Verizon Consumer Reviews - Page 6

I started renting a friend's house recently. There are only 2 options for internet -- expensive cable internet, or much lower cost Verizon DSL. My friend already had Verizon set up in the house so we figured it would be no problem to simply transfer the service to my name. No dice. He had his phone and internet (which, it's important to point out, was working JUST FINE) disconnected, and I ordered internet. I got a welcome email. But my internet wouldn't work.

I had to plow through their inferno of menu choices to get to somebody who finally told me that of course I had no internet; my turn-on date wasn't for two weeks! Why so long? And why wasn't I told? I spent HOURS on the phone with these people over several days, trying to get an answer as to why it took so bloody long. I rely on my internet for email, blogging, news, watching TV and movies, banking, bill paying, etc. I make all my daytime and international calls online. Sometimes I'd get somebody telling me they were talking to a supervisor who could help me, and then the call would be dropped -- twenty to 40 minutes wasted, time to start over.

All they could tell me was that a line needed to be "installed". WTF? No amount of pointing out that there was NOTHING to install, that there had already been perfectly functional internet service at the house could budge them. ONE woman went so far as, when I spoke to her, tell me that there was "not a problem". I was having to drive to a nearby biker bar and sit in the parking lot piggybacking on their wi-fi to get online. To me, that is a PROBLEM!

A few days later I got an email encouraging me to set up my internet "as soon as possible". I spent a frustrating hour trying, then called Customer Service, and got told that my "service start date" hadn't come yet so I couldn't hook it up. So why taunt me with an email instructing me to fire the darned thing up? "Maybe it was spam." Who the heck would send you a spam telling you that your internet service you ordered is ready?

Several days later I got a postcard instructing me to set up my internet. Again, a fruitless chunk of time, another call to tech support, and more being told it wasn't "installed" yet. Then I got an installation kit in the mail. I tried again. Oops! Spend all that time working on it but it's not "installed" yet at their end. Grrr...

When I bought previously uninhabited acreage and put a mobile home on it, I had to have electric service started. They had to put in a pole and run wires to the house. That took LESS TIME than getting my Verizon service started. "Not a problem". It was bad enough that there was no warning that they'd drag it out for two weeks. It was bad enough they taunted me with multiple instructions to hook up internet that they'd not "installed" yet. But that woman telling me that there was "not a problem" -- that topped it.

As soon as ANYBODY offers DSL in this area, I'm ditching Verizon. The only reason I'm with them at all is that it's not worth the extra $30 a month for me to go with the cable internet purely for the satisfaction of feeling as if I'm telling Verizon to get bent. As if they'd care. If they cared about their DSL customers they'd not have treated me like that in the first place.

Back in March of 2010 I noticed that my data usage for my internet service with Verizon was not properly updating. It was supposed to show me my estimated usage about twice a day and it hadn't updated in about 3 days. I called and spoke to a representative who informed me that I needed to update something (I don't exactly recall), he had me type in something in the VZ Access Manager fields and then my internet screen began flashing wildly.

He stated this was "normal" and that it was "updating" and we hung up. I immediately called back and spoke to another technician who confirmed this was not normal and determined the problem was the VZ Access software and she would FedEx a disk to me.

In the meantime she did establish a temporary connection to the internet so I could continue to have access. The disk was sent to another address in another state and I did not receive until the following week. When I did get the disk I called again and spoke to another technician and representative who informed me that the disk was outdated and of no use and that the problem was my Windows Vista! I was told that a number of Verizon customers were having internet problems with Verizon because of compatibility issues with Vista and Verizon's software.

I asked what to do and the technician coyly stated that he could not advise me on anything but Verizon software and repeatedly stated that customers with Windows 7 software were not having this problem, but was very careful not to overtly tell me to buy Windows 7 to correct the problem. It was heavily insinuated that people with Vista were having problems but those with Windows 7 were not.

I purchased Windows 7. After downloading it, I again called Verizon to help me reinstall the VZ Access Manager software and was told, "VZ ACCESS MANAGER IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH WINDOWS 7 AND VISTA." I was furious and demanded a supervisor and after an hour or so with her eventually got a technician who was unable to reinstall my VZ Access Manager for the internet with Verizon.

