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Old 02-06-2010, 02:57 AM   #1
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Verizon Wireless Customer Service

Here’s my experience with Verizon Wireless in the last few weeks.

Been an excellent (i.e. payments on time and in full) customer (personal account) for over six years. I have three phones, on the ‘family plan’. Several weeks ago, I call corporate sales to order two new phones on their “new every 2” plan. Wanted a little more functionality than what they were offering for “free”, so I upgraded, and paid $9.99 on each phone. Get the phones in mail, DW and DS use them for a couple weeks and decide they’re no-good. First, they’re incredibly small, and wafer-thin. Making them difficult to hold. Second, the joystick to interact with the graphic-user-interface is poorly designed. The ‘select’ function requires pushing down on the joystick, and it’s so hyper-sensitive, you can’t ‘select’ without bumping up/down/left/right.
So I call back three weeks after receiving phones, talk to another sales rep at corporate sales, and he says “no problem, you’re still under the ‘worry free’ 30 day guarantee, we can exchange those no problem”.

Great. Exchange both of them for Blackberries. He tells me, “Well, you need to ship them back first, then I can ship out the new phones”. Tells me probably take 2-3 weeks to do. That’s no good for me, since work has me out of town for the next ?? months, and these are my primary communication with family. (Why they can’t “cross-ship” is beyond me- I’ve NEVER dealt with a company, who had my billable credit information on hand, that couldn’t cross-ship)

So he tells me, I can go into the local Verizon Wireless store, and exchange them there. I’ve dealt with the local VW store on two earlier occasions. I’d rather get a root canal. I won’t get into those events- that’s another whole two pages.
He tells me, “No, don’t worry. I’ll notate your account, everything is taken care of... it’s all done, all you have to do is exchange the phones... in and out, done deal”. I say, “Are you sure?”. Sales rep reassures me repeatedly.

Go into store. Check in. Wait.
Wait some more.
There’s two customers (including me) in the store, and I count nine employees- behind the counters, on the sales floor. Whatever.
Finally sales lady says, “I can help you over here”.
Tell her I’d like to exchange two phones, just got off phone with corporate sales, everything should be taken care of. Here’s my account. Give her phones in original boxes they shipped in.
Of course, she’s looking at me with total disdain the whole time. Starts typing on her terminal- sighing the whole time. I’m thinking, whatever- just make the exchange, I’ll be out of here. She’s says, “OK, there’s a $45 restocking fee on each phone.” I say, it doesn’t say any such thing on my receipt. She prints out a receipt from her register, and shows me at the bottom the restocking fee clause. I say, that’s your receipt, not mine, when I bought these, and when I talked to corporate sales they never mentioned re-stocking fee in their “WORRY FREE GUARANTEE”. She says they’re not going to do it, I can get a credit from corporate sales later.
Fine. Just make the stinking exchange.
She’s typing again. Type, type, type. Now she’s scanning with her little laser fob.... more typing.
“OK” she says, “There’s a $125 charge on each phone”.
At this point, I call corporate sales. Get another sales rep- this is sales rep number 3. I ask for sales rep number 2, ‘Richard’. Sales rep #3 says they don’t work that way. Fine, I explain whole story- what I’m trying to do, where I am, what VW(Verizon Wireless store) employee is telling me. Sales rep #3 says, “There’s no reason she can’t simply exchange the phones”. VW saleslady says, “We don’t do internet pricing”.
What the $%^# does that mean??! Am I dealing with the SAME COMPANY?? I’ve never gone to a company’s website, and not had the same price in the retail store. J-Crew, Best Buy, Radio Shack...
#3 asks to talk to VW saleslady. They banter back and forth. VW saleslady hands phone back to me.
Phone sales rep #3 says, “Just give her the phones, get a tracking number, and then you can give me the tracking number, and we can go ahead and ship you new phones”.
Fine.
VW sales lady gives me tracking number.
Take tracking number. She hands me box.
She says, “we don’t ship, sorry”.
I say, “What the hell is the tracking number for??”.
She says, “I don’t know”
By this time, my blood pressure is spiking. I’ve had enough. I’ve been in there no less than an hour. I leave.

Call corporate sales. Get phone sales rep #4. Explain what just happened. She’s “I’m very sorry for your... yada yada”. I say, “Never-mind the apologies, just fix it.”. She says same thing as #3, that is: there’s no reason why she couldn’t exchange it, or ship it. She asks me if I could go to ANOTHER STORE.

If this wasn’t wasting SO MUCH OF MY TIME, it would be pretty hilarious.

