Verizon Rant **RESOLVED**

Swamp Puppy · 04-20-2006, 03:45 PM

I have had Verizon as a celluar provider for about 3 years now. aside from the normal gripes one would have with a cell phone company, i can say that i was pleased with their service. until now.

After my initial 2 year agreement with them expired, i continued my service with them on a month-to-month basis. meaning i just kept paying my bill and made no further contractual obligation to them. understandably, they tried like heck to get me to sign another contract with them so they could lock me into their service and keep me from switching.

after a year, they finally sweetened the pot enough to make me bite. i could get rid of my old phone (which was a relic Nokia) and upgrade to a new Razr V-cast for free. In exchange for me signing a 2yr agreement with them i would get a 200 dollar credit for my past business and a 50 dollar credit to cover the balance for the new deal. my minutes and rate did not change.

not a bad deal eh? keep paying the same thing i have been paying and probably would keep paying anyway..and get a free high end phone out of it.

So, I made the call...The sales rep on the phone told me that when i received the phone in the mail (in about 48 hours) i would need to send in a "form" for the 50 dollar credit. ever wary of a mail in rebate trap i asked him very pointedly, "is this a mail in rebate?"

"it's like one", was his reply..

"ok, well i don't want a mail in rebate..if i have to come out of pocket with any money i don't want to do the deal. i'll just wait for something else.", i told him.

"oh-no..you don't have to pay any extra. you just fill out the form and it automatically get's credited to your account. you won't even notice it has happened.", he assured me.

ok...so you see what's going on here. the conversation continued for another 15 minutes about rebates and airtime charges and how the transfer of service from my old phone to the new phone would take place. i must have re-verified at least 5 more times that i would not be responsible for any additional charges and only needed to fill out the required form.

that was on/about 3/23/06. today i get my first bill with my new phone. on it is a 50 dollar charge for "equipment fee". so i make the call to verizon again.

i asked them what was up and why was i being charged for the phone? i explained what i had been told and that i was very clear and would not have agreed any other way.

*side note. i think it is relevant that i tell you that not only was i in the sales business for a number of years, but was a sales trainer for a large auto group for a couple of my final years in the industry. i am more than capable of deciphering salesman double talk and the verbage they use to make you think your getting something you are not.*

long story short..Verizon basically told me that it was just a real shame that i got lied to, but i was responsible for all the charges on my bill.

I told them i would be more than willing to terminate the new agreement and return their phone, but i was told i only have a 15 day grace period from the time i received the phone to return it. which i tried to explain to them that i had no reason to return it or even want to return it until today when i saw i was getting screwed. i was politely told that was just too bad and if i terminate now i would be responsible for my bill plus another 175.00 bucks.

understand something here...this isn't about my ability to pay the 50 bucks. i can handle that. this is about the principal of being lied to.

i told them i would be willing to do 1 of 3 things.

1) they could just make it right and credit me the 50 and life goes on.

2) they could terminate my service and i will send them back the phone and pay my final payment to them, less the extra 50 they charged me.

3) they toss all thoughts of customer service out the window and show no regard for my 3 years of flawless payments or their willingness to take a small step to keep a customer happy and i keep the phone, don't pay them crap ever again, and they can take me to court if they want another dime from me.

-Ed Johnston

wthr4d · 04-20-2006, 04:57 PM

SP- Verizon has always been a reasonable company when dealing with me, and it appears you as well, in the past. I am sure that if you dont stop with the first "monkey" that answers the phone and talk to a supervisor or supervisors' supervisor you will be able to get them to easily credit you the $50...after all, you have signed a two year contract. Just keep reminding them that you have liked their service in the past and if you could find resolution here, would continue to reccomend them to your friends. remember the phrase "its only $50 bucks to you, but its a principal to me" and feel free to tell them that as you ask to talk to their supervisor.

