Yes, it’s exactly what the headline implies. Unbelievable, isn’t it? But now we know what Verizon does when it’s not spying on Americans for the federal government — it plays hardball with the widows of slain soldiers who want to cancel their accounts to move closer to their families, to places where Verizon doesn’t have service.

From cbs13.com in Sacramento:

Michaela Brummund is a young widow going through the most difficult time in her life, burying her husband Lance Corporal Gavin Brummund, a marine killed in action.

Michaela has decided to move back to Copperopolis in Calaveras County to be closer to family.  But her Verizon cell phone does not have service in the small town.  But the cell phone company is not showing any compassion for the war time widow.

“I called them to cancel.  I told them the situation with my husband.  I even said I would provide a death certificate,” Michaela said.  Despite the circumstances, Verizon is imposing a $350 early termination fee. …

The family says a Verizon customer service representative told them that “nothing could be done” about the termination fee.

Nothing at all could be done. It never can. Because that’s Verizon’s policy. There are no exemptions for war widows. If there were, it’d say so right in the policy: “Verizon’s Early Termination Fee Policy exempts war widows”.

Besides, if Verizon makes an exception in this case, pretty soon every war widow who wants to move closer to her family to start her shattered life over, in one of the many vast areas across the country where Verizon doesn’t have coverage, will want the company  to waive its early termination fee. And that just wouldn’t be fair to the stockholders.

Thanks to CBS13′s report exposing Verizon’s callousness (kudos to the station), the cell phone company waived Michaela’s cancellation fee and issued a weaselly, dishonest statement:

“Verizon Wireless has long supported our troops and worked with members of the armed services with flexibility. Once we understood this Marine’s widow’s circumstances, we quickly resolved the situation. We regret any undue frustration we may have caused the Brummunds. Our thoughts and prayers are with Mrs. Brummund and her family.”

Translation: Even though the Marine’s widow told us what happened and offered to show us her slain husband’s death certificate, we’re pretending we just found out about that. Only the reporting by the news media of our unconscionable, loathsome decision has pressured us into waiving the $350 fee that literally is meaningless to our business’s success.

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