Just do it over the phone, I tell her. #4 tells me, she’ll send me a shipping label. She says, “Today’s friday, you’ll get a shipping label monday- tuesday at latest.”. Whole process should be 2-3 weeks.
I want to cancel whole damn account, go somewhere else. DW says “no, everybody’s got our number”- “too much hassle, other carriers will have same problems.”.

Fast forward next friday. No shipping label. Call corporate sales. Talk to phone sales rep #5. Communicate entire story, again. Again, she’s all “I’m very sorry for your... yada, yada”. I say, “Never-mind the apologies, just fix it.”.
She puts me on hold. Ten minutes later, I get disconnected.

Call back. Get phone sales rep #6. Tell him, very politely, I’d like to talk to a supervisor or manager. He says, he needs to know why. I tell him, because I’ve talked to FIVE OTHER SALES PEOPLE, and been into a VERIZON WIRELESS STORE, and NOBODY KNOWS WHAT THE $&^$ THEY ARE DOING. He says he needs more than that to put me through to a supervisor.
Deep breath.
Count down from 10.

What gets me is: with the economy the way it is, with so many good people out of work- this is the best they can do?

We start arguing back and forth, I remind him I’m a valued customer of six years, that should be enough in itself...
He says “OK, I’m going to have to put you on a brief hold, while you wait for my supervisor”.
I say, “What’s his or her name?”.
“Rhonda”, he replies.
I go on hold. I’m ON HOLD FOR TWENTY-FIVE MINUTES.
I’m assuming they were probably just hoping for my cell battery to die- or more likely, I’m not the only IRATE CUSTOMER Verizon is dealing with.

Finally, some guy picks up. Says he’s a supervisor.
Relay entire story AGAIN. Supervisor says, “I’m very sorry for your... yada, yada”. I say, “Never-mind the apologies, just fix it.”.
Puts me on hold. ANOTHER twenty minutes later, comes back.
Every thing is done. You’ll get your phones overnighted tomorrow. No charge. Keep the $9 phones you have.

So we’ll see.
Frankly, I’ll be really surprised if they show up tomorrow.
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Old 02-06-2010, 03:17 AM   #2
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What does any of this have to do with Airstreams????
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Old 02-06-2010, 03:49 AM   #3
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What does any of this have to do with Airstreams????
um, "Off Topic Forum" mean anything?
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Old 02-06-2010, 04:26 AM   #4
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A few years back I was setting up land line service and email accounts at work, through Verizon. The people were very nice and very helpful. I worked with a rep to set up the account (we already had Verizon dial tone) and set up email accounts, with addresses for about 35 people. This all took several days over a week or two and we had a date when it would all be active. I sent out info to the employees and we were ready to go. Then, two days before the installation, Verizon called and told me "We don't offer that service in your area".
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Old 02-06-2010, 04:34 AM   #5
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Originally Posted by Wayne&Sam View Post
A few years back I was setting up land line service and email accounts at work, through Verizon. The people were very nice and very helpful. I worked with a rep to set up the account (we already had Verizon dial tone) and set up email accounts, with addresses for about 35 people. This all took several days over a week or two and we had a date when it would all be active. I sent out info to the employees and we were ready to go. Then, two days before the installation, Verizon called and told me "We don't offer that service in your area".
Wow.
Sounds like another "WORRY-FREE GUARANTEE" <rolleyes>

Probably too late to dump the VZ stock...

BTW, sorry for the length... but I figure 15 minutes here, might save you 15% or more of your money, time and aggravation in the future. <wink>
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Old 02-06-2010, 06:00 AM   #6
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Man that sounds like a mess that you went through. But I do have to say in all of the years that I have been with Verizon Wireless I have always had great customer service, fast responses with no hassles. Although I must say that while I have dealt with their on line sales people I always get my phones at a Verizon store and have always had no problems other than they always seem very busy (unlike the AT&T store that I have visited.....the folks seem very helpful there too....but I like Verizons coverage around here). Hope you get things squared away, if not there is always Sprint if you like CDMA phones or AT&T if you want to try the iphone. BTW in November I switched to the Droid on my service and love it, my wife and daughter both want one now! (I have a total of 5 phones on my plan).
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Old 02-06-2010, 06:44 AM   #7
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Verizon? About the worst I have have ever encountered. They promised service not delivered which we never used, and keep billing me through my regular phone bill. So, I now owe Qwest money for services I never received from Verizon. On the phone they apologize and promise they will personally correct the problem but don't.
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Old 02-06-2010, 06:55 AM   #8
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I think I had a slight blood pressure spike just reading about your experience - I don't know what I would have done if I were actually experiencing it!

wow.

Good luck.
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Old 02-06-2010, 07:52 AM   #9
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First rule in Cell Phone Communications: ALWAYS deal with a corporate store.

Second rule: That still won't help.

