Why Verizon Sucks
I have used Verizon as my cell phone provider about 4 years now. Never really had an issue until recently. When I left my last job, I was no longer on their cell plan and transferred my phone to the wife’s plan. This will be important later. Anyway, a few weeks ago, I noticed my voice-mail stopped working. If you called, it’d just ring forever. And my battery stopped holding a charge. After a night of charging, it’d show low battery by lunch time. So, I needed to get the phone fixed.
I called the Verizon rep I used to work with and she said to take it by a Verizon location that had a service tech. Apparently, some stores are just set up for sales and have no service folks. So, I look up the Verizon locations in the phone book and start calling. I call and get a message about contacting customer service, hit some key, etc. I just wanted to know two things:
1) Does this location have a service tech?
2) Directions there.
So, I looked the number up in the phone book and gave the local office a call. But guess what! I found no way through the phone system to actually contact a person who was at the Knoxville Verizon. The local phone number just kept me in the corporation’s telephone limbo. I tried four times. I had to call a customer service 800 number. The person we finally reached was not local and couldn’t answer either question. Seems to me a local office should be reachable by the number in the phone book to answer such questions as mine and hours of operation. I decide to go to the office anyway. I get there, and there is a young lady who is pointing people who walk in to register at the computer screen for service. Yes, there is a person who tells you to use a computer to get service at the Verizon service center. Why this person, who I have no idea why they’re even there since the computer system automates anything you want to do and she can be replaced with a sign, can’t also answer a fucking phone is beyond me.
So, undeterred, I get my shit fixed and decide to look at new phones since mine is many years old and there are fancier models out there. They have a few good deals where you commit to a service plan and get a phone at a particularly low rate (or even free). But, again, guess what! I, as an existing customer, am ineligible until some arbitrary date in the future for any of their specials. You see, Verizon would rather piss on existing customers instead of taking a bit of a ding on the price of an overpriced telephone. The thing that really pissed me off is that the arbitrary date in the future is based on when I transferred my phone from my former company’s plan to my wife’s plan. At that time, I did not get a new phone or any new service. Just transferred. As of that date, I am apparently a new customer despite having used them for four years. So, the time I had with them prior to the transfer meant nothing.
Yes, some folks will say I should have read the contract (and I know that and I did). I just assumed that they’d actually, you know, take care of an existing, long-time customer. When that arbitrary date hits in the future, I’m dumping Verizon. I’d do it now but then I’d be hit with cancellation fees.
July 3rd, 2006 at 4:20 am
Do like I id bitch louder! and Often… Had lots of service issues..so we played the phone tag game….got on with 611 customer service complained got supervisors..etc got credits….Had a model that was really bad and had 6 replacement in one yr which they wnated me to pay for.,…wound up recently getting a 300 phone for 25$ and it was a phone i researched and tested, someone lent me theres….
July 3rd, 2006 at 6:27 am
Before jumping out of that frying pan, take a look at the fire around it. Sprint’s coverage is horrible by comparison to Verizon, and their contract is no better. I’ve been in a contract for a year and a half, which should run out at year end, but they quietly extended it for two more years when I changed my number. I called and protested that I had never agreed to such a change, and they said they’d annotate that fact in my file so I could cancel earlier if I chose to. The new date still shows up on my online profile, though, so I’m not holding my breath.
July 3rd, 2006 at 6:52 am
I don’t know what the coverage is like in your area, but I’ve been using T-Mobile for years (since back when they were Voicestream and Jamie Lee Curtis was their spokeperson). The one time I had to get a new phone because mine was going wonky, I got a new one for agreeing to a contract extension (that was three years ago, I think). But then they also added extra minutes to my original plan “for being a long-term customer.”
It was originally, if I recall correctly, Voicestream’s cheapest service plan for only 30 minutes per month. They keep rewarding me for being a “long-term customer” and I’m now up to 75 anytime minutes per month plus 500 weekend minutes per month, and I’m still paying what I started paying back in the 90’s sometime. They seem to have just about the best coverage in my area, too. I had also tried AT&T and Sprint before I went to Voicestream and their coverage here stunk big time.
July 3rd, 2006 at 8:40 am
I used to be on Sprint and needed a new phone. They wouldn’t cut me any slack, and were going to force me into a contract extension before I could get a new phone or lower our rate. I told them, “So, you would rather I take my business elsewhere than to help me out?” They pretty much said yes. So I went to Verizon and got a nice phone for $5. Since I never have problems with phones, I didn’t get the insurance. My wife promptly washed my cellphone (picked it up with the sheets). A new identical replacement was $150. Huh? So I bought a crappy used one for $50.
They do their best to screw existing customers. You can’t buy a phone or alter your plan without an immediate and automatic extension to your contract. I think if you call customer service, they may even sneak on an extra month. If I got a new phone by paying retail and it has nice new internet capabilities, I couldn’t add those services without a contract extension.
It really pisses me off to no end. I don’t understand how, with such a competitive market, the customer still gets the shaft. My best and least aggravating service was from Cricket. But those things only work within town. As soon as you cross the county line, you lose service.
July 3rd, 2006 at 11:02 am
I’ll second T-Mobile. I had to drop them when I moved out into the twigs* and didn’t have coverage. They gave me no hassle about it, and waived the early termination fee. I’m with Cingular now, and haven’t had a problem. But nothing’s happened, so I can’t say.
* twigs = not quite out into the sticks
July 3rd, 2006 at 11:09 am
As usual, a pox on all their houses.
Sprint *used* to be good. But that was long ago.
You can “upgrade” phones with sprint every 18 months. But you’ll need to, every Sprint phone I’ve had had “issues” at ~24 months.
The Sprint network is better than Verizon’s, nationwide (technically). But locally to where I am, Verizon’s using the exact same equipment, and has better coverage.
My beef with Verizon is how they lobotomize phones and equipment to best charge you more money. When Sprint/Verizon have the same phone, the Sprint version will have far more features and abilities.
The Fiancee is on Verizon, and I get a 20% discount there. Sprint contract runs out the 22nd of this month. So it’s time to start looking hard at the possibilities that are there. I’m paying particular attention to the EVDO/wireless broadband capabilities. I suspect I’m going to get cross-eyed stares if I ask local stores about those requirements.
July 4th, 2006 at 1:16 am
Was on Sprint and then moved to Verizon. Verizon is way better, but its still a cellphone company which means customer service is generally poor. I lost a phone as well with Verizon and they wanted $300 for the crappiest phone since I wasn’t a new customer or finished my 2 year commitment. Sprint would sell you a replacement phone at the same price as new customers got them.