If you were affected by the massive Verizon outage on January 14, you probably thought the $20 credit wasn’t enough. One smart customer called the company and found out that customer service workers can give you an extra $10 credit per line just for calling. That’s a big difference.
The outage was a major problem that lasted most of the day and affected tens of thousands of people across the country. Losing service for a whole day can hurt your income, especially since many people need their phones for work. According to Bro Bible, Verizon released a statement apologizing for the issue and blamed it on a “software issue.” The company offered $20 per account, but many customers felt this wasn’t enough for the trouble they faced.
TikTok user Guillermo, who posts tips at @guillermounfiltered, shared his experience calling Verizon after deciding $20 wasn’t fair. He waited on hold for about 37 minutes, but the result made it worth the wait. He told the agent he understood they were getting lots of calls and asked to talk about the credit because $20 didn’t seem right for losing service all day.
Verizon already has authorization to give more money
The agent said they didn’t know what caused the outage, which matches the limited details Verizon has shared so far. How the company handled the outage has raised questions among customers. Guillermo explains that the agent confirmed the company knows $20 isn’t enough.
The important part is that they already have an “automatic justification” built into their system. “The other thing is that they know that $20 is not enough,” Guillermo states. “And so, they already have an automatic justification, if you call, to get an additional $10 per line. That is something that they have the authority to do.”
Even with the extra $10 per line, Guillermo felt he needed more money back. He had two people on his family plan who use their phones for gig work, like driving for Uber or delivering for DoorDash. He explained they lost income because they couldn’t connect to the network. While he didn’t expect Verizon to pay for two full days of lost wages, he wanted more than $30 for an account with two people who earn money with their phones.
The employee agreed to take the issue to a higher level and asked him what he thought was a “justified number.” Guillermo didn’t share his final payout, but he made it clear the first offer wasn’t enough to cover the hassle and lost work.
Calling and pushing past the first offer has worked for other customers too. In the comments on Guillermo’s video, people shared their wins. One person wrote, “Verizon gave me 150 and paid off a remaining device ($100 or so) so I could upgrade for that last outage before this cuz of missing a college test due date that significantly reduced my class grade.”
Another user said, “broo ur doinn to muchh verizon never has a blackout so why are we freaking outtt…. i got 50 tho.” One commenter explained the serious impact, stating, “the outage shut the ELog down all day. We lost 15k in the company and I lost $1100 personally.” This isn’t the first time customers have dealt with billing disputes from the company.
Not everyone has had success, though. Some people reported trouble getting even the initial $20 credit. However, it seems like making the call, asking for the extra $10 per line, and pushing the issue higher is the best way to get fair payment for that day of lost service.
Published: Jan 20, 2026 06:15 pm