Verizon Is Evil

According to Merriam-Webster OnLine:

Main Entry: evil
Pronunciation: 'E-v&l, British often and US also 'E-(")vil
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): evil·er or evil·ler; evil·est or evil·lest
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English yfel; akin to Old High German ubil evil
1 a : morally reprehensible : SINFUL, WICKED <an evil impulse> b : arising from actual or imputed bad character or conduct <a man of evil reputation>
2 a archaic : INFERIOR b : causing discomfort or repulsion : OFFENSIVE <an evil odor> c : DISAGREEABLE <woke late and in an evil temper>
3 a : causing harm : PERNICIOUS <the evil institution of slavery> b : marked by misfortune : UNLUCKY
- evil adverb, archaic
- evil·ly /-(l)E/ adverb
- evil·ness /-n&s/ noun

Certainly I am stating my opinion, that Verizon is an evil corporation. That is to say that I believe that they are morally reprehensible. I believe they cause harm. It would be hard to prove that anybody is in fact evil, since it is very hard to prove somebody's intentions. How could I possibly prove that Verizon intentionally enacts unethical business policies towards its customers? I believe the only thing to do is to empirically show that they consistantly act in a questionable manner.

I should point out that Verizon has lots of company in the "evil" category. Communications companies in general seem to have bad business practices, but some seem to be worse than others. And it isn't the only industry either. I believe most people would agree that car dealerships and insurance companies generally behave badly. And I'm probably forgetting all kinds of evil companies. So why have I decided to pick on Verizon? Well, for no other reason than they have wasted more of my time and caused me more frustration that any other evil company.

I should also point out that I don't think all companies are evil. There are some good companies out there that generally enrich people's lives without engaging in unethical behavior.

Here are some of my experiences with the company:

When I switched to Cingular, my Verizon account was automatically closed. When I received my last statement from Verizon nearly a month later, I had a credit balance of $30.65. Surely they enclosed a check for that amount, right??? Well actually "No". I called up customer support (18 Aug 05), and had a difficult time getting to a human (as usual), especially so since my phone number was no longer attached to my account, and all the automated menus led to a "Enter your phone number" prompt. Eventually I got a fairly friendly customer rep (not especially friendly, but as far as Verizon's reps normally go, she was pretty friendly). She explained to me that unless I requested a check, they would hold on to the balance indefinitely. So, I said, "I'm requesting a check", so she asked me a bunch of questions, and finally informed me that I should receive the check in 7 - 8 (you think I'm going to say days, aren't you) WEEKS! Why is it that we have typically 2-3 weeks to get our payment in from the time we are billed, but they get 2 months (plus however long it took for you to get around to asking for your money back)?
This site is still under construction... I'll be adding more of my experiences with Verizon, and eventually adding the ability for other people to post their experiences with the evil company too.