Repost of the deleted complaint

Question

To Whom It May Concern,
I'm curious if there could be some questions answered regarding a situation I have been faced with over the last three days? I have been a customer for several years and have spent hard earned money being that loyal customer. My loyalty now is beginning to waver after the following three days. Here is a specific synopsis of the above mentioned situation.
I received a text message asking me to renew my Employee Corporate Discount. This was the first time in my duration as a customer that this was asked of me. I had left my previous employer and not even thought about my corporate discount. I have actually renewed several contracts and purchased several devices on my account since I left that employment and never even thought about the corporate discount program nor was asked about it by the various representatives. I contacted the Verizon Wireless Customer Service department to go about whatever was needed to be done to correct this issue.
On December 11th, I spoke with an agent by the name of Cynthia out of a Maryland call center. She was very helpful in giving me the information needed to contact the Assumption of Liability department and went into great detail on what steps to take. She looked into my current employers information to find we do not have a Corporate discount program with Verizon but found that my wife's employer did.  Her employer has a slightly comparable corporate discount program to my previous employer minus 6 percent. My previous discount was 20% with my wives’ being 14%. Cynthia went on to tell me about different loyalty plans that she could offer me for "being such a longstanding loyal customer" that would cheapen the plan and offset the difference in price. She also went as far as to offer my line an early upgrade on the contract with a new device. The contract end date for my line is Feb. 23rd, 2014. I am not to concerned with lowering my plan due to the fact I don't want to exceed it but did have my interests peaked regarding the early upgrade. I questioned the ability to upgrade early for clarification and was told absolutely, "We do our best to keep our loyal customers happy." We discussed how I currently have the unlimited data package on my line (xxx-xxx-xxxx) and what she could do for me since when I upgrade, I will lose that unlimited package. She did state that I would be eligible for 6 GB per month for my current pricing of 30 dollars. Honestly, I should have just let her upgrade and sell me the new phone at this point in time to avoid this situation all together. Because I had not gone over any of this with my wife, I asked her if I could think about it. She said no problem and asked when would be a good time to call back. It was arranged for her to call me back the following day. She said she would contact me after 03:00 on December 12th. She did call me back at 02:50 while I was picking my daughters up from school. Again, my mistake, I asked her if she could call me back in 30 minutes when I would be returning home. She said it would be an hour before she was able but I never received that call. I called the customer service department later that evening at 1930 and requested an email be sent to Cynthia asking for a return phone call at her earliest availability.
The following afternoon on December 13th, I again called and requested an email be sent and requested  the representative go ahead and transfer me to the Assumption of Liability department. After about 1.5 hours of conversation passing the phone back and forth with my wife to the representative,  we were to the point of sending the verification email. I had to leave for work at this time so I continued to be on hold while she completed the forms my 20 minute commute to work. Once I was in front of a computer, I accepted the terms and finished the process. At about the 2.25 hour mark, we were finished with the switch into my wife's name to receive the 14% (-6% discount than prior) corporate discount. This is when I was transferred to a gentleman by the name of Kevin in the Albuquerque, New Mexico Customer call center. I spoke with him about going forth with the options previous stated to me by Cynthia of upgrading my line with a new device.  We went over some of the differences between the IPhone 5S and 5C and he also assured me I would be able to
receive the 6 GB of data in place of the unlimited for the same price of $30.00. I was ready to go ahead and early upgrade my device and renew my contract for another two years even though a direct competitor to Verizon has a Corporate discount of 22% available to employees of our company. Once he started typing in the info in preparation, he stated, “Unfortunately you will have to wait for a period of 24 hours for the Assumption of Liability to
set in". I asked him again if I should contact him directly to complete this transaction or to contact anyone with the customer service department. He assured me to just call *611 and any agent would be able to assist me with the line early upgrade. I waited the 24 hour period,  26 hours to be sure, and called back on December 14th at 20:45 and spoke to a lady by the name of Tiffany.
