Verizon Wireless RANT

[solo1]

Gotta blow off steam.

About 8 months ago I got an overdue bill from Verizon for my cell,  I was paying by check.  They claimed that the checks were bouncing.  They weren't.  Verizon's billing started screwing up for me after Frontier took over FIOS.  I went to my bank who sent a fax stating that the funds were there and the checks were good. That didn't help.  I filed a BBB complaint against Verizon.  They ( Verizon) gave me credit .  I changed over to direct withdrawal.  Verizon said that settled the problem and that's how they answered the complaint.

Fine! NO!!.  I just received an overdue bill (again) where they claimed that the bank was refusing to honor the withdrawal request. After talking for an hour ,the rep gave me full credit and assured me that it would be straightened out. I called again today (I don't trust Verizon) and found out something new. After two hours on the phone with Verizon, I found that they (Financial Services) have a policy that they only will accept cash or credit card from me now because my checks and withdrawal were no good.  They are saying I must pay cash or credit card for six months which is due to their inability to process my payments. I BLEW MY STACK!

Evidently no one in billing knows what the Financial department is doing and Financial is running around with its finger up its arse! Also the top brass doesn't know either since direct withdrawal was their answer to the problem.  The fact is that when i made arrangements with direct withdrawal, it was accepted but shouldn't have been according to their policy. If this is confusing, it is.

My bank, today, sent Verizon a fax stating that I had sufficient funds at the time of presentation of checks and withdrawal requests.  I doubt whether this will solve the problem. Oh yeah, one more thing. When i finally got a rep in billing, they said that they would have to transfer me to financial and that I couldn't dial them direct.  Hours were spent, many reps, waiting to hear " Your call is very.....blah,blah, blah.  It should be called Verizon EXcommunications as in Sh** for brains, Cluster F***, FUBAR, 

They will be hearing more from me.  Maybe they're trying to make me quit since I've had this plan for 8 years and it's cheap.

If they keep this up, I'm gonna get pissed!

[Kaiser]

I'm getting the mental image of Bruce Banner (The Hulk) saying "you won't like me when I'm angry!"

I'm sure Verizon is running around like a 3-peckered dog in a hubcap factory since they've released the IPhone and 4G.

I hope that this all gets worked out for you and they are generous in compensating you for all your time and frustration.  Keep us posted as many of us also use Verizon and place a high value on customer service.

[R J]

Wayne, when I called them on my ordeal, I wasn't as nice as you are.

I kept transferring up the line till they wouldn't let me go any higher.

I said something like I was going to stick this phone up his a$$.
He told me he did not have to listen or take that from me.

I snapped right back in, that we had a problem and I was looking for some help. If he didn't want me to come to the main office and do some Redneck butt kickin, then he had best put his best problem solver employee on the problem.

He got it taken care of.....    Trust me, go HIGH UP.

[solo1]

RJ, short of going to New Jersey, I've done all that I can.  I filed a complaint with the BBB and have a letter from the Executive in charge in NJ.  I have his phone number but the phone is busy or out of servcie ( really!) When I tranferred to an operator, she said (robot) that dial the extension and good bye. No live person.

I've said my phone number and last four digits of my SS today so many times that I'm going hoarse. I always use speaker phone for obvious reasons.

Kinda reminds me of back in the '50's before all this bullsh**  that i tried to straighten out my mothers phone bill. I drive down to the phone company, tell them why I'm there and they told me to take a seat by one of their phones and it would ring.  I said "In a pig's arse I will"  I came down to speak in person. I got a person.  Now, forget it! It doesn't happen any more. @#$%^&* robot voices and their artificial intelligence.

[Jess from VA]

I get good service from them mostly, but Verizon is absolutely the worst outfit to deal with if there is a problem (barr none).  You have to be prepared to spend the whole day on the telephone, and to start from scratch several times.   I have to plan ahead to handle anything with those bastardos, and that includes an ice bucket and a bottle of bourbon on the desk next to the phone.

You know the fun is about to begin when, after a half-hour of push one for English, etc, etc........ the first person on the phone is a complete airhead girl who sounds like she's 14 and flunked out of Jr High. 

[fiddle mike]

Those Sweet Old Boys turned my name into a collection agency.  I had some uppity [girl] on my phone telling me I had to prove that I have never had an account with Verizon.  I told her I didn't have to prove [a blessed thing] to her and threatened to turn her in to the Texas AG for attempted identity theft ( catchword of the week, at the time).

[tybme]

I wish I could say that AT&T was better but it is about the worst customer service I have ever encountered - though nothing to this level.

[solo1]

Amen to all of that Jess, right on!

When I did my own taxes, i always had at least one scotch on the rocks before I started. Now I think that i will have one before I talk to those Verizon reps again.

It amazes me that the robot asks whether you want a Spanish speaking person, you bypass that and then get someone speaking with a heavy accent as fast as he can...... and with a hearing problem worse than mine!

Whatever happened to good English spoken concisely?




What the hells wrong with speaking English?  

[Kaiser]

Sometimes - not all the time...you can bypass all that "press 1 for this, press 2 for that" nonsense by overloading the system.

The majority of the time, you ultimately end up getting to "press 0 to talk to a real person" anyways.  So, just mash the "0" button a bunch of times in a row as fast as you can.  The computer will (sometimes) freak out and just punt you to a real person cause it can't figure out what to do.  If you hear "transferring you now" in between all the button smashing - that's a good thing and you can quit pressing the button.

