Roar Rating: 2.0 roars.
Scale: Fire-->5 roars-->4 roars-->3 roars-->2 roars-->1 roar-->1 purr-->2 purrs-->3 purrs-->4 purrs-->5 purrs
(Fire is so awful you should run away gibbering. 5 roars is as bad as it gets, don't even bother with the product or service. 5 purrs is so good you should drop what you're doing and run and get whatever I'm talking about.)
Everyone likes tablets. Tablets are sexy! Tablets are cool! Obviously, I wanted one, and I wanted to have the coolest, fastest, bestest one, so I did my research and decided on the Galaxy Tab. Wow, right? Two cameras, blazing fast, great 10' screen, runs Flash, I mean - hold me back! I'm never gonna log off this puppy. I brought it home from the Verizon Store in its nice sturdy little box, charged it up and the trouble started almost instantaneously.
Maybe my first clue should have been that I bought this Door into Tomorrow the very same day I exchanged my Samsung Charge - you all know the party that that was. Maybe the second clue should have been that I was secretly charged an "activation fee" -- after the Verizon sales guy assured me that would be waived. Maybe the third clue should have been --- oh wait, I'm skipping the story.
I could list all the malfunctions and irritations of this device, which would be nifty if it worked as advertised. I will quickly say it launches apps without asking me, reboots after I put it to sleep, insists on making word-completion and overrides my corrections (which wastes a lot of time), is extremely slow, does not save pages like a laptop (I know, who said it would?), and a dozen or so other irritations. It's nothing like as useful as even an inexpensive laptop, you can't edit or write much due to the lack of software that is comfortable and reliable, it has clumsy tools for saving text, and right now, even a Kindle Fire would be more reliable and useful based on my trials of those cuties. The Samsung Galaxy Tab has trouble finding a signal and often cannot find the mystical and inexplicably slow-in-NYC 4G signal even when my phone has a 4G connection and is right next to the tablet.
But more than sharing my experience with you, Dear Blog Reader, I want to also add that Verizon has made exchanging this recalcitrant device all but impossible. A warranty? Ha! they scoff at warranties. They eats them for breakfast, and picks their teeth with your service agreement.
My first big error was that I let the all-critical 14 day evaluation period, when exchanges are supposedly allowed at the store (if they, you know, believe you. And can replicate the problem. That's a big problem if you have an intermittent or geographical problem) pass by. I had the flu, if you must know, but I'm not offering excuses. The alloted 14 days passed, and I passed with them into the Kingdom of the Difficulties with Verizon.
On the phone, I described that my tablet had developed Newton's Rings, a manufacturing error that makes the screen hard to read. This is a definite flaw. Newton's Rings bigger than a square inch are considered by Samsung grounds for immediate replacment of the unit. But my warranty was fulfilled by Verizon and they would not exchange the unit at a store. They would only exchange it by me waiting a good 70 minutes to get to a technician who I then had to educate as to what Newton's Rings were, and I eventually convinced him I knew what I was talking about and deserved a new tablet. So he shipped me a shipping-box overnight.
The box never arrived because FedEX, in agreement only with Verizon, will not leave even an empty box in NYC unless it is signed for. Now please note, I receive FedEx deliveries all the time which are left at my door. This agreement of non-leaving FedEx deliveries is solely with Verizon.
Could Verizon help with this, as I am not always home? They would not let me leave the tablet at a store, would not pick it up or deliver it elsewhere, would not allow FedEx to leave the box even if I would agree to absorb the loss if the box were stolen. I finally received the box by accident, because my flu relapsed and while I was wrangling with Verizon, wasting hours speaking with managers and customer service reps over 3 woeful evenings. FedEx came over the next day while I was stuck home with a fever. So now I have the fateful box.
But when I return the tablet in this nice box, I fear I will never see it returned. FedEx won't leave the package from Verizon unless I'm home. Verizon doesn't care if and when I receive it, and won't help by, for example, shipping it priority morning delivery even if I pay for that. So in steps Customer Service Manager Guy - Brandon.
During a marathon 2 hour call (95 minutes on hold, naturally) Brandon promised he would assist in the shipment, repair and delivery of my tablet and be certain to get it back to me. He said he would call me to arrange. He made me happy, was pleasant understanding and friendly, and said we would start the process over the next week after the weekend so he would be around. We had a date for him to call me, and during the long negotiation to set this up, he asked if I would show him around New York City if he ever visited, and we discussed the magic that is New York City during the holidays. Brandon was friendly.
And he never called.
The kicker? I have to start from scratch with the repair. Brandon made no record at Verizon and cannot be reprimanded. I referred to this in another blog post.
