Carrier: Verizon.
Roar Rating: 2.5 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.)
I have been a loyal customer of Verizon for 6 years now, and that's a lot of time in telecommunication-land. I liked them fine, and haven't felt a need to peep about them at all. Others may have their difficulties with their carriers, but me and Verizon were pals. Problems with minutes? Here's some free ones, on us! Unexpected service charge? Here's a little credit! We love you, ReginaRoars! So, I've been purring for years. Until August 11, 2011. When Everything Changed.
I innocently treated myself to the well-reviewed Samsung Charge (please see my review on this blog) and my life hasn't been the same since. I also purchased - as a treat mind you - the Galaxy Tab. Review to come, and this litttle gem does not exceed the quality of the Charge. Horrifyingly not.
Since I bought these items from Verizon, I expect them to have, you know, service available. And warranties. To be fixed if necessary. And as both of these items are a tad pricey, to expect some amount of alarcrity on any fixes, and courteous service, and customer service who could actually understand descriptions of my complaints. Whooo baby, I got none of that.
I have been on the phone (ironically) with Verizon regarding the problems that you, dear blog Reader, know about. This has literally taken up 6 phone sessions ranging from 1 to 4 - yes FOUR - hours each. I finally went to a store and the problems remain unsolved.
The nastiest, most egregiously unhelpful yet disarmingly pleasant person was the Verizon manager Brandon, in Chandler, AZ. He swore up and down to fix my tablet by personally sheparding it through the system at Verizon, and assist with all my issues and obvert any delays. Brandon got me off the phone after one of the 4 hour life-wasting sessions I had with Verizon, scheduled to call me back on November 14 at 3pm, and simply disappeared- he did not notate my account, call me, or facilitate my tab repair in any way. I had to start the inquiry from scratch.
The particulars are not important, what I think is alarming is the increasing lack of sensible customer service, the almost ubiquitous "customer representatives" (who really represent and protect the company that pays them) who don't give a damn, the acceptance of their flat-out lying to the customer (I highly doubt Brandon will get fired or even admonished for his conduct), and the difficulty of being able to make a complaint as to how one is treated - for example, even though I knew Brandon's phone number and identity, I could not file a complaint with Corporate - because Brandon didn't notate my account!! Clearly this makes notating a customer's account a liability for the employee. And this becomes just another factor degrading the service we, the customers, receive.
So, yes, Regina simply roars at Verizon. You guys listening, or just making profits? By the way, gentle blog reader, I really feel a need to clarify - I happen to be in favor of businesses making profits, because why else would they be in business? It's not inherently bad to make money or charge consumers for what you make or provide. In fact, I think it's good. It gives potential new businesses the incentive to do the hard work of initiating and growing a business - no mean feat in a fair marketplace. And Verizon used to provide me a service I needed and could not provide for myself in a reasonably priced and fair manner. Lovely capitalism: I pay them and they give me, in exchange for my money, a service at a price that is resonable. Cool! But the marketplace, and Big Business in America, has been quickly evolving to carry out a series of small practices all of which are predatory - and result in unreasonably high costs to the consumer for unreasonably low value, while corporate executives make large profits which they did not earn in the sense of providing something of value for a fair price. Their prices are not fair. This is not how capitalism is designed to work because, as a consumer, I'm no longer directly able to vote with my dollars. I'm stuck with Verizon in this case due to both their 2-year contract, and also the fact that the equipment only works on Verizon service and is non-returnable. I invested $950 in equipment and cannot cancel the service for the length of my contract with them, whether I have the equipment or not. That's an effective monopoly, and they are abusing the customer-provider relationship. It's that simple.
Since I bought these items from Verizon, I expect them to have, you know, service available. And warranties. To be fixed if necessary. And as both of these items are a tad pricey, to expect some amount of alarcrity on any fixes, and courteous service, and customer service who could actually understand descriptions of my complaints. Whooo baby, I got none of that.
I have been on the phone (ironically) with Verizon regarding the problems that you, dear blog Reader, know about. This has literally taken up 6 phone sessions ranging from 1 to 4 - yes FOUR - hours each. I finally went to a store and the problems remain unsolved.
The nastiest, most egregiously unhelpful yet disarmingly pleasant person was the Verizon manager Brandon, in Chandler, AZ. He swore up and down to fix my tablet by personally sheparding it through the system at Verizon, and assist with all my issues and obvert any delays. Brandon got me off the phone after one of the 4 hour life-wasting sessions I had with Verizon, scheduled to call me back on November 14 at 3pm, and simply disappeared- he did not notate my account, call me, or facilitate my tab repair in any way. I had to start the inquiry from scratch.
The particulars are not important, what I think is alarming is the increasing lack of sensible customer service, the almost ubiquitous "customer representatives" (who really represent and protect the company that pays them) who don't give a damn, the acceptance of their flat-out lying to the customer (I highly doubt Brandon will get fired or even admonished for his conduct), and the difficulty of being able to make a complaint as to how one is treated - for example, even though I knew Brandon's phone number and identity, I could not file a complaint with Corporate - because Brandon didn't notate my account!! Clearly this makes notating a customer's account a liability for the employee. And this becomes just another factor degrading the service we, the customers, receive.
So, yes, Regina simply roars at Verizon. You guys listening, or just making profits? By the way, gentle blog reader, I really feel a need to clarify - I happen to be in favor of businesses making profits, because why else would they be in business? It's not inherently bad to make money or charge consumers for what you make or provide. In fact, I think it's good. It gives potential new businesses the incentive to do the hard work of initiating and growing a business - no mean feat in a fair marketplace. And Verizon used to provide me a service I needed and could not provide for myself in a reasonably priced and fair manner. Lovely capitalism: I pay them and they give me, in exchange for my money, a service at a price that is resonable. Cool! But the marketplace, and Big Business in America, has been quickly evolving to carry out a series of small practices all of which are predatory - and result in unreasonably high costs to the consumer for unreasonably low value, while corporate executives make large profits which they did not earn in the sense of providing something of value for a fair price. Their prices are not fair. This is not how capitalism is designed to work because, as a consumer, I'm no longer directly able to vote with my dollars. I'm stuck with Verizon in this case due to both their 2-year contract, and also the fact that the equipment only works on Verizon service and is non-returnable. I invested $950 in equipment and cannot cancel the service for the length of my contract with them, whether I have the equipment or not. That's an effective monopoly, and they are abusing the customer-provider relationship. It's that simple.
