacement cable box within a week?"
 
We're all for wire tapping and recording calls.

Wait, you can't record OUR calls.
 
Not true - by alerting you that the call may be recorded they are consenting to be recorded, it is you who consent by continuing the call. When they tell you the line may be recorded for any purpose, they consent. There is no stipulation on WHO actually is recording the line only that all parties have consented to the possibility that the line MAY be recorded.
The reason they hang up is they dont want a comcast fiasco if they are giving bad customer service. Want to have some fun with them? Repeat the the line may be recorded for training purposes back to them. Not asking, just saying it back. I did that with the time warner rep and he said "yes, did you not want to be recorded?" and I told him "no, i was fine wtih being recorded I was simply telling him the line may be recorded for training purposes." He was confused and asked if I was recording our converstation. I said "I never said that I was simply repeating what you said.." He got very nervous and said "Oh you are just repeating what I said?" I said "yes to make sure we both understand the line may be recorded for training purposes.." long pause.....click.
 
As a former Verizon Wireless customer service agent... I can confirm this has been policy for years, so I'm not sure why it's only in the news now.
 
If an automated message tells you that the conversation may be recorded, then the employee consents to having his or her conversation recorded by default (being company policy). As long as you consent, you don't have to say anything and can legally record the conversation with or without their direct knowledge. I use to work for a call center; the legal issues came up a couple of times in my 10 years of employment there...
 
And this is why I use online chat exclusively for tech support when the company I am contacting has that option available.

I just had to get ahold of Verizon last night to get a bogus $74.98 device charge removed that was put on our account when we paid off one of the phones.

It took quite a while, but it got taken care of.

I would have been much less patient if I was actually on a phone call for over 30 minutes while they tried to figure stuff out.
 
cyclone3d said:
And this is why I use online chat exclusively for tech support when the company I am contacting has that option available.

I just had to get ahold of Verizon last night to get a bogus $74.98 device charge removed that was put on our account when we paid off one of the phones.

It took quite a while, but it got taken care of.

I would have been much less patient if I was actually on a phone call for over 30 minutes while they tried to figure stuff out.
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Also why I use chat for FIOS and my AT&T account; am I wrong to assume that saving a chat log is not an issue covered by state wiretapping laws?
 
sfsuphysics said:
I wouldn't have said anything about recording the call, if one person makes a statement that a call may be recorded then that locks both parties into agreeing. It doesn't just work one way.
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Many states have laws saying it's illegal to record someone without telling them, which is why companies always give the disclaimers. If you do record a phone call and don't tell the company/other party then most of the time the recording can't legally be used in any suit.
 
Xrave said:
Many states have laws saying it's illegal to record someone without telling them, which is why companies always give the disclaimers. If you do record a phone call and don't tell the company/other party then most of the time the recording can't legally be used in any suit.
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Yes but you are ignoring the fact that verizon has already consented to being recorded by telling YOU that you are being recorded. You cant record just one side of a phone call.
 
nysmo said:
Yes but you are ignoring the fact that verizon has already consented to being recorded by telling YOU that you are being recorded. You cant record just one side of a phone call.
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I take it you missed my post. At least 11 states have "two-party consent" where both sides must say the conversation is being recorded. Read.
 
Another reason I love living in the great state of Arizona. Here, only one party (yourself) must be aware that the conversation is being recorded. So I could legally record Verizon without saying a word to them. I wonder what they'd say/do in that situation? They should just stop providing service to all of Arizona so they never run into that situation (that would actually make me very happy).
 
CreatedTheMultiverse said:
I take it you missed my post. At least 11 states have "two-party consent" where both sides must say the conversation is being recorded. Read.
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Both sides must consent to the conversation being recorded, and it could be argued that making the statement "I am recording this conversation" is implied consent to a recording of the conversation being made.
 
Spewn said:
Both sides must consent to the conversation being recorded, and it could be argued that making the statement "I am recording this conversation" is implied consent to a recording of the conversation being made.
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It is. If a company states that the conversation is being recorded, that is giving consent for the conversation to be recorded by any participating party.

Source: I work for a voip telephone company in FL.
 
Spewn said:
Both sides must consent to the conversation being recorded, and it could be argued that making the statement "I am recording this conversation" is implied consent to a recording of the conversation being made.
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Guess I need to learn to read...lol. You're right. Even my link stated that. My bad.
 
CreatedTheMultiverse said:
Don't go getting people arrested now. In California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Washington doing what you just said is a crime.

Source
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You're misinterpreting the two-party laws.

One-party: Only one person needs to agree to be recorded. This means, in a one-party state, I can record my call without notifying the other party if they're also in a one-party state. It's not legal to record a conversation you're not a party of.

Two-party: Both parties must be *aware* that the recording is being done. So by Verizon notifying the customer that they are being recorded in their disclaimer, they are honoring the two party rule and waiving their right not to be recorded by the other party on the call.

You can't consent to be recorded on one end and not the other.

