I recently went to a Verizon store and told them my phone was not working correctly. It was a Saturday. They told me I was not eligible for an upgrade for 48 hours. I explained that my phone was not working correctly right now. I told them that I use my phone for everything including my medication timer form my neuro-muscular disorder. They told me to come back on Monday. I informed them that I work during the week and because of my health issues it is not always easy for me to get out to the store during the week. Besides I'm having problems now. They said the system won't allow them to upgrade me any earlier than that date. I said there must be someone you can escalate to. It is less than 48 hours. I always pay my bill on time, I buy the top model phones with high data plans and you will be getting another 2 year agreement. He didn't even ask anyone else. I left mad, with a broken phone.
The next day I thought about it and called Verizon. I explained everything and that it was now less than 12 hours before my upgrade. She gave me the spiel and said I could wait until after midnight at home and order it on line and have it shipped. I then went back to the store with less than 10 hours left. Still no help.
At this point I was down right angry. I got my phone fixed by a third party and reduced the options on my plan by $30.00 a month.
For Verizon to bend the rules by less than 12 hours so that I could pay them for a new phone and guarantee 2 more years of service only helps them. This has destroyed my customer satisfaction. They were going to give me this discount in less than 12 hours anyway. I was in need. It would not have hurt them to bend the rules by less than 12 hours. How is it a good business decision to allow for no leeway in the system and no escalation path?
Verizon has 98,000,000 customers. Each customer has their own set of issues and problems. Verizon does not, and can not, bend the rules. Verizon is not a "Mom and Pop" shop.
I also work for a world-wide multi-billion dollar a year company. Technology is also our forte. We can escalate and we can bend the rules when the case warrants it. Especially if we will lose money in the long run.
When you make a statement like that you are basically saying" Verizon is too large to care about you and can live without the little guy." The little guy on his own may not be a big deal but multiply that by thousands and it adds up.
I did the math without the purchase of my new phone and a 2 yr contract at my then current rate Verizon is out $5,000.00. Still a pittance I know. But over time and multiplied by the other situations that they could have resolved and made money in the process, and it starts to show up in finances.
If Verizon bends the rules for one customer, they have to bend the rules for all customers. Then, there would be no rules and total chaos. That's not how Verizon runs their business. Also, if you happen to have an IPhone, Apple does not allow early upgrades.
you should have called customer care and plead your case with them they could and if you can get a supervisor on the line after explaning your problem they would be able to move your upgrade date because it was within that 48 hour to 24 hour time period and do to your situation
if the first supervisor you speak with dosent do it call back again and get another one
just for future cases if you run into a problem like that
I did call. They said they couldn't do anything.
I couldn't disagree more. This type of situation is what managers and higher level customer service reps are for. They are supposed to be able to consider the situation, decide if it can be made into a "win, win" in some reasonable fashion and take care of the problem. Allowing a customer in good standing to upgrade a few days early when they arrive with a verifiable problem is easy and reasonable. More and more it seems that the customer service reps are trained to just reiterate "no way, its a policy" mentality. Customer service is about taking care of your customer and an amicable outcome for both parties, not reiterating policies and refusing to help. An easy alternative solution would have been to offer a loaner used phone to hold over the customer, or add a few bucks to the bill to allow a early upgrade.
No, you're wrong. A company can establish any policy they want. It's up to the company to decide their policies for dealing with issues. Every customer has a story to tell. You can't operate a company with 98,000,000 customers as if it's a Mom and Pop shop. You have to have a set of well documented terms, conditions, policies, and procedures, then stick to them. If Verizon wanted to have a policy of supplying "loaner" phones, they could, but they don't. You can come up with 1000 things they could do, but they don't. If you don't like their terms, conditions, policies, and procedures, don't do business with them.
Agreed. Another thing to consider is that the reps said that they couldn't do anything because the system would not allow for it. If the computer system won't let it go through, then there's nothing that can be done especially since everything Verizon does with it's contracts is all computerized.
Also: demanding things based on loyalty shows you have none, another commenter said as much in another thread and I agree whole-heartedly with it. @Bayniac, sorry you broke your phone next time get Asurion
Bayniac wrote:
I also work for a world-wide multi-billion dollar a year company. Technology is also our forte. We can escalate and we can bend the rules when the case warrants it.
The problem is EVERYONE thinks their case warrants it. I'm 100% sure they have been many times where your company DID NOT bend the rules and those people feel that your company was evil and greedy and uncaring. So is that true? Is your company and greedy and uncaring. Or perhaps do you agree that it's your company that decides whose case warrants bending the rules? And if so then you have to agree it's Verizon's right to bend the rules or not.
Start a new topic or ask questions in the open forum.
