Verizon decided a year was long enough to give away 100MB of LTE data every month. It unilaterally cancels the 2-year offer after 12 months.

Verizon’s credibility in keeping its word with customers is under fire this week as owners of Google’s $1,450 LTE Chromebook Pixel discover their free 100MB data plans are being shut off a year earlier than promised.

One year was plenty for you.

Google’s high-end LTE-enabled Chromebook Pixel was supposed to include two years of free mobile data, but Verizon unilaterally reinterpreted “two years” to actually mean “one year” and began terminating the free data plans this spring. In its place, Chromebook owners were invited to sign up for new paid Verizon data offers:

• Unlimited: $9.99/day
• 1GB: $20/month
• 3GB: $35/month
• 5GB: $50/month

Computerworld’s J.R. Raphael got nowhere with Verizon Wireless customer service:

Verizon is telling customers that as far as it’s concerned, the plans were valid only for one year — and that’s why those initiated last spring are now expiring. I called the carrier’s customer service line and, after holding for 15 minutes and then talking in circles to an agent for another 10, was able to get through to a supervisor. That person politely told me he wasn’t aware of any two-year commitment and that — despite my pointing out official documentation to the contrary — there was nothing he could do to help me.

With Verizon unwilling to budge, Google has stepped in with $150 Visa gift cards for all affected customers to make up for Verizon’s stinginess and broken promises.

“While this particular issue is outside of our control, we appreciate that this issue has inconvenienced some of our users,” a Google spokesperson told Computerworld.

Affected customers can contact Google Play Store customer service to start the process of obtaining the gift card.