posted
Jenni is down in FL working for Disney, and she got the bright idea that getting a cell phone would be a smart idea. I wasn't told about this idea until it was a done deal, and I wasn't thrilled. I figure that we should get a place to live first, and then decide what we can and can't afford...but what the hell, it is "only" $49.99 a month, right?
Since all her friends and family members up here in MA seem to have Verizon she went and purchased a Verizon phone. That way most of her phone calls wouldn't cost anything..they would all be "IN" calls...free of additional charges.
There is just one problem with this...I can't call her. Really, I can't. She can't receive any calls from any land line here in MA, although cell calls find her phone no problem at all.
I tried all night yesterday and today, on 10 phones....home phones, her mom's home phone, work phones(4), pay phones even....
No luck.
So I called Verizon tonight, to talk to them about this BS....and they can't seem to figure out what is wrong. Not that her phone seems ok to them...they can't find any record of that number, or of her buying the phone at all.
They had no problem finding my bank account number to charge us though...go figure.
I know what the number is, it is on my caller ID, plus Jenni called-from that non-existent phone no less- to give it to me. I had it written down that night, and it was on my caller ID 5 times in the past 3 days.
But these idiots insisted that there was no such phone. They had no record of her either..not under every possible spelling of her name, my name, her mom's name, her maiden name, that she hasn't used for anything in two years....
And they insinuated at least 20 times that I was at fault, of Jenni was...they asked no less than 5 times if I was SURE it was a Verizon phone. I work in retail, so I understand...I have people bring things we don't sell, like Geoffrey Beane shirts, back and insist that they bought it at our store.
I know they bought it at Filenes, as they are the only people in our mall who sell that. People can be idiots...
So I was polite the first 3 times. They also asked at least 4 times if it was a prepaid phone. I KNOW it isn't, we had a prepaid one that this replaced.
I even thought she might have used her mom's account,even though I was pretty sure she had not, so I had them look up my mother in law as well, telling then what HER number was, and that it was a MA number, not a FL one...and that there were two phones linked to her name...
Guess what? According to Verizon wireless, SHE doesn't exist in their frickin system either.
Funny, she has been paying HER bill for months as well, and has the damn phone IN HER HAND.
So they she asked me if I am SURE my MIL has a Verizon phone...and if it is a Verizon phone is there any chance it is a prepaid one....
Assholes.
THIS IS NOT MY FAULT! THERE IS NO POSSIBLE WAY IT COULD BE!
So this is what I said...
Rob: Is this phone call really being recorded? Dumbass: Yes it is, for CS reasons. Rob: GOOD! I understand why you think all of your customers MUST be friggin idiots...after all, if they weren't they wouldn't be doing business with Verizon at all, right? But I am not a frigging idiot. This is NOT a prepaid phone, nor is it anything but a Verizon phone. Dumbass: Sir, I.. Rob: (interuppting) This has been a Cingularly colossal waste of an hour, being on the phone with you. Notice the word Cingularly....because after speaking with you, Cingular is where we will be taking our business.
END CALL
How the hell can you LOSE an entire account, but still remember to bill them? How can a phone not exist, but still make outgoing phone calls?
posted
All I can say is that I hate Verizon, too. I have no idea what could be wrong with the phone.
We've been with AT&T wireless (now Cingular) for a little over a year now. I can't vouch for Cingular, but AT&T was extremely helpful when we switched over from Sprint. I haven't had any problems yet.
posted
I have Cingular, too - but I don't like them much at present. Beaucoup de dropped calls and low reception in my apt (and numerous other places), and this is my only phone. But nothing quite as bizarre and infuriating has happened to me as your situation, Kwea.
Has Jenni called customer service from the phone? That'd make it pretty impossible for them to say it doesn't exist.
Posts: 952 | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
If you are calling Verizon Wireless in MA and her number is an FL number, they won't be able to find her info. You will need to speak to Verizon Wireless in the South Area, it runs on a different billing system call 1-800-922-0204 and input her number and it should route you properly. Make sure she has added you as an authorized user though or they won't be able to discuss her account with you.
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
. . . so I shouldn't mention that I like my Verizon cell (although I'm not real happy with the recent bout I had with their customer service) and have had it for over a year with no problems? And that at the wedding I was at Tuesday, which was apparently in a bad cell spot, the only phones getting signal were the Verizon ones?
Sympathy on their CS treating you like something other than a valued customer, though. Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
I should say that they ought to be getting a message in their system that you need to be routed to a different center, but then, I've never worked with that area's billing system. Maybe it's not set up the way ours is.
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
Not a Verizon cell problem, but a landline problem-- we have Comcast for our phone service, and a friend who has Verizon couldn't call us. She called Verizon, and they said we needed to call Comcast and enable incoming calls from Verizon. So, we did. They'd never heard of such a thing. 7 calls later between the three of us, and it turns out Verizon has to give Comcast a code in order for her to be able to call us-- and it should have been done when the line was put in (but it wasn't.) I don't even know why that would happen!
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
Without looking at the account (aside from the whole not finding the number thing) there are any number of things that could be going wrong not least of which could actually be a problem at the landline company's end, especially if it is only landlines in your area that she cannot receive calls from. I'm not a technician though, and I can't see the account so....
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
Speaking as a wireless employee, there are a lot of landline companies that hate the cell companies (mostly because they are losing a lot of business to people who have decided to forgo landline phones). They can be horrible to work with and are not helpful to cell companies (any of them) whenever possible. If it is a problem with the landline company you and Verizon Wireless are in for a lot of calls.
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
you did go to verizonwireless.com right? not verizon.com? they are two completely separate companies
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
They share one parent company but are entirely separate and the one company can't handle calls at all for the other. Except to give you the correct phone number to call. That's it, nothing else.
