• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

Verizon Rant...

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

xoke

Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
Ok, so I broke my crackberry. Actually it still works, just no screen no keyboard, blue-tooth operation only...basically I can take incoming calls if I have the little stupid gizmo on my head. Anyways...thats neither here nor there.

I pay an absurd amount of money each month for my service...but I use it a lot. I also pay a pretty decent amount for insurance, because I murder phones. So, I go into the store tell them my phone is broke, after logging into the kiosk, waiting an hour...

sales rep: "Oh, yea, it sure isn't working is it?"

me: "No, it sure isn't, that's why I'm here."

sales rep: "Oh, well, goody! (said as "gayly" as possible) I see you have insurance!"

me: "Yup, thats why I'm here."

sales rep: "Ok, well call this number pay $90, and Asurion will get you a new phone, probably next Tuesday!"

me: "Ok, well number one...I can't call any number, my phone is broke, remember, number two...I kind of need my phone, I'll pay whatever, why can't you give a phone?"

sales rep: "We don't have any loaner phones..."

me: "I didn't ask for a loaner phone, I asked for my phone...only a working model."

sales rep: "We don't have any of those."

me: "Ummm, yes you do, I see at least fifty phones in this store, two or three of which look identical to mine. I'll pay the difference, or whatever...or heck, just cut me a deal on a new phone and I'll buy it."

sales rep: "We can't do that."

me: "Why not, don't you think it would make a tiny bit more sense to give me a phone, keep me happy, and you guys can have the replacement that comes in? I'm not trying to be difficult, but don't you think that would be a better business model? All I'm saying is, I see my phone (I point to it) right there...why can't you just give me that one, heck, I'll take the floor model, I don't care."

sales rep: "We can't do that."

me: "Wow."

me: "Well thanks for nothing..."

sales rep: "Oh sir, by the way, may I ask you a few questions for our customer service survey?"

me: "Sure! But my answers are going to be along the lines of go pound sand or something like that. Have a nice day sir."



The lady behind me started clapping...:D

/rant :bang head
 
Ask for the manager! If there is anything I've learned if you go up high enough in the food chain you can get what you need.

Also if you have insurance why are they making you pay $90??

Time to move to sprint ;)
 
That, my friend, is why we quit Verizon... the cell service is great (in my area at least), but the CUSTOMER service is terrible.

"We're sorry, but as your phone is working properly, we can't replace it." when i came in because my Bluetooth was completely fubared. 3 chocolates, 4 software reloads, countless lost contacts, and 8 hours later, i STILL didn't have working Bluetooth. Apparently one of Verizon's stupid little policies.

I applaud the lady behind you.
 
Ask for the manager! If there is anything I've learned if you go up high enough in the food chain you can get what you need.

Also if you have insurance why are they making you pay $90??

Time to move to sprint ;)

I live in the boonies...no option for Sprint. I think the jackhole I was talking to was the manager...it's not his fault. Just stupid that Verizon as a company can't just give me a darn phone right there in the store ya know? Nope, I have to jump through hoops, and be at home on Tuesday to await the Fed-Ex guy...so now my work plans are all jacked up. Frustration with the company, not the idiot in the store...though his smug a$$ is on my "list of poo".
 
Also if you have insurance why are they making you pay $90??
Ooo ooo ooo, I can answer that. When you get "their insurance", you are actually paying Verizon and another company. That secondary company handles all the replacements. That is why they can't just give him a new one right there.

I do agree that is a poor business model. They are just passing the problem off to another company to avoid blame. That is pretty low in my book.
 
I had to go back to get a loaner phone (from my friend, not them...God forbid) turned on. Omg. This poor girl next to me wanted a different number then the one they had just assigned her...like just now, she just got the phone. The lady is like, well that will be $15. The girl goes what, can't you just give me different number then the one you just now did. No. You will have to call customer service....I laughed out loud! The manager walks over and goes whats so funny...I said apparently you idea of customer service must differs greatly from mine. He asked me to explain, I said we are in your store! Right now...for...wait for it, customer service! Do you have any idea how funny it sounds for you, the manager of this store to tell someone they need to call customer service...WTF are YOU! Why am I here! How are you still in business!?

Omg...I might go AT&T, but thats probably just worse.
 
IMHO and FWIW, ALL insurance, whether it be an "extended warranty" or the type that xokeman just got victimized on is a scam.

Companies here work much differently than those in the US and xokeman's tale of woe make me appreciate them all the more. This type of insane crap make me think of the business opportunity awaiting some bright entrepreneur who really understands customer service.
 
AT&T makes you pay $150 even with insurance. They won't give you a phone either, they have a 'warranty department" which is a third party company, not based in the U.S. If I didn't get 5 bars of 3G everywhere here in VA, I'd drop AT&T, but in VA AT&T crushes every other provider on coverage.
 
