Off topic

My wife is a quiet, thoughtful, gentle person.  So why is she upstairs screaming at her phone?  What could possibly send her into such a rage?

Verizon.

Verizon's phone, cable TV, and Internet service works well, but beware if you have to call a customer service rep.  They have the worst customer service of any company I've ever dealt with.

A few months ago I was getting 3-4 telemarketer calls a day trying to sell me an extended warranty for my car.  Day after day.  It was driving me crazy.

Since my number is on the 'Do Not Call' list I called Verizon to see if they would trace the calls so I knew what company was calling. 

The woman I talked to made it clear that wasn't something they would do, but before I hung up she asked me if I knew I had the slowest Internet service they offered.  I said yes because faster service cost more than I wanted to pay.  She told me that they had a new package that would give me their fastest service plus free long distance for about the same price I was now paying.  I asked if this was a promotion that expired in a few months. She said no, I only had to agree to keep the service for two years.  I asked how much more it was and she did some calculations and said, "Around $6 more."  It sounded worth it so I agreed to switch.

To make a long story short, the difference, when all was said and done, was about $20.  I was livid and when I called back I told the customer rep to switch me back to my old service.  He said, "I'm sorry, sir, we can't. We no longer offer that package."

Evidently Verizon wanted to phase out the old package and replace it with the newer more expensive package.  They saw I was getting a good deal on the old package and did what they had to to get me off of it.

I'm not even going to go into the problem my wife is having with them.

Be very careful if you have to deal with Verizon.

--Trakker

Comments

[Harry Mitchell]

Trakker -- I work for Verizon and will be happy to work to resolve the issues you and your wife are having. Just send me an e-mail with some contact information (e-mail, home phone).

[Trakker]

Harry,

Thanks for your offer to help. After much haggling I got a package that is similar to what I had (but it costs a few dollars more).

My wife's problem was more typical. A few months ago I sat in her office as she was on the phone with Verizon and she kept getting transferred from person to person and always had to start from scratch with each new person only to be told she needed to talk to someone else. She was on the phone for almost an hour.

The same thing yesterday although she also had trouble this time with the automated menu system where you have to chose options from menu to menu and the system wasn't hearing her answers correctly. I don't know if she got the problem resolved or not. If she didn't I'll have her drop you an email.

I suspect Verizon has a number of employees who care about their customers and cringe when they read rants like mine. I should know, I used to work for the government, and no one has a worse reputation for customer service than the government! I cringed every time I heard someone complain about how rude they were treated by a government employee on the phone.

[Harry Mitchell]

Sorry about the experiences you and your wife have had. You're right -- Verizon employees care very much about providing customers with a positive service experience. When we fall short, we want to make it right. Please do have your wife contact me if she still needs help.

Best,

Harry

[Charles Nibbana]

Although you got the plan sorted it out, I imagine you are still having trouble with the call from telemarketers? If so, you should consider the service they offer called 'Do Not Disturb'. It's a dollar or two per month, but it offers you the ability to restrict only certain numbers getting through either all the time or during certain hours. We loved it!