So I still have my tablet, which is no longer my friend, and it still has Newton's Rings, and I am out $650 because its aggregate flaws make it virtually unusable. Most irritating is that Verizon once again provided customer service with a smile while doing nothing of substance.
Which is actually what this post is about. Not the tablet. Or slow 4G. Or the manufacturing vicissitudes of electronic devices. It is about the precipitous drop in customer service from all major corporations that I have had experience with, and how that has only accelerated in the past year or so. The companies have learned they can make and retain profits by providing friendly but spineless customer service.
Maybe my first clue should have been that I bought this Door into Tomorrow the very same day I exchanged my Samsung Charge - you all know the party that that was. Maybe the second clue should have been that I was secretly charged an "activation fee" -- after the Verizon sales guy assured me that would be waived. Maybe the third clue should have been --- oh wait, I'm skipping the story.
I could list all the malfunctions and irritations of this device, which would be nifty if it worked as advertised. I will quickly say it launches apps without asking me, reboots after I put it to sleep, insists on making word-completion and overrides my corrections (which wastes a lot of time), is extremely slow, does not save pages like a laptop (I know, who said it would?), and a dozen or so other irritations. It's nothing like as useful as even an inexpensive laptop, you can't edit or write much due to the lack of software that is comfortable and reliable, it has clumsy tools for saving text, and right now, even a Kindle Fire would be more reliable and useful based on my trials of those cuties. The Samsung Galaxy Tab has trouble finding a signal and often cannot find the mystical and inexplicably slow-in-NYC 4G signal even when my phone has a 4G connection and is right next to the tablet.
But more than sharing my experience with you, Dear Blog Reader, I want to also add that Verizon has made exchanging this recalcitrant device all but impossible. A warranty? Ha! they scoff at warranties. They eats them for breakfast, and picks their teeth with your service agreement.
My first big error was that I let the all-critical 14 day evaluation period, when exchanges are supposedly allowed at the store (if they, you know, believe you. And can replicate the problem. That's a big problem if you have an intermittent or geographical problem) pass by. I had the flu, if you must know, but I'm not offering excuses. The alloted 14 days passed, and I passed with them into the Kingdom of the Difficulties with Verizon.
On the phone, I described that my tablet had developed Newton's Rings, a manufacturing error that makes the screen hard to read. This is a definite flaw. Newton's Rings bigger than a square inch are considered by Samsung grounds for immediate replacment of the unit. But my warranty was fulfilled by Verizon and they would not exchange the unit at a store. They would only exchange it by me waiting a good 70 minutes to get to a technician who I then had to educate as to what Newton's Rings were, and I eventually convinced him I knew what I was talking about and deserved a new tablet. So he shipped me a shipping-box overnight.
The box never arrived because FedEX, in agreement only with Verizon, will not leave even an empty box in NYC unless it is signed for. Now please note, I receive FedEx deliveries all the time which are left at my door. This agreement of non-leaving FedEx deliveries is solely with Verizon.
Could Verizon help with this, as I am not always home? They would not let me leave the tablet at a store, would not pick it up or deliver it elsewhere, would not allow FedEx to leave the box even if I would agree to absorb the loss if the box were stolen. I finally received the box by accident, because my flu relapsed and while I was wrangling with Verizon, wasting hours speaking with managers and customer service reps over 3 woeful evenings. FedEx came over the next day while I was stuck home with a fever. So now I have the fateful box.
But when I return the tablet in this nice box, I fear I will never see it returned. FedEx won't leave the package from Verizon unless I'm home. Verizon doesn't care if and when I receive it, and won't help by, for example, shipping it priority morning delivery even if I pay for that. So in steps Customer Service Manager Guy - Brandon.
During a marathon 2 hour call (95 minutes on hold, naturally) Brandon promised he would assist in the shipment, repair and delivery of my tablet and be certain to get it back to me. He said he would call me to arrange. He made me happy, was pleasant understanding and friendly, and said we would start the process over the next week after the weekend so he would be around. We had a date for him to call me, and during the long negotiation to set this up, he asked if I would show him around New York City if he ever visited, and we discussed the magic that is New York City during the holidays. Brandon was friendly.
And he never called.
The kicker? I have to start from scratch with the repair. Brandon made no record at Verizon and cannot be reprimanded. I referred to this in another blog post.
So I still have my tablet, which is no longer my friend, and it still has Newton's Rings, and I am out $650 because its aggregate flaws make it virtually unusable. Most irritating is that Verizon once again provided customer service with a smile while doing nothing of substance.
Which is actually what this post is about. Not the tablet. Or slow 4G. Or the manufacturing vicissitudes of electronic devices. It is about the precipitous drop in customer service from all major corporations that I have had experience with, and how that has only accelerated in the past year or so. The companies have learned they can make and retain profits by providing friendly but spineless customer service.