Frustrated, I uninstalled Windows 7 and reinstalled Vista and AGAIN called Verizon. This would be my 14th person, counting representatives, technicians and supervisors. I spoke to a technician who informed me that there are no compatibility issues with VZ Access and either Vista or Windows 7. On the VZ Access Manager website is software that can be downloaded to facilitate correction in any potential incompatibilities with Verizon updates and any software, not just Vista and Windows 7. She was able to completely resolve my problem in about an hour to an hour and a half and I was able to use the internet with no issues.

I called 14 Verizon employees, hours of phone time that spanned about a month and the purchase of software that I really did not need on the insinuation of one of the Verizon representatives. All solved by one competent individual in one phone call.

It doesn't end there. I did file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and did get some satisfaction in that Verizon did adjust my bill for that period down to. 91. Yes, 91 cents was all I had to pay for the month for my troubles. They couldn't bring themselves to just zero out the month, by God. I paid them their 91 cents.

Now, I am again having the same problem. My USB modem with Verizon is not correctly updating my usage and I just received a text stating that I was close to going over my monthly limit. I called Verizon and spoke to a representative who did not know my correct usage either. She too was seeing what I was seeing and could not answer my question as to why this was happening again. Her answer was to send me on to a technician.

I said, "no", I want the one that fixed this problem last time, transfer me to her. The representative said that this was "impossible" as she didn't have that technician's information or phone number (but she did admit she had her last name-but I never asked for nor did she give it to me). I asked why she couldn't just email that technician and have her call me and help me with this problem again and again she said this was "impossible".

I asked if the representative and the technician both worked for Verizon and she said "yes" but in different cities. I said that shouldn't prevent communication as many companies have multiple locations and can communicate between them. Then it all came out and I started to understand.

Verizon contracts with different call centers in different cities. The technician that helped me and was so competent works for an independent call center in Chandler AZ. The representative I was speaking with works for another call center company/contractor in the state of Washington. This is why Verizon is falling apart. They have competing contractors for their business with only their interest at heart and not the service of the customer.

They cannot work together because it is in their best interest to service as many Verizon customers as possible to keep their contract, therefore there will be no referral or attempt to connect me. I was advised that I could email Verizon corporate headquarters asking for the technician in Chandler AZ to help me, but that seems very unlikely.

I do not have it in me to go through another 14 incompetent and insecure bunch of poorly trained call center staff and loose more hours and experience more frustration. In a way I do feel sorry for the call center staff as I am sure they are given very little in the way of proper training and are probably only given checklists and Q&A cards to go through with customers.

Ultimately I blame Verizon for its poor choices and poor treatment of it's staff. As far as my modem problem goes, I guess I will have to "wing it" from here on out and continue to contest bills on the basis of poorly maintained software on their part. I never had this problem in the past.

I bought a Blackberry phone from Verizon last year and from day one the phone never worked correctly and I have been trying to get Verizon to give me a new phone to replace the new phone that I bought that was defected (and paid $180.00), but they refuse and have been sending me reconditioned Blackberrys which also don't work.

In fact the past 8 weeks Verizon has sent me 5 defective replacement Blackberry phones but still requires me to pay my bill in full even though I can't use all the features on the phone. For example I can't hear anybody that I call or calls me. I have spent countless hours on the phone with Verizon as well as numerous trips to FedEx to return all the defective phones.

Four days ago after another 2-hour phone call Verizon told me I should contact Blackberry to get my phone fixed and send them my phone and it will take 2 - 4 weeks and I will be without a phone. Not sure why it's my responsibility to contact another company since I bought the phone from Verizon. They did say I could buy another phone (spend more money) and re-up for another 2 years of service.

When I told them I did that when I bought the Blackberry and since they sold me a defective phone why should I do this again when they won't take care of the first phone I bought. I was told once I buy the phone, it's not their problem, but I'm still required to pay my bill monthly even without a working phone.

I did go ahead and order 2 HTC Droid phones and when I went to activate them 2 nights ago it wouldn't allow me to activate the phones. I called Verizon and after staying on hold for 20 minutes, the person who I spoke to couldn't get it to work. I was told someone would call me yesterday morning and get them activated. I'm still waiting for that call which I know will never happen as Verizon's customer service is very poor. They have made many promises in the past to call me and straighten out the problem but never have.

I called this morning and the person I spoke to had no idea what I was talking about. They didn't even know I have 2 new HTC phones to activate. I asked to speak to a supervisor and that got me nowhere. I told the supervisor all my past issues and the first thing out of his mouth is that they can send me a reconditioned Blackberry or call Blackberry myself.

