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National Peace Corps Association > News > Advocacy > NPCA to Phone Companies: Parity for PCVs
NPCA to Phone Companies: Parity for PCVs
By Jonathan Pearson on Monday, December 6th, 2010
Back in June, nearly 40 new Peace Corps invitees came together in Washington on the eve of leaving for service in Sierra Leone
For people about to join the Peace Corps, every little bit helps. Here’s a way you can help make a difference for some of them.
Everyone who served in the Peace Corps knows all too well that the final weeks and months preparing for service is a chaotic time with lots of final arrangements in advance of a two year departure overseas. Some volunteers also experience a series of delays in deployment for a variety of reasons ranging from slowdowns in the final review process, to disruptions or delays within a country of service, or an unanticipated backlog in eligible candidates awaiting placement.
With this in mind, the National Peace Corps Association has written letters to two of the nation’s largest phone companies after learning that new Peace Corps volunteers – unlike members of the armed forces – are not provided a waiver of their penalty fee should they face an early termination charge for their phone service.
Read our recent letters sent to the Chairmen of AT and T and Qwest asking for a change to this policy.
We are happy to note that Verizon does recognize this hardship, and provides a penalty fee exemption for those entering the Peace Corps.
Take Action:
Using our letters as a guide, make a phone call or send a letter to Qwest and AT&T, asking them to waive early termination penalty fees for citizens serving their country by joining the Peace Corps. Be sure to note if you are a customer.
For AT&T:
Randall L. Stephenson – Chairman
AT&T Incorporated
208 South Akard Street
Dallas, TX 75202-4105
Phone: 210-821-4105
For Qwest:
Edward A. Mueller – Chairman
Qwest Communications
1801 California Street
Denver, CO 80202
Phone: 303-992-1400
(You can also contact Verizon to say how pleased you are that they are recognizing the service of Peace Corps volunteers by waiving early termination fees)
Verizon:
Ivan Seidenberg – Chairman and CEO
Verizon Communications Inc.
140 West Street
New York, NY 10007
212-395-1000
What a wonderful idea! I remember how frustrating it was dealing with Verizon when I was leaving for the DR a few years ago. Why not include Sprint on the list as well?
And T-Mobile! Why isn’t T-mobile included?
As a one-time longterm AT&T/PacBell subscriber – phone & internet – I learned that this company responds to NOTHING other than the statement that one is changing from their service to others.
Rather than see our PCV’s have to beg for such pittance considerations, when the competition has clearly discovered the can do it so easily, I’d recommend another course of action: “Reward your friends, Punish your enemies” is an old adage that seems to work even better in the commercial world.
That will get their attention a lot quicker than anything else.
“We are happy to note that Verizon does recognize this hardship. In fact, a company official emailed NPCA after an initial inquiry and said as a result of our request, Verizon decided that Peace Corps volunteers would be exempted from early termination fees!”
Please check PeaceCorps2 Yahoo Group archives; Verizon acknowledged exemption from early termination fees back in 2005, and again in 2007.
Thanks to those who have commented.
To Mike, thanks for the information. We had heard that Verizon may have offered the waiver earlier, and tried to get clarification from the company official who had written to us. We have adjusted the article accordingly.
To Melissa and Sara and others, we started with three of the major providers, but welcome and encourage others to contact their providers, pose the question of the exemption for Peace Corps and if it is the same or different from the armed services, and to pass that information along.
For Jim, we have decided to initially approach this effort in a positive manner by informing the companies of the difference, urge them to “do the right thing”, and point to a counterpart that indeed is doing so. However, your action proposal is one subscribers can certainly consider at this time.
Jonathan Pearson
Dear NPCA,
This is wonderful news and a huge relief. Thank you so much for your advocacy efforts!
Gratefully,
Larissa
Morocco 2011-2013
In connection with this, new placement PCV’s should consider having their families obtain the Vonage system, which works with Cable rather than dedicated phone lines. It’s hard to use overseas, with possible exception of bigger cities where cable networking is available; but for $15/Mo., even if used only for the Int’l., calls – which if made phone to landline phone, vs. Mobile phone – rates are much, much lower than conventional providers, even with discounts. Plus, there’s a number of nations, mostly European by also some Latin America, that offer toll free calling. Check it out; it could be a major advantage in closer direct communications. Skype is also an option; especially with their new line of services.
I am trying to cancel my plan with Verizon this week and have been told by multiple reps, even after sending them this article, that Verizon does not waive the early termination fees for Peace Corps volunteers.
I am also not being allowed to terminate early with Verizon. Have they changed the policy? VERY FRUSTRATED with Verizon. I do have a call in to the exucutive customer service office, hopefully I can get somewhere with them.
What was the final outcome with Verizon? I leave in October and want to pause or terminate my contract without fees!!
FYI just talked to several Verizon Wireless customer reps and none of them could find any written policy that allows them waive the early termination fee for Peace Corps volunteers. Was the Verizon announcement documented in some way?
Don’t waste your time talking to the Verizon customer reps. You will need to get in contact with the corporate office. I had my early termination fees waived when I talked to someone in the executive customer service office. They were so helpful and thanked me for being a Peace Corps volunteer! The reps don’t help you at all!! Hope this helps. This was about a year ago, so I am not sure if the policy is different now…