Last year we abandoned our "land line". I went to the corporate store after waiting forever for the latest really cool phone (Verizon Rock).

Got the phone, went to transfer the number. They insisted I do it over the new phone. The process involves listening to prompts then plugging in numbers. Real fun with a cell phone in a mall.

Now I generally am a calm guy. But I think security was called after I threaten to stick the Rock thru thier showcase......
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Old 02-06-2010, 07:59 AM   #10
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I'm not holding my breath for those phones today...
I'll just go Apple/AT&T
The "Worry Free Guarantee" clearly states you can cancel your service- that INCLUDES the 2-year contract agreement, within the first 30 days, with NO EARLY TERMINATION FEE.
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Old 02-06-2010, 08:04 AM   #11
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What does any of this have to do with Airstreams????
Many of us are on the road nearly continuously for long stretches of time and we depend on wireless for voice and data communications. For that reason, information about any of the major carriers has a good bit to do with Airstreams.
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Old 02-06-2010, 08:07 AM   #12
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The good news is that as far as my experience goes, (US Cellular, IWireless, AT&T and Verizon, Verizon customer service is better than most. Frightening, isn't it...

Roger
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Old 02-06-2010, 08:10 AM   #13
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Verizon customer service sucks!

I had A T & T through Qwest and was forced to switch over to another company when Qwest ended their contract. Qwest went with Verizon and I thought to myself "what harm could there be"?

It's been nothing but a nightmare since.....Verizon could care less about their customers. They are a BIG company, they know it and have thrown customer service out the door.
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Old 02-06-2010, 08:16 AM   #14
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Customer Service is an oxymoron...

I have had fights and issues with ALL of the major carriers at one point or another, you take the one that is least evil to you and live with it. Currently I am using Verizon and it is tolerable. Work uses Allhell which is now Verizon but not completely integrated yet so it is always fun when you need something taken care of. Try getting an Alltel phone replaced in Iowa...it had to be shipped back to NC for programing because Alltel apparently didn't own any tower(s) in that part of Iowa and the Altel programming requires the phone to be on it's home system to be programed.

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Old 02-06-2010, 08:30 AM   #15
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Here’s my experience with Verizon Wireless in the last few weeks...
no phone here, but vzw broadband for several years now.

the card died once and they shipped a new one overnight.

2-3 times in over a 1000 days of EVERYDAY use the software or connection has failed to connect...

but this has not happened for well over a year and i've NEVER had a dropped connection while using it.

purchased original plan in florida but a store 2000 miles away once upgraded all my booty for free, including a new card...

this took about 15-20 minutes at a corporate store.

all online/phone support when rarely needed has been domestic based,

not there's anything wrong with a guy named frank from pakistan helping...
_______

so i dunno fc' this must only be happening rarely, like .01% of the time...

or they've flagged your file and you've got a chart now somewhere...



cheers
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Old 02-06-2010, 08:34 AM   #16
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We've played the customer service game with AT&T. It's been a mess with data plans and minutes, upgrades and contracts. Somewhere in the forum is a lengthy post I made about AT&T at the time. I won't go into detail again (I don't want my blood pressure to go through the roof), but it was as bead, or even worse, than the OP's problem.
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Old 02-06-2010, 09:16 AM   #17
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_______

so i dunno fc' this must only be happening rarely, like .01% of the time...

or they've flagged your file and you've got a chart now somewhere...


cheers
2air'
Oh, I knew I was opening a can a whupass with that "pissn'moaning airstream owners" comment...

difficult...

LMAO
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Old 02-06-2010, 11:19 AM   #18
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I also have dealt with ATT & Verizion currently have ATT phones and Verizion air card.

What I have found is the local stores (ATT&Verizion) don't want you on their premises if you already have service.
If you can't get a problem resolved with corporate you will get NO HELP going to a local store.
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Old 02-06-2010, 11:50 AM   #19
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Verizon has been on a mergers and acquisitions binge in recent times. I believe customer service has suffered as a result.

The wireless industry competes on price, coverage, and phone features. So it has been since the early days.

No point getting mad at them. Either put up with it or switch to AT&T or T-Mobile.
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Old 02-06-2010, 12:13 PM   #20
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Verizon Wireless Customer Service

I have had Verizon land-line service ever since Verizon took over GTE. Living in a very small community means that we have no other alternative for land-line nor DSL service. I recently moved 2 miles and had my service transferred, and all I can say is - - what a mess!! The phone line itself was tranferred with minimal difficulty other than it was three days later than promised. The DSL was another story entirely - - it took them 10 days to reactivate the service -- and another 10 days to unlock my e-mail account that they had locked through some technical glitch. I have my wireless service through Altell, and thus far, have had excellent service through my local store.

Kevin
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