I finally had enough and told the Supervisor that I can't do this anymore and if he could not help me or get me a manager who could I will be switching services for all 4 of my lines. I also told him I will switch my home phone service (2 lines), home internet and cable service, my businesses phone service (6 lines) and my business internet service from Verizon as well.

He told me I could do what I want, but there was nothing he could do to help me other than send me a reconditioned Blackberry(he would not even get my 2 new HTC phones activated so I'm sending them back as well). Verizon has some of the worst customer service and all they want is for you to keep re-upping your service, but they refuse to take care of any problems that arise. I am in the process of contacting their competitors and switching all my services. I don't know if their competitors are any better, but they can't be any worse. STAY AWAY FROM VERIZON!

I became an Alltel customer in early 2004. I was very happy with their service, and generally didn't have any complaints. If something went wrong with my phone, they fixed it. If there was a mistake on my bill, they fixed it. I loved Alltel because when I was "roaming" off of the Alltel network, I frequently had coverage on Verizon's networks (or so the phone would tell me when I neglected to dial a necessary area code while traveling), without paying the big Verizon price tag.

I became a Verizon customer last fall (Aug 2009-ish), and I will be sending a formal letter of complaint to the BBB and to the FCC tomorrow. I never wanted to be a Verizon customer, and I doubt I ever will be in the future. I'm over Verizon- I can't stand them. We (me and my four other phone lines) are totally sick of Verizon's "poor" customer service model.

I wish I could think of a clean adjective to describe their customer service model other than "poor," but nothing comes to mind. I did not choose to be a Verizon customer, and among other things, I think it's complete bunk that I still have to pay $150+ PER LINE (5 lines, you do the math!!) to get out of our contract.

From the start, my Alltel phone had issues on Verizon's network. I would miss calls, messages, text messages, etc., and the phone had absolutely no record of missing those calls. How do I know this? I would compare phones with my mother, when my phone failed to ring when she called me. The call would be registered in her phone, but not mine. We are on the same family plan; there is really no reason why this should be happening.

So, I upgraded to a Verizon phone. Two of my brothers (also on the same plan) were having similar issues, so we all upgraded at once. Two of us got a Blackberry Storm, because of a buy-one-get-one offer. This was mid-September 2009.

My experience up to that point with BOGO offers on cell phones had been that the phone model on sale was usually on sale due to overstocks, a new model coming out soon, etc. But not Verizon! How do I know this? Read on. The first 30 days of this phone were fine- no issues. From time to time it was VERY slow, which I assumed was a Blackberry issue, and since I really didn't know much about Blackberry phones, I assumed that the lack of knowledge and expertise on my part was to blame.

My brother, who had the identical Blackberry Storm, complained about the same issues, but he'd had other Blackberry models before this one, and just wasn't a fan of the Blackberry, but wanted the PDA functions. And, the phone was buy-one-get-one, which was in our budget. So, we tried to learn to deal with it.

After the first month (which is significant to Verizon, because if you don't trade in your phone during the first 30 days, you're stuck with it for two years, until you are eligible for another upgrade... a policy VERY different from Alltel's policies, which would have been nice of Verizon to explain, but they failed to do so at any time during the merger), our phones started consistently crashing, freezing, failing to register calls, etc. (remember, this is why we upgraded from our previous phones, with which we had been very happy!).

At 34 days into the new phone, I sat next to a lawyer at a friend's wedding. We both had a Blackberry Storm. We spent about 30 minutes talking about how slow the phone was to open ANY application, how it constantly needed attention in order to work (period), and generally what we disliked about the phone.

I really don't recall any shared positive points to the phone from that conversation. It is through this lawyer that I learned about Verizon's 30-day return policy. Yes, the phones will be replaced with a refurbished model if they break (without mistreatment on your part), but after 30 days, you're stuck with it for 2 years. I figure at that point, that I just need to live with that junk phone, and just regularly install updates from Blackberry.

By February 2010, I was still carrying the phone with me when I left the house, but primarily used our home business line for any and all calls. I had visited several Verizon stores in an effort to fix the "bugs" in the phone, but each and every time, I was told that there wasn't a THING the "customer service associates" were able to do for me to fix the problem. I needed to call a 1-800 number to speak with Verizon directly. Those calls ended in frustration and promises to myself to cancel our contract the first chance I got (without paying $1000 to cancel the contract).

