Verizion Support is Killing Me - How about U?

Question

Have you noticed that Verizon offers no Email Support? Effectively, VZ is deliberately stopping you and I from lodging a dispute; be it a dispute about billing, service, or termination!
So if you have a Billing query you hafta just suck-it in and wait 20+ mins on the phone for a CSR.  I've tried to hang on twice now and given up each time.  And it ****** me off because, I'm wanting to get VZ to stop miss-charging me, and to bill me fairly.  IAs a result, I can't simply pay a smaller amount of the invoice and email a dispute for not paying the full amount.
I guess this no-email-complaints approach helps VZ avoid lawsuits, as there is no written record of a dispute.  Similarly, their no-email-feedback shows that they don't care about getting positive or negative customer feedback.  The only company I know of which started this trend is Microsoft - in its early days - before it built a large corporate User base.  After that, it started charging for Support services.  And we all know what that did to MS' reputation.
I'd be interested to hear anyone else's take on this energy-sapping, time-wasting VZ phone-only Support service.  Maybe I'm just too cynical, and have misread VZ's service culture completely ?????????????

Answer 1

Hello INXS9000RPM!
You are right,  VZW generally does not let their employees to communicate customer disputes via emails. Anything written may be construed as interpretation of company's policy and could be potentially used against the company. Unfortunately or fortunately the only way to litigate is to file a claim with AAA ( American Arbitration Association) VZW clearly set forth the procedure in their customer agreement. Many monetary disputes cannot be resolved on customer service level because lower tiers reps have very little authority  to adjust your bill. VZW has very solid corporate logistics in place, so trying to appeal to logic and common sense in corporate environment  doesn't work in many cases. Don't get mad. Do EXACTLY what VZW want you to do in case of dispute. File a notice of dispute as outlined in customer agreement. AAA is known not to be very pro-consumer however if your case has merit you have a very good chance to win plus if you retain a lawyer you will get reimbursed for all of your expenses. Big corps hate to loose arbitrations with their own customers for many different reasons. The other very good reason for them to settle with you before it even goes to arbitration, is that you will have  to keep the terms of your settlement confidential. Technically they can get away with a lot of things and just settle in your favor( because you are happened to be that annoying customer) without anyone knowing about it.  Since not that many people are willing to go all the way, its just dollars and sense approach for a company to figure out how to squeeze a customer without killing profit, which is an ultimate goal for any company.
On the good note, In my personal experience, shortly after filing a notice of dispute I received a phone call from VZW rep offering help to resolve the issue. To my biggest surprise my 2 months long dispute has been resolved by few clicks of a button on the other side of the wire. Good Luck