Does Verizon not want my business?

[dejames]

I just moved to new area.  My contract was up with my carrier.  I'd heard that among the varying levels of mediocrity that is the U.S. wireless industry that Verizon was the best.

I went to a Verizon store (which I later found out was not an official store despite the fact that they had stuck the Verizon logo in every place that they could inside and outside the store) and ordered two iphone sixes.  I was told I could get $200 for each of my iphone 4s.  Of course, after checking online, I am hesitant to mail them (in that thin poorly protected envelope) because it seems you are likely to get scammed unless you are willing to spend hours making a big stink about it with Verizon to get your promised credit.

Both times I went to the store (after 5pm) the employee on duty (while friendly and well meaning) seemed poorly trained and had to call the manager multiple times to get through the process of ordering phones and then a month later to activate the phones.  Yes,  I was the only one in the store and it took over an hour at the register to order my iphones.  After all this, the next day called and told me that my order had been cancelled by Verizon and that they didn't know why.  The manager then retook my order over the phone and sent it again.  Then, I waited a month for my phones to come in!  When I went to pick them up a different evening employee took over two hours getting them activated.  Again, there were repeated computer system errors and multiple calls to the store manager for help.

Then I go online to port my order number and the website says I have to call Verizon.  So I call Verizon and the automated system says it can't port my old numbers.  So I call Verizon customer service and they connect me to the "Porting Department."  The woman at the "Porting Department" says that they can't port my old number because Verizon doesn't have numbers in the area where my old number is.  So I said, "if you can't port my number I am taking my phone in to get a refund."  Porting Department person said they couldn't help me.

In summary, my interactions with Verizon have been a big waste of time and unless I find someone who can fix this situation I am dumping my new phones tomorrow and finding another carrier.

[ynggrsshppr91]

Moral of the story: Go to a Real Verizon store and not a 3rd party retailer. You would have know about the port ahead of time and the people working wouldn't have been quite so mentally challenged.

[Weth]

This is an FCC rule and not Verizon's fault.  If your old number is from an area where Verizon does not have an overlapping point of presence, the number can't be ported.

from Novemer 10, 2003 FCC rule on wireless number portability:

Specifics of the FCC's Ruling

Over the objection of many wireline carriers, the FCC clarified that porting a number from a wireline carrier to a wireless carrier is required where the requesting wireless carrier's coverage area overlaps the geographic location in which the wireline number is located.

[dejames]

Agreed.  That is the moral of the story.  However, there was nothing obvious about the physical address (ie, so much Verizon branding everywhere especially the marque) that would have let me know that it wasn't an official Verizon store.

Personal information removed as required by Verizon Wireless Terms of Service.

Message was edited by: Admin Moderator

[dejames]

So the day after I get my refund for my phones and cancel my service because vERIZON can't port my numbers, I get the bill!  The Store Manager who gave me my refund told me that I should not owe vERIZON anything and that if they did try to bill me for activating the phones to just tell them that I couldn't get service and they would delete the charges.  Of course, as we have now learned, vERIZON corporate has little incentive to follow through on the promises of it's reseller partners. 

If I had known that I couldn't port the numbers, I wouldn't have activated the phones!  When the employee at the vERIZON reseller store couldn't get the numbers ported, she activated "temporary" numbers and told me to call or visit the website and vERIZON would port them for me.  So why did I wait a few more days to try to port these "temporary" numbers?  My wife was traveling and I was afraid that if ported the numbers during her trip it would wipe out her cellphone account with our current carrier.  Then, she wouldn't have a working cellphone on her trip!  Also, I have to work and travel too and only have certain days I can waste time on all this monkey business.  Yet for some reason vERIZON thinks I ought to still pay them for the privilege I had of suffering through these major inconveniences!  Really?

I called vERIZON customer service about the bill and they transferred me to financial services who then transferred me back to customer service.  The lady in customer service cleared the December charges off my bill but still claimed that I owed vERIZON money for activating phones and for being a customer on vERIZON's network even though they could not port my numbers as promised and I never made any phone calls!  Each time I explained why I shouldn't have to pay money for the reseller's broken promises, vERIZON's impotency in porting the numbers, and phones I didn't use, she robotically repeated the amount of my bill and told me I'd have to pay it.  We went in circles for a few rounds.  Then I hung up.  Thanks for nothing!

I called vERIZON customer service a second time, a different rep told me he had good news and bad news.  The good news was that vERIZON had cleared the December charges off my bill, but I still had to pay the rest.  I told him that he had not fixed anything because obviously vERIZON wasn't going to expect me to pay for an extra month of service after I had already cancelled the lines and returned the phones.  I needed him to clear the other charges that resulted from the misinformation that the reseller provided and vERIZON's inability to port my numbers.  He went away for a while and then came back, asked for a contact number, and then told me that his manager would call me.  That was two days ago.  So far I have not gotten a phone call. 

After this whole vERIZON fiasco, I went to the Apple store and AT&T.  AT&T let Apple activate and port one of my numbers but not the other.  I had to go to the corporate AT&T store to get the other number ported.  AT&T couldn't explain why one number worked and the other didn't.  All they could say was that the first number shouldn't have ported at the Apple store but it did!  Of course, AT&T's corporate store had no 64GB iPhone 6's.  It's a 3 week wait!  Attempts to order a 64GB iPhone 6 online were met with red error messages saying I had to go to the AT&T store.  So AT&T is a screw-up too, but that's an account for a different forum.

So unless vERIZON comes to it's senses and decides to give a damn about customer service, I looking a 3 cellphone bills this month -- vERIZON, at&t, and Bluegrass Cellular!  I waited 4 weeks for my iPhone 6s from vERIZON (that I never got to use) and now I'm waiting 3 more weeks for an iPhone 6 from at&t.  At least my wife's number ported and things are working well for her. 

vERIZON just needs to Man Up, take responsibility for their reseller's mistake (they did give them permission to act in their name and gave them all that vERIZON signage they have plastered on every surface in the store) and ZERO out my account that was setup based on faulty information and never used!

What say you vERIZON?  Can you answer the call, rise to the occasion, and do the right thing?

Your Former Customer,

David James 

>

[dejames]

This story has a happy ending!

I want to express my gratitude to Jonathan LeCompte, the Verizon Regional President for Alabama, and his office staff for handling my issues and making things right.

I sent a less angry e-mail to him and he had his staff zero out my bill for the numbers I couldn't port and never used.

If any customer service minions read this please follow the example of your boss and remember that you are in customer service to serve your customers.  

Don't forget that kindness always pays it's debts.  Pay it forward!

Thanks again.

Sincerely,

David