Mid-April 2010, I had installed the promised Blackberry firmware update, and yet STILL had problems receiving phone calls, placing phone calls... basically using any type of function within the device that required a connection to the Verizon network. The device's camera, media player, calendar, internal applications all work just fine.

However, the actual phone functions... don't. I visited a Verizon store (still conditioned by the excellent customer service model at Alltel), and was told AGAIN to call the 800 number. This has happened to me in multiple Verizon stores both in Arizona AND Virginia.

After making another call to that crap phone number, I received a refurbished device, followed all the set-up and activation instructions. For about a week, the device worked as it should. Meanwhile, my brother's phone was a buggy as it ever had been.

I should spell out quite clearly here the reactions from various "customer service representatives" that I have received in dealing with his crap phone. Essentially what I've gotten during an in-person visit to a Verizon retail store is a brief look of frustration from the Verizon employee, and a patronizing speech about how they can't do anything about the problem, the problem is with Blackberry, etc., etc.

During my calls to the 800 number, I have been quite clear about the problems with the phone, and that I have NEVER been a satisfied Verizon customer. The response has been fairly similar, except there's usually an added line: 'I know exactly what you're talking about, and I'm sorry you've had those issues. How many times have you had the phone replaced?' (Something along those lines).

I work in customer service. Because I work in customer service, I know that it really does not take much to have a successful customer service department. HOWEVER, if you are looking for a failed customer service model, go sign a contract with Verizon. If you work in customer service, you shouldn't EVER have to ask "how many" times a product has been replaced.

This afternoon (5/4/10), my brother called me (from another phone), to tell me that his phone had completely died (screen froze while he was listening to music on headphones, and the headphone jack seemed to die at the same time, because although he hadn't unplugged the headphones, his music started playing through the phone's speaker), and despite trying to turn it off (which he couldn't do), and removing the battery, the phone was dead.

Plugging it into a computer via USB cable didn't resurrect the phone, and charging it for 12 hours didn't work, either. At that point, he slammed the phone on the floor, cracked the screen, and then he was able to turn it back on. Go figure.

He had gone to a Verizon store, but they refused to help him with anything- wouldn't even tell him the amount of our current months' bill. (We pay about $250 per month for our current contract. The least Verizon could do is fix their own mistakes).

I called phone number to the Verizon store that he had visited (someone from that store called me, but I missed the call while at the doctor's office), but they were closed for the day (my brother is on the east coast, I am on the west coast). Angry, I called that crap 800 number, and told the girl with whom I spoke what the situation was, and apologized if it seemed like I was directing my anger at her personally.

I informed her that I was already going to submit a formal complaint to the FCC, but that if Verizon couldn't resolve this issue (in other words, replace our phones with a different model) by the end of tomorrow's business day (5/5/10), I would be canceling our contract, no matter what the cost, and finding another provider.

She was very nice, and tried to be helpful, although my experience on the phone tonight was the same as others. She told me that Verizon HAS KNOWN about Blackberry issues for several months, and that "Blackberry is working on it." However, even though my brother had cracked the screen when he threw it on the floor in frustration, they were willing to replace his phone for free, as it had already died on him. Silver lining?

My question to her (being in customer service for an international sales company), was: "Why is Verizon carrying a product that they know is faulty?" She didn't know. I wasn't surprised at all, seeing as I was talking with Verizon. I explained that if Verizon knew this product was faulty, they shouldn't be selling it. Or at the very least, they should be providing a disclaimer to customers.

Now, from a business standpoint, continuing to sell a faulty product doesn't make any sense. If Verizon stopped carrying ALL Blackberry models until Blackberry had fixed the issues, I'll bet those bugs would be fixed in a week's time. Loyal blackberry users don't refer to their phones as "crackberry" without reason! I suppose, anyway.

As of tonight, there is no resolution to this problem. There wasn't a supervisor or manager available earlier this evening that I could speak with; apparently they had all gone home for the day. That begs another question- why doesn't Verizon have ANY managers available during normal call center hours - 7am-10pm, CST??? I called about 7:30pm, CST. There should have been a manager able to take my call.

