Verizon pissed me off again!!! ...but actually made it right this time

OK, so i firmly believe that all cell providers are evil, and verizon is lucifer himself. however, VZ by far has the best service. I've tried boycotting them and all that happened was i had shitty cell reception. So for the past 2 years i've jsut been content giving my money to the devil in return for good service. anyway, for those of you that don't know, i killed my droid on saturday. I didn't like any of the current phones, but i saw that the incredible 2 was coming out today (thursday). all week long i've been looking up any info i can find on it. last night, i actually get to read some early reviews. it is definitely being released today.

so i go in first thing and tell them i want the incred 2. at first the guy says he hasn't heard of it, and it must be on another carrier. i look over and see it set up under a display that says "incredible 2". i point to it and he goes "oh wow, that must be new". I say, no shit, i jsut told you it got released today. we go over to look at it. i like it. i say, i'll take it. he goes into the back and comes out with one and goes "we have a whole pallet of these things, i cant believe i didn't know about it". he goes to ring it up. he then tells me, "sorry, its not in inventory". keep in mind i have been holding it in my hand playing with it and one is sitting right in front of me in the box. so i just stare at him waiting to see if he realizes what he said, but apparently he doesn't. so i say, "seriously?". he then goes on to tell me its not in the system, and so he cant sell it to me. he says that since its in the system, he doesn't even know the price. at this point i start to think i'm being pranked. i say "its $199 with a contract". he asks me how i know, and i point to the fucking sign under the display model that says $199 with a contract. this is where it gets frustrating.....

he gets his manager. his manager comes out and honestly doesn't give a shit. she just makes some kind of clicking sound and goes "well, if its not in the system we cant sell it". I tell them thats not acceptable. hte manager disappears. someone else comes out and starts trying to call some corp conference help line. after a few minutes he says "thanks for your patience, hopefully you dont need to be anywhere". I told him i'm suppose to be working, i just ducked out to get a phone, but i need to get back soon. he disappears.

AN HOUR GOES BY. i start letting random sales people know im pissed. finally, the first guy i talk to comes out and says i can fill out a paper contract, take my money, and send me on my way. i say "great, as long as i have a working phone" he goes "well, it wont be working". my exact words were "what the fuck do you mean it wont work?" he goes on to say taht i could have the phone, but it wont work until its activated, and it wont be activated until its in the inventory. i ask when that is and he says "hopefully today". I just turned and walked out.

so i call Verizon. the guy on the phone hasn't heard of the incredible 2, and tells me the release date must have been pushed back. i tell him its in teh store and has a display card and everything. he then says, "its not in our inventory, so i dont even know what it would cost". at this point i lose it. i demand to speak to his supervisor. I tell him to let his supervisor know that i am pissed and will be cussing alot, and will continue to demand to see higher and higher up supervisors until someone stops pissing me off. he says "please hold". I guess he didn't want me to speak to his supervisor so he comes back, gives me $50 off the phone, a month of free service ($90) and hte name of a sales person at a different store that will hook me up. long story short, i have my phone, for $50 bucks off, and a free month of service. best part, is that Verizon for the first time, did something to appease me after pissing me off. maybe they are finally starting to listen to the complaints regarding their customer service

 

where i live, sprint and VZ are the only companies that get a signal (VZ being better than sprint). i know each region is different but in the SouthEast, especially where i live, VZ is king. i've gone ballistic before and they didn't care. this was the first time they tried to make it right. i got the impression the guy i spoke to really REALLY didn't want me to talk to his supervisor.

 

well, at first i wasn't angry, just put out. i didn't get mad until i sat there for an hour, just to find out i couldn't get a phone. if he had said in the first 5 minutes, "sorry, you'll just have to come back later" i would have been irritated but i wouldn't have lost it. but after sitting there for an hour (after telling them i needed to get back to work), he tried to take my money and give me a non functioning phone. the manager sucked her teeth at me. and i forgot to mention, when i turned to leave, he cocked an attitude. he started sucking his teeth at me and knocking stuff over behind the desk, like it was ME that was wasting HIS time. all that combined is what made me decide to start ripping new assholes

 

?

 

Your complaints have been noted and will be reviewed with management

I am totally on your side BTW.

PM me the store you went to.