I worked a few years as an investigator, so we had to be very up on the interpretation of the laws. When something happens that's against their policies, the recordings can tend to disappear. I've tried to get them before (from their end) and they'll refuse every means to produce them. So always record your end as well.


I've used the "security recording in place" disclaimers to legally record employees in stores, since implied consent is granted by entering the property of said sign.


*Edit* guess it was already answered. Leaving for prosperity.
 
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CreatedTheMultiverse said:
Don't go getting people arrested now. In California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Washington doing what you just said is a crime.

Source
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This ^^ So much this. Please don't parrot that sort of advice around. The real issue is that no one will know, until you broadcast that illegal recording, which is another offense entirely.
 
Jahx said:
This ^^ So much this. Please don't parrot that sort of advice around. The real issue is that no one will know, until you broadcast that illegal recording, which is another offense entirely.
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As others on here have already noted, the legal requirement in said states is two party consent. If you are the one recording said conversation, your consent is implied from a legal standpoint.
Verizon (or whomever) has already given their consent to record the conversation with the "this conversation may be recorded for (whatever) purposes" automated message that is played.
Additionally, if you are continuing the conversation after Verizon has read their notice, then you have given implied consent for them to record said conversation.

Which boils down to: If they have legally granted permission to record the conversation on their end, they cannot legally deny you the right to record it on your end, and you don't have to actually notify them, because your continuing the conversation already implies it may be recorded.
 
silent-circuit said:
As a former Verizon Wireless customer service agent... I can confirm this has been policy for years, so I'm not sure why it's only in the news now.
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Do you know why this is?

Next time I talk to them, at the end of the call I'm going to tell them it was recorded just for funsies
 
OEM said:
Do you know why this is?

Next time I talk to them, at the end of the call I'm going to tell them it was recorded just for funsies
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If I had to guess without going full tin-foil-hat, it's probably to avoid their bullshit getting parroted back to them and embarrassed / caught in a lie. Reps lie all the time. Supervisors lie. They say they'll do one thing and never do, or say they'll do it and go do the opposite. Yes, all the calls are recorded, but it's not nearly as trivial as it should be to pull up that recording (or at least wasn't back when I was there -- it has been several years), they're typically deleted after 30 days, and they're not public record. So far as I know Verizon does not have to (and has never) given a customer a copy of the Verizon-made call recording. It's just for internal review.
 
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CreatedTheMultiverse said:
I take it you missed my post. At least 11 states have "two-party consent" where both sides must say the conversation is being recorded. Read.
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Both sides have stated the conversation is being recorded when 1 person tells the other and neither of you hang up.
 
"This call may be recorded for quality assurance purposes." It may be recorded... okay, then I'll do just that. Did you mean to say it might be recorded?
 
windianrecords said:
Also why I use chat for FIOS and my AT&T account; am I wrong to assume that saving a chat log is not an issue covered by state wiretapping laws?
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I am not a lawyer, and the question to your answer may or may not be buried in a ton of legalese in the Terms Of Service for your ISP, so I would proceed with caution and not automatically assume that the usual "there is no such thing as an expectation of privacy on the Internet" applies. There's an interesting thread here. A relevant quote from there is:

"This holding and the U.S. trend on text messages and privacy is clear: there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in text messages sent to or received when they are revealed by one of the participants to the communication, even if they were sent in confidence and with a limited purpose."

I would certainly behave like nothing I do on the Internet is private and that everything is being recorded, and I think anyone who thinks and behaves otherwise is a fool and an idiot. As far as the ISP's end goes, though, I'd look through that TOS carefully. Those things are quite a bear.
 
had to call to cancel an order with sears. called twice and each time they told me they are cancelling it but didnt.

third time i told them im recording them. they flipped the FUCK out. I had to calm them down and say i wont record them.
 
sfsuphysics said:
I wouldn't have said anything about recording the call, if one person makes a statement that a call may be recorded then that locks both parties into agreeing. It doesn't just work one way.
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This. Its a legal two-way street.
 
"This call may be recorded" sure sounds like they are giving permission to record it. If not, they should change the wording to "We might be recording this call, but forbid you from doing so" or something less ambiguous.
 
Dullard said:
"This call may be recorded" sure sounds like they are giving permission to record it. If not, they should change the wording to "We might be recording this call, but forbid you from doing so" or something less ambiguous.
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Shhhhhhhh! Don't tell them. They already gave their permission to tape them by doing that! You have it on tape!
 
CreatedTheMultiverse said:
Don't go getting people arrested now. In California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Washington doing what you just said is a crime.

Source
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Your armchair lawyering is stupid.

Verizon tells me they may be recording. All the verizon reps know this. They tell me this, so I know this. All parties have been notified there is a recording. There is no crime.
 
raz-0 said:
Your armchair lawyering is stupid.

Verizon tells me they may be recording. All the verizon reps know this. They tell me this, so I know this. All parties have been notified there is a recording. There is no crime.
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I'm just wondering, did you read this thread all the way through? Because if you did you wouldn't be on your pedestal thinking you're making a new point right now. Just saying.

Here
 
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