Changing Names on Utilities

I'm posting this as a warning to other people. I get DSL service and McAfee antivirus through Verizon, my phone company. I decided to change the name on the phone bill from my husband's name (since he has been deceased for over a year) to my name. It seemed like a good idea at the time! However, it turns out they cancel everything in the old account (including the old email!) and start over with a new account! They didn't tell me I would lose access to all the stuff in the old account including contact list and letters from family.

One of the things that really messed me up for several days was that they also cancelled the anti virus so I didn't dare turn on my computer. That involved waiting for one of their techs to come to the house and then several hours on the phone with a tech thousands of miles outside the U.S.

Anyway, after a month of complicated talking to people in Hyderabad and other far away places for hours at a time, everything is finally back to "normal" and working pretty well. My advice to anyone who wants to change only the first name on their phone bill is DON'T. By the way, there is sort of a happy ending to the email thing. It turns out I could still access the old accounts through Yahoo as they were "Verizon Yahoo" accounts. Service to the old accounts ended on the day the phone account changed, but all the stuff previous to that is still archived.

I did get a rebate for the days of non-service, but I had to ask for it. By the way, I am in Gilroy, CA, which is just 30 miles south of "Silicon Valley" (aka San Jose), which is where most of this cyber stuff comes from. You would think we would get better service.

Well, that's my story. I would like for everyone to be warned about phone company policies, no matter who their phone company is. It could save someone a whole lot of grief. If you need any more details just let me know.