I am anticipating a large charge on my credit card tomorrow in order to get out of my Verizon contract, as well as a search for a new cell phone provider. At this point, I don't care if I end up with a pre-paid phone, as long as the phone actually works!! I know several former Alltel customers who have already paid to get out of their contracts because of their "disappointment" with Verizon's customer service.

I anticipate to count myself amongst them tomorrow evening, because unless Verizon pulls some miracle hat trick tomorrow, we will be GONE. I will be faxing my complaints to the FCC, BBB, and Verizon tomorrow, whenever I get a break during my workday. There is simply no reasonable explanation for Verizon allowing this problem to continue as it has. Inexcusable.

I am contacting you to file a formal complaint about my recent service experience with Verizon for my blackberry World Edition that I use exclusively for work email access. My current status is that I do not have any access to email for work until I am told this Saturday, April 10. I am told that I cannot have access to my email account until this Saturday as my account has exceeded the number of price plan changes allowed in a billing cycle. Here are my recent experiences with Verizon that have led to my current situation:

1. On March 15, I added global coverage for Ireland and France as I was travelling on business. This was the first price plan change to my account.

2. Yesterday, on April 5, I called to return to my previous plan, the Blackberry 10MB plan for $29.99 a month. This would have been the second change to my account. When I called to change back to the plan, I was informed that the plan I had was no longer available and that I had to take a $34.99 monthly plan which I reluctantly did, intending to escalate the issue as I had heard the ad on the phone line when I was on hold that I could try any new service and if I was not satisfied, I could return to my previous service within 30 days without a problem, although I may face a re-stocking charge if I was returning a device. This is false advertising.

Immediately following that call, I noticed that I was no longer able to send or receive email or reach the browser. I called Verizon back, waited quite a bit, and was told that I needed to take out the battery and if that didn't work, I needed to dial *228 option 1. I did both of these and neither worked. I called back again and was told that I needed to get technical support which was another extensive wait. During this call, I learned that by accident, my email was deleted from the system and that Verizon could not help me. I was told that I needed to have my employer re-activate my Bberry.

First thing I did this morning was call in a work order on the Bberry. I received a response that I needed to go to options to advanced options to Enterprise activation and re-activate my Bberry. When I tried, I could not locate Enterprise activation. When I called the help desk at my company, I was told I needed to contact Verizon to get the Enterprise activation pushed down to my Bberry as it had somehow been deleted.

3. I just got off the phone with Verizon where I was informed that I was actually put on a $54.99 price plan NOT the $34.99 plan I agreed to yesterday and that because of that error made by Verizon, I am not able to make any more changes to my account until April 10 (this Saturday) as I had exceeded the number of price plan changes in a billing cycle that was allowable. Had Verizon neither limited me from returning to my previous price plan nor input the wrong price plan, I would not have this problem.

Waiting until this Saturday to have access to my email for work is not acceptable. I would appreciate your response as to how you will address this situation so that I can access my email for work immediately. My conservative estimate as to the amount of time I have spent on this issue in the past 2 days is over 3 hours, which is driven solely by the utter incompetence of the “service” I have been forced to suffer from Verizon. I would also appreciate your response as to how you are going to correct my pricing plan and return it to the price plan I had on March 15 prior to adding global coverage. Thank you for your consideration.

I recently had to make several phone calls to Verizon over a period of a few days. The first time I called, it was to release a cell phone on my family plan, so that the user could get off of my plan, and start his own, under his own bill. I called later that evening to ask about upgrade info. I was due for an early upgrade, but my "every two" is not due until July.

I was confused about the pricing for the early upgrade, as I knew it was to be higher. The man I spoke with put me on hold for a bit, and then came back and told me that he found a loophole to allow me to get not only the "every two" pricing, but also to get the internet discount (I couldn't do the upgrade on the net, since I wasn't fully eligible yet). He saved me about $170 in getting the phone that I wanted.

I called again today to A) Change my last name on my account, B) make sure that my soon to be ex husband had indeed really taken has phone off of my account, C) Change the ship to address on my phone, because I forgot to tell the guy from last night to send it to my work.

All three phone calls were handled in an efficient, friendly manner. I have had Verizon for several years now, and I have received nothing but the best of service. When my husband couldn't stand his phone, but wasn't eligible for an upgrade, the manager at our local store let him use mine. When my husband broke the new phone 6 months later, they gave me a new one for free, despite the fact it didn't have insurance, because we were in a tough spot (our son was in the hospital).