Give it a shot.  If it works, great.  If not - just hang up, call back, press 1 for English, etc...

[Serk]

Sorry to get a LITTLE off topic, but here's a nice page that catalogs what magic buttons you can press to get a person for different companies:

http://gethuman.com/

[valkMJ]

Sometimes - not all the time...you can bypass all that "press 1 for this, press 2 for that" nonsense by overloading the system.

The majority of the time, you ultimately end up getting to "press 0 to talk to a real person" anyways.  So, just mash the "0" button a bunch of times in a row as fast as you can.  The computer will (sometimes) freak out and just punt you to a real person cause it can't figure out what to do.  If you hear "transferring you now" in between all the button smashing - that's a good thing and you can quit pressing the button.

Give it a shot.  If it works, great.  If not - just hang up, call back, press 1 for English, etc...

Used to do this all the time.  Sadly, I think Verizon's current automated system doesn't let you do it anymore.  I've got an issue with my bill right now, and it's been an issue for the past 3 weeks because I don't have a free weekend to spend on the phone with these bastards.  I guess they figure if they make it difficult enough that I'll give up and they can keep my money.  The sad thing, they're probably right in most cases.   

[solo1]

I'm way ahead of you but sometimes the 0 is ignored.  Sometime saying 'Agent' will work but then again.

Also for you out there that never had a problem, watch out for the businesses that do electronic checking, you know where you keep your check and they pass it over the reader.

A year ago, Office depot did that.  The check was ok'd on the spot, the electronic company received the check info but didn't complete the transaction.  I got a overdue immediately from a collection agency which was part of the company.  That was even worse than Verizon!!  It took my very patient office manager at the Credit Union 3 hours and at least 10 phone calls to find out who was responsible.  There was so da** much bs I couldn't keep up with it and Andrea, bless her heart, did the work for me.  She didn't cuss but raised her voice considerably many time during that crap.

Too bad we can't find out where these little people live that do that to us.

[solo1]

Sometimes - not all the time...you can bypass all that "press 1 for this, press 2 for that" nonsense by overloading the system.

The majority of the time, you ultimately end up getting to "press 0 to talk to a real person" anyways.  So, just mash the "0" button a bunch of times in a row as fast as you can.  The computer will (sometimes) freak out and just punt you to a real person cause it can't figure out what to do.  If you hear "transferring you now" in between all the button smashing - that's a good thing and you can quit pressing the button.

Give it a shot.  If it works, great.  If not - just hang up, call back, press 1 for English, etc...

Used to do this all the time.  Sadly, I think Verizon's current automated system doesn't let you do it anymore.  I've got an issue with my bill right now, and it's been an issue for the past 3 weeks because I don't have a free weekend to spend on the phone with these bastards.  I guess they figure if they make it difficult enough that I'll give up and they can keep my money.  The sad thing, they're probably right in most cases.   

In my case, this time, Verizon says that I wrote bad checks and now I'm supposed to pay cash on my account at the local store.  THat's what I'm working on. However, In both cases, the dollar amount that I questioned was credited against my account.  no money yet but wait until next time.
Things just don't STAY fixed!

[fudgie]

What the hells wrong with speaking English?

I dont mean to laugh but that is funny! And true.....

I have AT&T and is happy. Lucky for me I'm way outta contract.  I just want a phone to talk and text on. Dont need no GPS, music, internet, ect. Been with them since they were cellular one in the mid 90's. Only on my 4th phone. I'm hard on phones to. Drop them all the time, they get wet, etc. I'm sold on sam sung.

Folks at work have verizon and are always mad at them and their phones only last a year or so. Thats why I never went with them even tho they were cheaper plans.

Have you thought about dropping them and going with pre pay? Kit does. Unlimited talk/text for $50 a month. I thought about it but since we go west not sure how her plan would work. A year or so ago she got signal in the Hills and I didn't. Had to go to town. It ran off the Verizon tower in SD. Might be less head ache to drop them.

[sugerbear]

when i call the cable co, i never say a word.  after a few tries the computer will transfer me to a real person.

it might work.

i've had verizon for about 8-10 yrs with the same plan. they are sending me e-mail and text every day, trying to get me to upgrade to a new plan.

[solo1]

What the hells wrong with speaking English?

I dont mean to laugh but that is funny! And true.....

I have AT&T and is happy. Lucky for me I'm way outta contract.  I just want a phone to talk and text on. Dont need no GPS, music, internet, ect. Been with them since they were cellular one in the mid 90's. Only on my 4th phone. I'm hard on phones to. Drop them all the time, they get wet, etc. I'm sold on sam sung.

Folks at work have verizon and are always mad at them and their phones only last a year or so. Thats why I never went with them even tho they were cheaper plans.

Have you thought about dropping them and going with pre pay? Kit does. Unlimited talk/text for $50 a month. I thought about it but since we go west not sure how her plan would work. A year or so ago she got signal in the Hills and I didn't. Had to go to town. It ran off the Verizon tower in SD. Might be less head ache to drop them.

Brian, I have no contract with Verizon. My phone is an LG ,works fine after 5 years.  My gripe is that they're saying my checks bounced.  Pure BS and I will stay on their arse until they admit it, then I'm dropping them, maybe prepay.

I have no trouble with the cell phone use, just their billing crap.

[art]

I also am fed up with the phones an the bills .I got the magicjeak an it works great.Long distance an caller id for $19.95 a year