1-800-922-0204 is the only number to Verizon Wireless customer service. They close at midnight.
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:Originally posted by andi330: They share one parent company but are entirely separate and the one company can't handle calls at all for the other. Except to give you the correct phone number to call. That's it, nothing else.
1-800-922-0204 is the only number to Verizon Wireless customer service. They close at midnight.
\\My point is that Verizon (home phone) doesn't hate Verizon wireless. That's all.
Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
Having been a retail agent and CSR for all of the major cellular companies (TMobile, Sprint, Cingular, Verizon, and AT&T and Nextel when they were still seperate entities), I can tell you right now: stay with Verizon. Cingular notoriously has the worst customer service of any wireless company in the history of mankind, Sprint's has been degrading for years, and T Mobile is just a crappy cellular service to begin with.
Verizon has a record of exemplary customer service. What's happened to you sucks, but yours is the first incident of this happening I've ever heard of (in several thousand customers I've dealt with).
Be strong, man, be strong.
Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
The best thing that I can recommend then is to call again (at your convenience) and ask to be put through directly to a supervisor. The rep will (or should) ask if they can help first, it's up to you if you want to give them the details. If not, insist on speaking to a supervisor and they have to provide one, or offer you a call back if none is available.
I must reaffirm though, that you will have to be on the account as an authorized user. If not, the supervisor won't be able to talk to you without the account holder's permission. From your original post it looks like Jenni activated the account, so I assume it is in her name. So if you don't know if she's listed you on the account, you may want to call her first, or at least know where she can be reached at that time so that the sup can call her and get her permission to speak to you about her account.
You'll probably need to speak to tech support, and frankly, they're going to need to speak to the person with the phone to do some initial troubleshooting, so it will probably be best to make sure she's going to be available at the time you call.
Also, I hate to say this, but whomever you spoke to was incorrect. All calls into a call center may be recorder for Quality, but they may not either. So there's no guarantee that your call was recorded.
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:Also, I hate to say this, but whomever you spoke to was incorrect. All calls into a call center may be recorder for Quality, but they may not either. So there's no guarantee that your call was recorded.
The recording actually said " This call is being recorded..."
Not may.
Not that I really care. Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
I remember when I had Sprint service, whenever I had to speak to Customer Service I got to hear this, "Hi this is Claire, your automated Customer service representative."
posted
They have to say that they are being recorded. That way everyone makes the assumption that they are. It's got to do with the law regarding recording telephone calls etc.
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
I know...and I got waht she was saying, a lot of the problems people call in about are their own fault.
But it IS the company's fault some times, you know...a lot of the time, really, and blaming you coustomer over and over again isn't good CS, even if you are right.
posted
From the main menu, press 0 at any time, that'll take you to a second menu, I think that there are 4 options, (there might only be three) but at any rate, pick the final option and you'll go straight through to a rep. It cuts down on all that time with the automated options.
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote: I remember when I had Sprint service, whenever I had to speak to Customer Service I got to hear this, "Hi this is Claire, your automated Customer service representative."
AUTOMATED!!!!!!!
I have Sprint. Always have, and I actually prefer the automated customer service. Every time I talked to a real person, they couldn't make one simple change without screwing up something else. So as long as I don't need anything that I can't take care of myself (which at this point, I dont), I am perfectly happy with Sprint. Just my two cents.
Posts: 1090 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
Wow, Like Rivka, I own a Verizon phone, and have had no problems so to speak. I've always been taken care of for CS stuff. Of course, I usually walk in to their office stores and handle the big stuff there. My parents are trying to get me to switch to Nextell. I honestly can't unless Verizon somehow screws me over.
Posts: 2208 | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
I hate Sprint. Had they and they sucked awfully bad.
I've had Verizon Wireless for over a year without any difficulties. I've also never had to call CS.
As for Verizon landline, no problems there either.
I also had (have) Verizon DSL. The DSL could get a bit wonky at times but overall was pretty good. Way better than dial-up and cheaper than broadband. But when Nathan started with Comcast, we got free broadband. I called to cancel my Verizon DSL account and the rep I got was pretty cool. Since I had a contract, there would be a termination fee. I asked which would be cheaper, termination fee or paying monthly. She had me hold for a moment and came back with she could give me two months free and the rest of the remaining months at the $14.95/month pricing and that'd get me through the end of my contract. Yeay! Saved money!
So, Rob, I'm honestly really surprised you got such crap service from Verizon. Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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I just switched to Verizon Wireless for both my cell phone and for broadband (yes, wireless) and am pretty happy. I really don't like Verizon, but had a good customer service experience with Verizon Wireless. I was thinking I was going to be stuck with dialup until my cable company started offering broadband, but Verizon Wireless came to the rescue. I get up to 2mps with them, and service is very reliable. I do miss Comcast, but who wouldn't when I was regularly hitting 7mps with them. Until I can go back to cable, Verizon Wireless is keeping me sane.
Posts: 5948 | Registered: Jun 2001
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posted
I can only point at those with Verizon and laugh. My friend has one and I must say it has been more than one time that I have gotten the urge to hurl the damn thing into a lake of boiling lava. My current provider is T-Mobile, and I am VERY happy with them. I am on pre-paid and I even get bonus awards like the occasional 15% more minutes.
Posts: 3389 | Registered: Apr 2004
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*grin* Alt, we have a T-mobile, too, and have free mobile-to-mobile. If we had your number, we could talk to you for free!
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
I spoke to a very nice CSR at a local Verizon store last night, and she seemed to have an idea what happened, so she asked me to wait until today and try again.
I just got through for the very first time, so I guess she fixed it.
About time, although this girl was excellent...it was the first time I had dealt with her, and she was very nice.
Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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