Paul

Pete · 04-20-2006, 04:59 PM

One of the things I've really appreciated with Verizon is having a person with the authority to help answer the phone within one ring when I've called customer service. That's pretty rare.

ajfishfinder · 04-21-2006, 07:00 AM

When I had a problem with Verizon I went directly to the sales person that I bought my equiptment and contract from. If you have ever been in their store in Tigard you know they are always busy. I picked the lunch hour to air my complaint, knowing they would be extra busy. When I was put off by my sales person, my tone picked up a notch. By the 3rd person I was nearly yelling. Now I have everyones (about 30 people) attention. Keep in mind that some of these people are getting ready to sign up or buy new equiptment. I loudly told flunky number 3 that I wanted a real manager or was going to start yelling out their dirty little secrets. It seemed to work. I got another guy from the "magic back room" and my original sales person and stepped outside. I told them the problem and what the result would be if it was not corrected. Like you I didn't have much chioce but but to make threats. I told them I would stand outside and talk to anyone coming in about how crappy their service is. I explained that I would make it my personal mission to keep people out of their store, until my problem was fixed. I don't even remember the ammount. I think it was under $100, but the principal of the matter was the major point. We all 3 walked back in, went to the front of the line and fixed the problem. Well now, wasn't that simple. Had they given me 2 minutes and satisfaction in the first place, we all could enjoyed the day.

flapbreaker · 04-21-2006, 07:13 AM

Always take names when you are dealing with people over the phone. That way they can "retrain" this person to better understand their job. I used to have verizon and never had a problem. I went with cingular this last time. If you think your rebate was a circus you haven't seen anything yet. It took 3 full billing cycles to finally get on the plan that I signed up for in their store. And then there's all the dropped call's. Needless to say I'll be heading back to verizon when my contract is up.

ET · 04-21-2006, 08:29 AM

Swamp Puppy,

Respectfully.... Don't you have other, more important things to worry about? I'm just saying, isn't this something you can just let go of?

You're getting your $50 back on a rebate....the guy lied... whoopdi-do... move on and save yourself the heartache.

IDWITHELD · 04-21-2006, 11:37 AM

If no resolution by Corporate Customer Service or at the Point of Sale....say hello to the Better Business Bureau and to the State Attorney Generals Office. You probably won't get any resolution, but you need it on record in case this is a "standard business proctice". There may be others with the same situation.

The deal was the deal. 50 bucks of 50 million bucks.

Swamp Puppy · 04-21-2006, 12:32 PM

ET - NO!! This salesperson lied to me to get me to agree to a contract. you may roll over for service like that, but i sure don't.

I did talk to a supervisor on the phone that day. she wasn't much help either. she seemed more bothered that i had requested to talk to her than helpful. her basic attitude was, too bad you got lied to..send us our money "or else".

i will call again and give them one more chance to make it right. you never know when you just get an un-friendly person on the phone..i am hoping that they still do what's right.

-Ed

wthr4d · 04-21-2006, 01:43 PM

Ed- Dont stop with the first supervisor, often it takes going up another level or two to get yourself heard. threats and acusations wont get you very far once you get to that level though, you'll need evidence and information to fight for you. get your info together BEFORE The call, write it down on paper so you have quick reference and they know you are taking notes. if it gets really nasty, tape the calls, but make sure to let them know they are being taped@!!! THEY WONT LIKE IT AND WILL be extra nice.

Paul

Reel_Big_Fish · 04-21-2006, 01:59 PM

When the salesman said this...

Quote:

"oh-no..you don't have to pay any extra. you just fill out the form and it automatically get's credited to your account. you won't even notice it has happened.", he assured me.

My thinking would be I'd be paying something since he said "you don't have to pay any extra." And with your account getting "automatically" credited but not until you fill out the form. I don't think the form would get filled out and back to them for at least 4-5 days. So there it isn't possible for it to be automatically credited.

I've had good luck with Verizon for the past 4 years or so. My experience with doing these type of deals is they do credit your account, but it usually doesn't happened until after you pay the $50 first. I'm sorry you are going through all the hassel of trying to get things taken care of. Also, I am not saying you are wrong, just giving my take on the whole situation.

