Is the grass greener with Verizon?

[mnmama]

I've heard such great things about Verizon's coverage and thought what better place to ask than their existing customers. I would appreciate your input please... 

After being with Sprint for MANY years, I am sick and tired of the false promises and being lied to about the great service coming. I've been waiting for this new and improved coverage (or any coverage) for the past 10+ years. Currently, my adult children, their spouses, and my husband share a plan. That is a total of 6 lines, 5 of which are smart phones. My husband is the only one who has good coverage with his flip phone. We pay an average of $395.00 a month for these lines. My eldest daughter has had to go outside in 20 below zero weather just to attempt to place a call. Sprint agreed their service was iffy in her neighborhood, but if she could place one call it showed she had some coverage...even if it was bad coverage. She lives less than a mile from me. Apparently, my service is supposed to be stellar. That must be why we had to install a landline in order to place and receive calls. My younger daughter and her husband have okay service, but live in another town. They still struggle with dropped calls daily.

I've talked with Sprint until I am blue in the face and have been told there is no problem with dropped calls on my line (for example), according to their records. I asked if that included the four calls I made to them in the past 30 minutes, all of which were dropped. No response. They said if I make calls near their tower it would be better coverage. I guess I am supposed to drive a mile to the local tower to make calls? I did attempt to call them once and after two disconnects...got the message through to them I was sitting beneath their tower! They didn't believe me so I took a photo and sent it to them. They didn't respond.

During my last call to them...a good point was brought up by one of their "customer service" reps. (and I use that term lightly). She asked if service is such a problem, why we continue to get new phones and extend the contracts. I stated at times it was the only option because whichever one that purchased a phone was because theirs was inoperable. Sprint's warranty doesn't cover most things. I was told they could simply go online and purchase a phone elsewhere (at five times the price?).  I also stated the last two upgrades were done (the same day) because we were told the two year contract requirement is ending very soon as everything is switching to their no contract Friends and Family plan. The rep. immediately said that is not true, we'd still have to finish our contracts. I explained that is NOT what we were told, gave her the name and phone number of the person at the corporate store who shared this information with us, and pleaded with her to contact them...not her problem, she said. It is not their fault if an employee gives customers incorrect information. Of course this conversation took place beyond the 14 day return limit. I tried to return my phone on the 15th day once and was denied. The store was closing in 5 minutes when I got there the night before and I was told to stop back the next day. I had used the phone for 2 days prior to knowing I was not an iPhone fan and was further delayed because my father in law was dying. I was needed at his bedside. It dawned on me it was the 14th day so I made a point to leave the hospital early to get to a Sprint store. When I returned the following morning...I was told it is too late. 

ETF's: I checked into the cost of paying off the early term fees. For all the lines it was around $1,000.00. We were all desperate enough to consider it until we were told we'd have to return our phones to Sprint. I asked if those are the phones we purchased from Sprint. Yes, but being we got them at a discounted rate...they belong to Sprint, not us.  I said some are refurbished phones so were never new to us to begin with. She said all were refurbished phones, not just some and it didn’t make any difference.

So…what do you think?  Thank you for reading my novella and I would appreciate any advise you can give.

[loganpdailey]

I switched from Sprint to Verizon 6 months ago. Like anything there is pros and cons.

The coverage is amazing, the prices are not.  I have 2 lines and 4gb of data with insurance on both phones and the bill ranges from $172 to $180.  In the past 6 months today is the first day I've had a problem with my verizon account.

For the coverage, it is worth the money. I live in a small town out in the country and get perfect signal everywhere.

[#3]

I can tell you that being with Verizon from when they were Bell Atlantic I have never had any service issues or coverage issues with their service, their phone selections, their messaging and or voice mail or any aspect of their services.

Yes they cost more and customer service is not stellar as it once was. No fixing the devices at the stores, no free loaner phones, store reps that knew you by name and greeting you by name when you came in and yes at one time the people at the store did not change from year to year. Email customer services, phone calls were returned when promised, your issue was taken care of that day and you were not lied to as what many experience when you call today.

Credits to your account were done immediately and showed up on your invoice and you did not need to call 10 times to get the money or service credits, there was no dropped calls when you spoke to a customer service person on the phone.

And Verizon gave big discounts on goods and services because they valued your business. Alas today with 121 Million customers those days are long past. A shame.

I can tell you that Sprint today is trying to better their services, the new Vision has rolled out and although I would not call them a real 4G LTE provider and 3G is the best you can hope for in many places, they do own more spectrum than the other three cellular companies so when service does get better, Sprint will be unbeatable. But it is a wait and see issue right now.

The best always comes with a price, Verizon in my opinion and from using their service is just that....the best!

Good Luck

[tcgty]

I have been with Verizon for almost a year and no problem with the service. I only have the basic phone and plan though. Just like with any other people say "Your Miles May Vary" when it comes to service oriented companies like Verizon, Sprint, ATT, T-Mobile, etc.

Signal strength and availability will also depend on your area. Some areas have excellent quality, some are ok, while some have weak signals.