:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-2255715223-1affc5f2462c4d7ba8f288edbf4ef639.jpg "Why Verizon Wireless Customers Are Getting Payouts—As Long as They Remember To Claim Them")
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Key Takeaways
- Verizon is offering a credit to customers who were affected by its widespread outage earlier this week.
- Customers can claim a $20 account credit, though the company didn’t say whether there is a deadline for claiming it.
Verizon wireless customers can receive a $20 credit on an upcoming monthly bill, as long as they remember to claim it.
Verizon Communications (VZ) said Thursday morning that customers who were affected by Wednesday’s outage can redeem a $20 account credit through their Verizon account. The company said that $20 on average would cover the cost of several days of a cell phone plan, and said that customers would receive a text once the credit is available, while business customers will be contacted directly about their credits.
Verizon said the outage had been resolved as of 10:15 p.m. ET Wednesday night, but has not disclosed what caused the outage that led to more than 2 million reports on outage tracker DownDetector.
Why This Matters to You
If you’re a Verizon customer who was affected by Wednesday’s outage, you can redeem a $20 account credit through your account page, the company said. Verizon didn’t say whether there is a deadline consumers need to redeem the credit by.
Verizon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how many customers were affected, or how many customers are expected to claim the credit. As of its latest quarterly report in October, Verizon said it has 146.1 million total retail wireless phone lines connected to its service.
A number of outages among cloud and software services have marked the last several years, from hosting providers such as Cloudflare (NET) and Amazon’s (AMZN) AWS to a massive mid-2024 outage caused by an update from cybersecurity software firm CrowdStrike (CRWD). Verizon rival AT&T (T) had its own large outage nearly in February 2024, and later said it would automatically apply an account credit to affected customers.
Verizon shares were down 0.7% in early-afternoon trading. The stock has gained 2% over the past 12 months, lagging the performance of the benchmark S&P 500 index, which has gained 17% over the period.