All too often on review sites, a company is only reviewed when the service is bad. All companies will have their bad moments. It's bound to happen. But, I work in customer service, and I know that no news is good news. My company is in advertising products, and we ship 200 orders a day. Maybe there is an issue with 2 or 3 orders a week, but from the feedback, you'd think that we can't get it right. Out of 67 million subscribers, Verizon is bound to upset a few thousand.

I can see in many of the reviews that I have read that as the review goes on, the typing gets less accurate, and the grammar gets worse. Reviewers are getting more upset even as they type. In my customer service experience, that is how calls go as well. Someone is not happy about something, or is confused. They start off in a foul mood, and they only get worse from there.

If you have ever been a CSR on a call loop, then I am willing to wager that you do not have as many negative experiences with any company's customer service, as those who have not. For those who are reading this review, and are angry at Verizon's customer service reps, ask yourselves these questions:

Were you crabby to the representative when they got on the phone? Try starting with "I hope you can help me", rather than "you screwed up". (I'm constantly waiving charges and giving better pricing at my job when someone calls and says, "I totally misquoted my customer, can you help" rather than "I want better pricing"... Those guys get zip from me!).

Were you overly excited about your issue when you tried to explain it? If you are in freak out mode over your bill, the CSR is probably having a hard time figuring out what you're trying to say. Take a deep breath, and don't be snotty if they can't understand you while you're talking a mile a minute.

Were you rude or demeaning to the representative the last time you called? When you are nasty to a CSR that's going to be noted in your account. When you get a different person, they're going to have seen that note, and they'll be on the defensive, and less likely to help you. Did you act like the error was the reps personal screw-up? CSR's hate that. It will make them prejudice against you from the start.

I've worked as a CSR a long time. In every industry, when something goes wrong, people have the same attitudes when they talk to a CSR. And it's because we're human. We want someone to hear our problems, and identify with it. We want to vent, and we want someone to take responsibility.

Because the CSR is the first line of contact in any major company, they take the most anger, frustration, and insult. It's the name of the game. Trust me, if you're mean, you will be insulted beyond your ability to comprehend, behind your back, as soon as the call is done. If your ears are burying after a heated CSR call, there's a reason why.

I am only saying all of this folks because I see the reviews that are left, and a lot of it seems to be about "bad customer service" because they didn't get the answer they want, when they wanted, with everything free for the inconvenience of having to call. I could just as well post this under any company's profile. I'm choosing Verizon because I've had excellent service for several years, and I have 6 or 7 friends that can say the same thing.

All companies will screw up. Until robots run the planet, all companies will be subject to human error. So your bill is wrong. Don't go in all gung-ho, and believe it or not, usually your problem will be handled right away, and will be taken care of. Verizon screwed my bill up about 6 months ago.

I called, asked for assistance, and it was credited on the next month's bill. I simply talked to them the way that I would want a customer calling my job to speak to me, and lo and behold, I got what I wanted. I didn't expect an extra credit due to the inconvenience, and I didn't treat the representative like it was their personal fault.

About a month ago, my Verizon service was temporarily disconnected due to a late payment. My service was restored that same day after making the payment...or so I thought. A few days ago, I tried to make a long distance call. I rarely make long distance calls, so this was the first long distance call I had attempted since having my service restored.

Each time I tried to make the call, I got a recording that said, "We can't complete the number as dialed" etc. So I thought there was a problem with the phone number I was calling. So then I tried using my daughter's land line and it went right through!

So I called Verizon and explained the problem. The representative seemed very helpful and said that apparently when my service was disrupted a month ago, Verizon had neglected to restore my long distance. "No problem" she said..."we'll have it turned on in moments." I tried making my long distance call a few minutes later...got the same recording that my call could not be completed at dialed. So I waiting another hour, then two hours, and each time, my call would not go through.

The next day I called Verizon again, got transferred numerous time and was on the phone for a total of one hour trying to get this problem resolved. Finally, a very nice representative delved into the matter and told me that the "service order number for the long distance to be turned back on had not been submitted to the repair office the day before. She said that my "local" business office was closed, so I would have to call back tomorrow.

Here we are. It's tomorrow. I called Verizon once again got transferred approximately 12 times. Each person passed me on to another. Then I had the misfortune of speaking with Customer Service rep. "Brad". Brad would not even let me finish telling him about the sequence of events. In fact he never let me finish a sentence. He insisted that I did have long distance calling and that it was working.