 

my time is more valuable to me than money. granted, i was technically on the clock, but anytime i find out someone has completely wasted my time, i get pretty pissed.

 

Does magyver work at a Verizon store?

And yea, Service all depends where you are, in the city i'm in, Telus owns all the local towers and all the other cell companies like bell and rogers just use their towers. Telus cells get priority = less dropped calls. But they've fucked up my bill 8 times now so I actually get a bunch of free stuff every month because of it.

Edit: Also I've never heard of the "Incredi 2" phone, quit making shit up

 

sweet, i'l be holding my breath

 

Nope

 

thats the thing, if they try to make it right, i'm usually very forgiving. i actually didn't ask for the free month of service. after i got my phone, the guy called me to let me know about it and i told him that that definitely makes up for my frustration. my problem is when you call to complain, and the response is "sorry but there is nothing i can do.... is there anything else i can do for you today?" If i'm shelling out my hard earned cash i expect to be treated with a little respect, and to at least see a little effort to retain my business when i'm unhappy

 

really? i got the impression you did

 

well i guess it turned out ok in the end. . . . i only go to this one verizon store in Cary NC now. a lot of verizon stores are trash but the one near the Lowes is the best. i went in there a few months ago after drinking and playing cards all night. i walked up wearing nothing but a pair of gym shorts and a white t shirt, and stinking to high heaven. . . i get up to the door, a guy is standing in there waiting for me to walk up and opens it for me with a smile. a few steps away and no wait, i tell the salesman what phone i wanted, 10 minutes later i was out the door with a new phone, no problems, no wait. it is now the only store i go to even though it's a little out of the way.

 

Plus, just basic sales knowledge, you think someone along the line would've been happy to find a way to sell you a working phone. Cause whats the first thing you do when you get the first shiney new thing, you go brag to your friends. makes business for the store

 

I probably would have frisbeed that phone you had in your hand through one of the store windows before I left...


well I probably wouldnt have but I would have wanted too.
Im with ATT right now and they are a bunch of money hungry pirates

 

Not saying I havent had my fair share of problems at VW, But if you approached me how you say you did in your story I would have told you to go fuck off. First off its not the guys fault that you chose to "Flip out" on that it wasnt in the computer and what would make you so special that he should get it all figured out and give you the phone. If you had a problem with False advertisement I would have immediately called corporate not sat there trying to somehow prove that they are dumbshits for not having it set up for the released date. Ps phone release dates always get pushed back. Not saying anything against you but I mean how would you feel if someone approached you at your place of work that way.... I am sure you wouldnt be ok with it. But glad everything worked out for you

 

yeah, i wont be going to the one close to me anymore, i'll go out of my way to go to the nicer one. i think alot of big companies (not just VZ but most big companies) tend to forget that customer service is a big deal. i'm definitely the kind of consumer to take my business elsewhere if i feel i'm not appreciated. unfortunately, there aren't too many options out there when it comes to cell service. i have had similar problems with DirectTV lately, but i dont know what to do because my only other option is Dish, which i dont like. it feels like alot of companies rely on that very problem for customer retention instead of actually trying to keep customers happy.

haha! at some point during the conversation i actually said something along the lines of "what kind of business practice is this?" I thought i'd seen all the slimy money grubbing tricks in the book but i've never had a company say "sure we'll take your money, but i'll go ahead and tell you hte product we are going to give you isn't going to work". i was dumbfounded

 

I do work for the company though.

 

unfortunately i dont think you can find a cell provider that isn't

maybe you misread. i didn't start off as a dick. i wasnt a dick to the guy in the store until he had me sit for an hour without any progress. if he said at the beginning, sorry, you have to come back, i would have been irritated but i wouldn't have taken it out on him. but he told me to sit tight while they "figured it out". an hour is too long to make someone wait and then come back saying "you can have a non working one if you want it". thats when i became livid. then when i called customer support, he was unwilling to admit that there was an issue until i started asking to speak to the supervisor. and like i said, the manager gave me an attitude and sucked his teeth at me (which happens to be a pet peeve of mine, what are we, in a high school in the ghetto?) I dont care what industry you're in, you dont suck your teeth at a customer and dismiss their problem. as i said, all the sales reps and people i talked to kept walking off and not coming back. i didn't over react at all