She listened to my entire story, put me on hold, come back and asked me who I had previously spoken to, put me on hold another 10 minutes, then come back and told me unfortunately she was unable to help me because my contract did not expire until Feb. 23rd. 2014 and she was unable to find the exact words noted on the account of a representative offering an early upgrade. I again explained that upgrading two months early was not my original intent in this whole process but was merely offered to me by the first representative I spoke with (Cynthia), in lieu of losing 6 percent of corporate discount, then again reaffirmed by the second representative (Kevin), and now denied by her. She again apologized and said there was nothing she could do. I asked if there was a supervisor available I could speak with in which she told me there was not. I responded by saying, " There isn't a supervisor available to speak with me"? Her response was pretty clear cut stating, "no, there isn't a supervisor available and if there was there wouldn't be any difference. They would be unable to assist you.' I started to get a little frustrated at this point. I then asked her what the difference was between her and the last two reps I spoke to. She just said, again, she was sorry and there was nothing she could do. I did ask the representative Tiffany; since she could not find comments regarding what the two different employees told me and that she didn’t believe what I was telling her, if she could
listen to the recorded conversations? Her reply was only that they were not available.  Now 50 minutes into this conversation, her attitude changed and was obviously tired of dealing with the situation. To save my temper and I believe hers as well, I went ahead and thanked her for her time and ended the communication.
After sitting frustrated for about 10 minutes and calling the wife explaining the situation in dismay, I decided to call back and speak to another representative with fresh ears and an open mind for their insight. Honestly, I cannot remember his name and did not write it down but this gentleman was a very calm, empathetic customer service rep. He listened to my story that I've repeated several times now and sympathized. He apologized for all the miscommunication and put me on hold to speak to his supervisor. Obviously a supervisor was available after all. He returned about 5 minutes later to tell me that his supervisor was sorry for all the inconvenience and had no problem moving forward to honor what the very first rep offered. He then put me on hold to contact a department in the Dallas Fort Worth area to get the second approval to retain my current phone number and go on with the renewal of contract and purchase of the new device. After another 5 minutes, he came back on the line apologizing saying he could not make good on the offer due to the department in Texas. This was another 56 minute conversation with no results. I told him I understood that this was not his fault directly but still do not understand what changed in literally 26 hours between employees of the same company as well as when a supervisor approves what was already offered multiple times. Through frustration, I questioned what options I have with cancellations after the contract end date on my line and what the total cost would be for early termination of the account in it's entirety based on decisions of if I even want to continue a business relationship with Verizon at all. I thanked him for his time and ended that communication.
If it was only the first representative that made this offer I could understand, mistakes happen. Then when the second representative states the same thing even going as far to give me the directions and timeframe in which to call back, can two employees make the same mistake? How do two different customer service employees from two different call centers on opposite coasts give me the same information only for a third
and fourth to tell me there is no possible way this can be? Even after a supervisor approval.
I understand the importance of customer service as I was in this profession for over 10 years. I also have been put in tough situations regarding customers and their complaints, some valid and some invalid. In my years of customer service, my sole job was to keep our customers happy. Happy customers meant return customers which brought in additional business through positive word of mouth and maintain profitable numbers for our company. I would think as a leading innovator in the wireless industry, this would be a company main objective. It just seems to be the way of the world in todays times where the customer is no longer right and doesn't really have a voice.
I know the possible loss of my business is not going to impact your company in any great way and I really would prefer to not deal with the hassle of switching service providers even with your competitor offering a much larger corporate discount incentive. We have been customers of Verizon for 7 plus years and spent over $13000.00 on contracts and devices. This is money not only spent on equipment but on customer service as well.  On the flip side, I would much rather give business to a company that appreciates its customers and honors what its employee’s offer. This experience has opened my eyes. With my contract ending in two months, I will most certainly be looking into the other options available.
If you have any insight in this matter, I would appreciate any
information available.
>> Personal information removed to comply with the Verizon Wireless Terms of Service <<
Message was edited by: Verizon Moderator

Answer 1

I can relate with you Chris.  Had much the same experience with Verizon Customer Service within the last 24 hours.  I've come to the conclusion that if they really want to help, they wouldn't ship you around the country. You would get the same call center, with the same operators, and, obviously the same set of rules
What I experienced was... The rules change from one call center to the next.  They don't really take notes.  I have talked to probably 5 customer service reps today, and while they "pull up" my account, nothing is noted.  I had to retell my story, over, and over, and over again.
I'm ready to bite the bullet, pay the early termination fees, as, since I calculated it out, it would be cheaper than keeping the contracts active.  Such a shame.  I used to like Verizon.