He was rude, rushed and could not be bothered to check any further. When I tried to explain that I, in fact, did not have *working* long distance, he abruptly passed me off to an entirely different department (repair dept) despite my requests to speak to a manager/supervisor.

So I hung up and called again. After a few more transfers I finally spoke with a very nice representative named Samantha. She looked into it, and said that I did indeed have a block on my long distance and that she would get a manager to review the problem and correct it. 45 minutes later, I finally had my long distance restored.

So, in total, I spent nearly 3 hours being transferred, placed on hold, and explaining the problem to about 25 different people. Most of the representatives were polite, and tried to be helpful except Brad. I am surprised that anyone who speaks with Brad continues to utilize Verizon phone services. And in fact I have decided that based on this whole experience and being treated badly by Brad, I will be choosing a different company for my phone service during the next week.

If Verizon want to remain competitive in this market, I would suggest they listen to some of the calls that Brad is involved with. I would also suggest the company be more thorough in handling accounts in the future. Good bye and good riddance, Verizon.

I am totally disgusted with the Customer Service I have received at Verizon, and have already begun researching the alternatives. I have been a customer of the various incarnations of Alltel Wireless since they first began in Nebraska in 1994, NEVER having switched companies in fifteen years. That is all about to change because of Verizon. In December, I logged on to my Verizon website to sign up for the UP employee discount (my husband is a 30 year employee of Union Pacific Railroad). After signing up for the discount, I couldn't see where it showed on my account, so I called Verizon customer service and had the representative walk me through the sign up procedure.

She assured me that although it wasn't showing up on my side of the website, it was showing up on hers and would be applied to my next bill. When my next bill arrived, it hadn't been applied, so I called customer service again. I was told that the discount wasn't on this bill because it had already been printed at the time I signed up, so it would be on the February bill. When the February bill arrived, the discount still hadn't been applied, so I called customer service once again. This time I was told that they didn't know why the discount hadn't been applied, and that she would manually deduct the 20% discount from the current bill due and that I was to pay the lesser amount.

Guess what? Now I am being told that the discounted amount is PAST DUE! And that there is no way the discount can be applied until I upgrade to VERIZON plans from Alltel. No one seems to know what I hadn't been told this during any of my past telephone calls, but of course, they are ALL VERY SORRY! After having been assured by Angela, a customer service supervisor at the Louisiana call center today that if I made the 60-mile round trip to North Platte to the Verizon store, I would be able to upgrade all four phone lines that I pay for (yes, I spend more than $200 a month with Verizon), and I would be able to use the Buy One Get One free for the new Droid.

Absolutely no surprise at all, when I got to the Verizon store, it was a completely different story. Yes, I could upgrade all four lines to Verizon, for only slightly MORE than I had been paying with Alltel, but I would have to buy FOUR new phones ON THE SPOT, because Alltel phones don't work with Verizon plans!!! And of course, no one had made a note about the BOGO offer, so it wasn't on the table. So even though my other son (who happens to live in Lincoln!) and my husband weren't with me, I was expected to pick out cell phones for them in order to switch over to the Verizon service.

Naturally, I am telling EVERYONE I come into contact with how I have been treated. I am twittering to my 630+ followers, and posting it on my Facebook personal profile and fan page, and am putting the text of this e-mail on my blog. I hope it has an effect, because you simply can't lie to your customers like I have been lied to by Verizon over the past four months and hope to continue to do business.

I am on my 3rd Blackberry Storm - a disaster of a model with absolutely no reliable customer support or service. If you are a Mac user this phone will be a disaster since there is literally no competent support. I am on my third phone from previous failures, but this experience has revealed how Verizon continues to degenerate into a company driven to sell, sell, sell at a numbing rate and provide literally no service.

I woke up on 3/13/10 to find my phone with a blank screen and error message 523. Then began my descent into hell. I contacted a local Verizon store where I had found an exceptionally helpful, knowledgeable and caring individual who had cut through much of the time wasting problems I had had with the Blackberrys in the past. I contacted him at his location, but he said he was no longer authorized to help a customer with problems of this nature. He referred me to customer support and things began to unravel.