AT&T makes you pay $150 even with insurance. They won't give you a phone either, they have a 'warranty department" which is a third party company, not based in the U.S. If I didn't get 5 bars of 3G everywhere here in VA, I'd drop AT&T, but in VA AT&T crushes every other provider on coverage.

Appearantly you haven't been on Port Road going to Grottoes. I tried a loaner phone from AT&T, and the signal was horrible, even Ntelos was way better. At least with Ntelos, it was only a spot that would occasionally drop a call.
 
Thats my issue, Verizon's actual cell service is king where i live...but I could go postal on the people I have to deal with here in order to get it.
 
Thats my issue, Verizon's actual cell service is king where i live...but I could go postal on the people I have to deal with here in order to get it.

Well what I always say is, I get the customer service and the *cheaper* plans of sprint, and I get to roam on Verizon's network :bday:
 
Thats my issue, Verizon's actual cell service is king where i live...but I could go postal on the people I have to deal with here in order to get it.

That's why we used them as long as we did. Their 3G is pretty dang fast.

When the 2K bill hit one month though, and they refused to drop the charges that we didn't even cause, they lost us.
 
When the 2K bill hit one month though, and they refused to drop the charges that we didn't even cause, they lost us.

lolwut? I hope that's in yen and not US dollars. If I got a cell phone bill like that and it wasn't my fault, I'd sit down and start thinking about the true value of a human life :temper:
 
lolwut? I hope that's in yen and not US dollars. If I got a cell phone bill like that and it wasn't my fault, I'd sit down and start thinking about the true value of a human life :temper:

Nope, in US dollars. They eventually dropped it all, but we had to fight for 2 months after we dropped the service. It was ridiculous. Never again will we even LOOK at Verizon. I'll use Cell South before i use Verizon.
 
I use my phone as a phone. I refuse to be texted, etc, and I dont even know if I can, because I dont have a data package. So you get what Im about.

I walked in to Verizon last year to see their deals, and I walked about 2 minutes later. Just wanted the free phone that would come with a new contract. Everything about Verizon is a ripoff. Did some research, and the entire business model could not possibly, ever, be customer friendly.
 
It's sickening how these companies will screw over their own customers just to bump up their bottom like a thousandth of a percent. Heard bad things about Verizion, unfortunately they're trained to manipulate you into a contract that you can't back out of. Best of luck ole chap.
 
Well, I'm still POed at Verizon...cause I had downtime...the entire reason I purchased insurance wasn't for the cheaper replacement phone, but so I would have 0 downtime. Anyways, my new phone arrived today...thank God it's not I refurb, it's actually an upgrade for me. They send me a new Bold, my old one was a Tour. For those of you that arn't familiar with Crackberries, the Bold model did away with the stupid trackball that fails quite often. Activation over the air is failing for some reason...which means I gotta go see "Capt. Incompetent" and his band of merry "probably should work at Sonic helpers" tomorrow...but at least my Tuesday will begin with my old familiar Crackberry.

So, I'm still not a happy camper, but I've decided to call off my shooting spree.:sly:
 
Playing devil's advocate, but if you had read the insurance policy they gave (or should have given) you, it lays out how the insurance service works. It's a pain in the rear-end and a poor business model, I agree. Unfortunately, it's also what you signed up for.

It's what I signed up for too, considering the first day I had my phone it met concrete from about four feet up (survived...still works four years later).

File your claim, pay what amounts to the deductible & they'll ship you a new one as you found out. Yes, it's a pain in the rear, but it's not the customer service guy's fault.
 
Playing devil's advocate, but if you had read the insurance policy they gave (or should have given) you, it lays out how the insurance service works. It's a pain in the rear-end and a poor business model, I agree. Unfortunately, it's also what you signed up for.

It's what I signed up for too, considering the first day I had my phone it met concrete from about four feet up (survived...still works four years later).

File your claim, pay what amounts to the deductible & they'll ship you a new one as you found out. Yes, it's a pain in the rear, but it's not the customer service guy's fault.

You are absolutely right, I should have read it. However, it was the same sales person both times...he sold me the insurance and he was the one I dealt with when I went in with the broke phone. I specifically asked him..."if I break this phone and have this insurance, can I come to this store and get a new one immediately?"...he said yes. He lied.

My rant isn't so much a legal question, just more of a frustration. I don't need insurance for the sake of saving money if I should have to buy a new phone. I can afford the new phone, actually being "down" for a day or two cost me more than the price of a brand new retail Crackberry. It's just I took someone at their word, and they basically lied right to my face.

In my area I cannot really quite Verizon, they are pretty much the only show in town. I have since dropped my insurance, and now I know if I murder my phone I'm just gonna have to buy a new one at retail...my only issue was really with the insurance and the bold face lie from the sales guy. That and how stupid the insurance is, just give me a new phone.

The only really good news...I use G-Mail to sync my Crackberry...I had no idea it backs up all contacts, not just the e-mail ones, very handy...and maybe little bit scary, lol.
 
Back