Verizon offers a very small my fault After Wednesday’s massive outagewhich generated more than 1.5 million reports on Fault detector and lasted for hours. Firstly, the carrier posted on that it will offer a $20 credit, but customers must use it in the myVerizon app. The company later said the credit could be claimed through customer service (by phone or chat), but our editors’ attempts to do so through chat were met with a message asking them to wait for text with further instructions.
Engadget editors started receiving the texts this morning (January 16) with a link to exchange them. From there, you need to log in to your account and visit the Account Overview section. At the top, there should be a Take Action or Mobile Actions button with a red notification circle. Click on it and you will see a credit pop-up and a Redeem Now button. After clicking on it, you’re done and Verizon says you should see the credit in a billing cycle or two. Of course, you’ll want to keep an eye on what’s really going on and contact the company if they don’t show up.
“This credit is not intended to make up for what happened. No credit really can,” the company wrote. “But it’s a way to recognize your time and show that it matters to us.” Furious customers have largely responded with disbelief, both at the tiny amount and the fact that it is not automatically applied. The entire refund process takes a few clicks and about a minute, which makes it even more frustrating that it can’t be automatically applied to each customer’s bill.
Updated, January 15, 2026, 11:57 p.m. ET: Verizon says the credit can be claimed through phone, chat and online customer service in addition to the myVerizon app.
Updated, January 16, 2026, 10:29 a.m. ET: This story has been updated with detailed information on the refund process, which Verizon says is now complete with a link that will be texted to customers.