The bottom issue seemed to be that there is little if any support if you are an Apple user. This is a simple fact, despite my first question to Verizon before purchasing my Blackberry was what support would there be for an Apple user. I was assured it would be of the same high caliber as for a PC user. What followed next was an endless number of calls to Verizon speaking to a number of low level "customer service" types who had 2 things in common: 1. Their only interest was in selling me on a new, longer running contract and revealing that they personally had Blackberry phones that had to be replaced multiple times!

After endless times on hold following comments that" I'll have you on hold for just a couple of minutes", which turned into over 50 minutes and I terminated the call. Recalling was met with more of the same, apology, apology, apology! I was then shuffled off to Research in Motion the manufacturer of the Blackberry where I encountered no solutions, endless on hold times. It became clear that the problem was that I was an Apple user and they had no competent help that could restore my service.

I ended up speaking to support with RIM in Singapore where I provided them with access to my computer and they spent hours trying to restore my service. It was now 3:00 am Tuesday 3/16/10, after over 7 HOURS of being jerked around and absolutely NOTHING has been resolved!!! The supervisor there then suggests that I CONTACT a local Verizon store and have them fix the problem!!! The endless circle!!

I contact Verizon "customer service" this am. Get sales pitch from Diana, who refuses to give employee #, or any identifying info and offers no help. Ask to speak to supervisor, endless hold, she finally gets back online (I now guesstimate that I have endured the looping sales pitch on Verizon hold at least 200 times). Says supervisor should be available in 3:00 minutes (been on hold already for almost 20 minutes).

Supervisor finally gets on phone, total time wasted- 68:00 minutes! It is now almost 1:00 pm, still no phone service. Supervisor says will look into problem, I provide him with serial number, info on phone, etc to yet another Verizon "service person." Hope this one follows through!!

WHEELER RD. AUGUSTA, GEORGIA -- I was looking at phones during the holidays decided to get a Blackberry Curve. Purchased the phone on January 16, 2010. I noticed 2 weeks after getting the phone it would freeze up after loading applications. Then it worked great until February 12th I could not access my browser on the phone started getting error messages. Finally on February 25th I'd had enough. I called Verizon and was connected to Blackberry technical support. The representative was very helpful. We stayed on the phone for probably about 1 1/2. The Blackberry tech was very helpful we finally got my browser working again.

Then once again on March 2, 2010 my phone froze up after accessing a application. I took the battery out then put it back in over and over hoping that would fix the problem. No luck the phone was stuck in a loading
mode that I could not exit out of. It started about 10:30 am and went on all day even until I visited the Verizon Wireless store to see if they could troubleshoot for me.

Waited about 30 minutes before I got a representative. When I finally could explain what was going on with the phone and they checked it out and determined it could not be fixed. I was told that they did not give loaner phones and I would have to wait for them to send me a replacement phone and that I might have to wait a day and a half to get another one. Oh and by the way the phone they were going to send me would not be new. It would be a refurbished phone even though the phone I had was less than 2 months old.

So on top of being without my phone all day, I now had to be without a phone for another day or so. When I asked the representative if my bill would be prorated she looked as if I were speaking a language they could not understand. Then I was told that the company did not do that. As you can guess by now I was furious. This representative then had the audacity to question whether or not the phone was actually not usable for as long as I said it was. She actually had the gall to say "We go by the time you bring the phone in the store." I could have slapped her into next week when she said that.

Does Verizon seriously believe I would be happy to pay for a service that I would not be receiving? They must be out of their minds. I explained to the representative something that I really should not have had to, that if you pay for home service you expect when you pick that phone up you expect a dial tone right, well this is what I was expecting from Verizon. She actually had the audacity to once again say something stupid, she said "When the electricity go out during a storm you have to wait for the power to come back on don't you?" Once again the thought of violence crept into my mind only this time I wanted to choke her. I am sure my eyes at this point relayed that message.

Finally after this exchange she told me she could activate my old phone. Luckily I still had it so of course I allowed her to reactivate. At this point how many options did I have? After some persistence I finally received a contact number for their customer service center to find out if the company would prorate my bill. You better believe when I called that number I told them about my experience in the store. The representative was as helpful as she was allowed to be. She gave me 100 extra minutes for 12 months which was better than nothing so of course I took it.

Whatever happened to standing behind the product you sell? Whatever happened to good customer service. I guess you're wondering why stay with this company. To be honest the only reason I'm staying is because they did not change my rate plan I'd had with Alltel.