ET · 04-21-2006, 02:31 PM

For me, it's not about "rolling over". Why not just refuse to pay the $50 until the credit posts to your account? Pay what you agreed and nothing more. The issue will just go away in a couple weeks. Why make more of it? How will you "win"?

No matter what happens, you are losing because you are the only one that cares about this issue. You aren't going to get anyone fired. The only person hurt and emotionally involved in this process is you and the hurt is mostly self-inflicted. Anyone at Verizon that you talk to is just rolling their eyes and shaking their head... All the while you get more and more upset.

Learn to let it go...or... maybe you just enjoy the process. If so, have fun!

MacFish · 04-21-2006, 03:26 PM

What it looks like to me is that the $50 credit was meant to cover the equipment fee so you had no added expense. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to see how that could get misconstrued during telephone negotiations. My dealings with Verizon's customer service has always been good. With the package they gave you, I would give them the benefit of the doubt.

Swamp Puppy · 04-21-2006, 03:27 PM

I am not trying to get anyone fired..nor am I trying to "win" as you put it.

i don't think you fully understand what's going on. #1: they aren't going to credit my account. i have to pay the 50 bucks and then wait for a mail in rebate to come back to me. which is supposed to take 6-8 weeks, but in reality (as anyone familiar with mail in rebates knows) it will be more like 10-12 weeks if i am lucky. this is exactly what i wanted to avoid in the first place and was very clear to the sales person that i didn't want to be involved in any type of mail in rebate deal.

I am not "emotionally hurt" nor will i be. I feel compelled however to let people know what is going on in hopes that they do not fall into this same sort of situation. If it is really no big deal how about you send in the 50 bucks for me and i'll give you the reabate check when it gets here..lol. shouldn't take more than 4 or 5 months.

MAC - nothing was left to be misunderstood in that phone conversation. I was very clear...almost to the point of being condescending..that i did NOT want to do anything that involved any sort of mail rebate or anything else that involved me having to pay any additional fee and wait for a credit in return. He said he understood and flat out told me that i would not have to pay any additional fees. period.

Swamp Puppy · 04-22-2006, 12:12 PM

Well, I got a call from the credit department today about my request to have the 49.99 credited to my account in lieu of sending in the rebate. (like i was promised originally)

initially they called to tell me that they weren't going to geve me the credit and i had to send in the rebate form, but after running through the story again with the lady on the phone she agreed with me and could understand why i was upset. so, they credited my account the 49.99 and proved that they are indeed the type of company i thought they were.

it took a bit of doing, but they held up their end of the bargain after all.

-Ed

PapaHog · 04-22-2006, 05:51 PM

I run into the same thing with Verizon. Only I understood that I would be charged the equipment fee and would get it back when I sent in the form. NO expense to me.

Did what was said. Got the $50 dollar check from Verizon with in the month. No long wait for me.

No new expense to me at all. They are a good company and good service.

2LEYS · 04-22-2006, 06:43 PM

He could have just paid the stupid $50 and been done right. But if he backed out of the deal because of this it would have cost him $225. ($175 + $50.) And then by posting the story on here, and 1 person didn't sign up with Verizon and went with another company because of it, Verizon would have been out at least $30 a month for 2 years. But their bean counters don't realize that.

If you get screwed by a company let everyone know!! Customer Service Sucks!

Swamp Puppy · 04-23-2006, 09:38 AM

Papa Hog - yes, it would not have been a big deal if i had gone into this knowing i was getting involved with a mail-in-rebate. however, i specifically mentioned that i did NOT want to have to pay anything up front and wait for to be re-imbursed. I was told i would not be charged and was lied to. thus the reason for all of this.

in the end, Verizon did what was right to correct the issue. it does not change that their sales rep lied to me to make a deal, but at least they fixed it on the back end.