[Edizzl79]

My habits never change, but my Verizon bill always results in the monthly call to get it right. Thieves.

[bigbob]

Hilarious! But too true to actually be funny ;-)

[Williams]

I sadly have Verizon everywhere, at home and work. Can’t count the times they have messed up my service and without exaggeration you can spend HOURS on their phone message trees and talking to people without ever speaking to someone who can help you.

It’s incredible they are as large as they are I sold their stock because I believe their total disregard for the customer will have to hurt them in the end.

Imagine a company that repeatedly and for no reason shuts off the phone service for an entire business and then has no one available on the weekend to correct it or even discuss it.

Then they have people call you specifically to ask if everything is ok and when you say “no” they say “Oh I’m sorry” and they can’t do anything to help you, not even report the problem!

Can you tell I could go on?

[mysterio]

Weird, I’ve had a good experience with Verizon.

[WHBates]

LOL, very funny I use to have the same types of problems with Sprint. I now use AT&T, I have crappy coverage where I live but the bills are usually right.

[oh8eleven]

I’ve had no problems with Verizon but oooooh, the stories I could tell about MetLife.

[SoftballMominVA]

How strange....I’ve had Verizon for my cell phone for over 5 years and have never had a biling problem in that entire time.

[LiberConservative]

I’ve had no trouble with Verizon. But sometimes I want to throw my Razr phone out the window.

[angkor]

I used Sprint for one year, several years ago.

They made one billing error at the very outset of my contract which resulted in (a) an extra month of charges and (b) my monthly bill always stating that I was one month in arrears. Which I was not.

So like clockwork I called Sprint every month to solve this problem, and every month I'd (a) waste one hour on the phone getting customer service to understand and escalate the problem; (b) another 30 minutes getting the billing supervisor to understand and “solve” the problem; and (c) the commitment that “your next bill will be credited and fixed.” Everyone at Sprint agreed that the bill was in error.

Of course when the next month rolled around it was not fixed, ever. “Next month” I'd see the same erroneous charges as if none of the foregoing had ever occurred.

I never did get the problem fixed and it became too annoying to deal with Sprint, I'd wasted far too much time on it already. So in the end I paid the arroneous charge, severed the contract with Sprint, and made the commitment to never do business with Sprint again.

Which I have not. And won't.

Ever.

Of course the other cell phone companies are pretty bad. They are so busy trying to retain their customers through deceit and ruse that they don't know how to do simple customer service and accurate billing anymore.

I'm a hair's breadth away from cutting my current contract (and paying the $200 penalty fee) and just going to pay-as-you-go.

[svcw]

I love Verizon. I have never had a problem with their customer service, usually they are falling all over themselves to help you, if I do have to call I always get a credit for my troubles, even if its just a general question.

[Frantzie]

Verizon sucks. They use the “stupid white guy” advertising as does Fed Ex, Lowes and a few others. Thw “white guy” is always portrayed as stupid while a minority is always smart and hip.

[EDINVA]

I’ve had VW for 5.5 years, with no problems till the last few months, connected to my renewing my contract .. and it’s been a nightmare ever since. The contract will NOT be renewed when it’s up in 1.5 years.

[King Moonracer]

I hate Verizon, but for other reasons. They redlined VT, NH, and ME and shifted us into the pockets of Fairpoint. We’ll never get FIOS now.

[Poser]

No surprise here. I teach accounting to college students. A large percentage of them (at least 30%) cannot understand any number with more than five digits. Decimals are completely out of the question.

To many of them, 100000 and 10000000 are exactly the same number.

[Hat-Trick]

At least this conversation was conducted in english. Can you imagine trying to convey this concept to someone who has even no understanding of their native rupee?

[TomGuy]

The mistake that, including the guy who posted the audio to his blog, is that they give up. Don't! He talked to the cs guy. Cs guy couldn't help. The cs guy transferred him to a superverisor. Supervisor couldn't help. He should have asked the supervisor to speak to the department manager. And he should have taken it all the way up the line. == Years ago I had trouble with an order. After weeks of talking to the cs, to the supervisor, etc., I had no resolution. When talking to the last 'supervisor', I asked to be transferred to her supervisor or manager. She said there was no one else there that I could talk to. [Wrong answer!] I responded that you are not the final word on this -- transfer me to a manager. She refused and hung up. [Bad mistake!] I found the corporate headquarters (in another state), called and politely asked to speak to a management level person who would help resolve an ongoing issue with their cs/shipping department. I get transferred to the Vice President who oversaw their cs/shipping. I explained the problem, gave him the invoice number, etc. He told me he would have to investigate and would definitely get back to me. He called me back in 30 minutes with a full resolution to my problem. [I have a suspicion that a certain manager (I kept a list of their names and dates I called cs) and possibly a cs or two might have been in career-change mode after the VP had to contact them to resolve my problem.]

== Go up the ladder. Even to the Company President or CEO, if necessary.

[TomGuy]

[Repost: formatting messed up on previous post]

The mistake that, including the guy who posted the audio to his blog, is that they give up.

Don't!

He talked to the cs guy. Cs guy couldn't help. The cs guy transferred him to a superverisor. Supervisor couldn't help.

He should have asked the supervisor to speak to the department manager. And he should have taken it all the way up the line.

==

Years ago I had trouble with an order. After weeks of talking to the cs, to the supervisor, etc., I had no resolution. When talking to the last 'supervisor', I asked to be transferred to her supervisor or manager.

She said there was no one else there that I could talk to. [Wrong answer!] I responded that you are not the final word on this -- transfer me to a manager. She refused and hung up. [Bad mistake!]

I found the corporate headquarters (in another state), called and politely asked to speak to a management level person who would help resolve an ongoing issue with their cs/shipping department.

I get transferred to the Vice President who oversaw their cs/shipping. I explained the problem, gave him the invoice number, etc. He told me he would have to investigate and would definitely get back to me. He called me back in 30 minutes with a full resolution to my problem.

[I have a suspicion that a certain manager (I kept a list of their names and dates I called cs) and possibly a cs or two might have been in career-change mode after the VP had to contact them to resolve my problem.]

==

Go up the ladder. Even to the Company President or CEO, if necessary.

[Southack]

I started out with McCaw Cellular or some such off-brand phone provider. I had to put up a $300 deposit because I wouldn’t provide my social security number. This was back in 1992.

They were bought by Verizon. Stayed with Verizon and never had a wrong bill through 2008.

Switched to AT&T at that point.

But Verizon had no record of my initial $300 deposit. Their records didn’t go that far back, and I made the deposit in *cash* instead of on a credit card that would have been evidence of a receipt.

So I got no refund from Verizon. 16 years without me changing cell providers, and they dinged me in the end. Not much consolation or incentive for being loyal.