Rubbed the wrong way by Vzw today.....

[mountaineerndixie]

Sorry if this isn't the right forum but I just needed to get this off my chest. It's not a big deal but it's the kind of thing that makes people hate corporate America.

Anyway, I have a family plan with 4 lines....2 smartphones and 2 feature phones. My father uses one of the feature phones and he wants to venture into geekland and try a smartphone, so I told him I would figure it out.

I pay upwards of $250/mo. for all of my lines and with a new data plan that would go up $30. I have never, ever, ever received what anyone would call a "deal, special treatment, lenient rep" or anything close to a "break" of any kind from Verizon in the 2+ years I have been with them. I get my bill and I pay my bill every month and that's it. My dad's feature phone line upgrade date is in October of this year (4 months away). After talking to Vzw on the phone and tweeting with them I was sure that someone would give some sort of discount on a smartphone for him to upgrade to. But, to my (sort of)surprise....nothing...nada....not even a "well, let me check"...it was just a flat out, "Nope, wait until October".

Like I said, it's no big deal...happens every day to someone but it just hit me wrong today. I wanted to give them more money and a 2 year contract for a break on a phone 4 months early. Instead, Vzw just let approx. $920 ($30/mo. x 24 + approx. $200 phone) walk out the door in order to keep from giving me a $200 discount on hardware.

Thanks for letting me vent....have a great day!

 

[cobjones]

You are far from a lucky man then. I have been givin every waiver and even a free upgrade (withOUT) a contract extension from Verizon.

I have however been denied by Sprint in the past more than once, and the even cancelled my service when I sent in my 5th Instinct warranty replacement.

ATT is evil though.
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[brad92]

Sprint is way more lenient than Verizon when it comes to upgrades and customer service. I really want to go back to Sprint after my contract is up

sent from my ZombieStomped X

 

[ufcfan72]

I'm with you 100%! They can't see the forrest for the trees

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[cobjones]

It definately must be just a person to person thing, because sprint screwed me and my family many of times, and verizon has bent over backwards for me.

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[jseah]

Just bad timing for you. Back when the Droid 1 came out, Verizon wanted to get people onto Android phones and wanted Android to succeed so bad, they were moving people's upgrades up left and right (some upgrade dates were moved up as much as a year earlier, me personally had an upgrade date moved up just a little over three months) if you would upgrade to an Android phone.

Now that Android has established itself and proven to be a popular alternative to the iPhone, Verizon really doesn't have much incentive to get people to upgrade.

 

[DesktopDevin]

I feel your pain mountain, other than one new every two VZW has always screwed me. Even when I got my droid on day 3 of the release they screwed me on the free shirt they were giving out for promos to get the droid going and I was more than willing to spread the praise for them.

I have been with VZW ever since it was Bell Atlantic back in 94 and they still show me no love, even when my phone was stolen and I went in the store to report it and get a new one a couple of years ago the a-hole that was working in the store pointed me to a demo on the wall and said to call customer service. I left the store and activated an old one that was still working rather than give that douche my business.

the only reason I have stayed with VZW was that during hurricane Fran back in 96 my cell phone was the only one that worked out of our group and it was on roam.

I think they have just about wore me thin, I need to add my wife on the plan as she is now hooked on my droid and I have to pry it away from her to be able to use it.

I want a new one for myself so they better give me a good deal or I am taking my A$$ to sprint after being a customer for over 17 yrs.

 

[DesktopDevin]

It definately must be just a person to person thing, because sprint screwed me and my family many of times, and verizon has bent over backwards for me.

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I think that they do this only for new customers, wait till they have you hooked. Then it's up the poop chute time.

I am thinking rather than brand loyality, I will need to switch carriers every time my contract comes up. It seem that no matter what carrier that you are with they give better deals to the newcomer rather than the brand loyalist.

 

[TisMyDroid]

That's interesting b/c I have been with Verizon since Bell also... 1998. I have stick with them b/c their Customer service is unmatched. They have reversed charges for my mistakes, they are always there when I need them, they have given my early upgrades, even have me a free new phone when I dropped my phone in the lake b/c of my loyalty... with no argument from me to do so... they just did it it if courtesy. When I got my first feature phone, purchased on ebay, where feature phones were a brand new idea, they let me exchange it for any phone I wanted in the store b/c of all the problems I had with it... and I bought the phone of ebay! I swear by their customer service... over the phone and in the store.

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[mountaineerndixie]

That's interesting b/c I have been with Verizon since Bell also... 1998. I have stick with them b/c their Customer service is unmatched. They have reversed charges for my mistakes, they are always there when I need them, they have given my early upgrades, even have me a free new phone when I dropped my phone in the lake b/c of my loyalty... with no argument from me to do so... they just did it it if courtesy. When I got my first feature phone, purchased on ebay, where feature phones were a brand new idea, they let me exchange it for any phone I wanted in the store b/c of all the problems I had with it... and I bought the phone of ebay! I swear by their customer service... over the phone and in the store.

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I have never asked to have any charges reversed or asked for any special treatment at all. It's always been more of a hassle to call them and deal with those things because (and get this) I ABSOLUTELY HATE TALKING ON THE PHONE!!! lol I talk on the phone for work but on my time I probably only use 100 or less minutes per month of talk time out of my 2000 minute family plan. Anyway, I pay my outrageous bill with no question and mind my business but today I wanted that to be rewarded but it wasn't and it gets under my skin a little.

Maybe the saying is true and "the squeaky wheel gets the oil"? So, maybe if I'm one of those folks who call and take their time up with every little hangnail of a problem they will be more generous to me to get me to just shut up? Sad that things sometimes work that way. Well, I may just buy me a headset and hit the redial button to *611 all day every day and see if things change any in the next month. Would make an interesting study, huh?

 

[TisMyDroid]

I have never had to call numerous times on any issue, get angry, argue, complain, or push... they have always just resolved my situation better than I expected or asked. When I noticed on my bill that my soon had run up a fortune in data charges and called to have that blocked, they credited the data charges. They didn't have to, I didn't ask them to, they just did it. I can give numerous examples. But yes, I do call them if I have a question on my bill, or need a service feature changed and i go into to the store if I have a problem with my phone. I have never been dissatisfied. And I have never had to be rude, angry, disrespectful. I am always very polite, courteous, and appreciative by they have never given me any reason to be otherwise.

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[mountaineerndixie]

I have never had to call numerous times on any issue, get angry, argue, complain, or push... they have always just resolved my situation better than I expected or asked. When I noticed on my bill that my soon had run up a fortune in data charges and called to have that blocked, they credited the data charges. They didn't have to, I didn't ask them to, they just did it. I can give numerous examples. But yes, I do call them if I have a question on my bill, or need a service feature changed and i go into to the store if I have a problem with my phone. I have never been dissatisfied. And I have never had to be rude, angry, disrespectful. I am always very polite, courteous, and appreciative by they have never given me any reason to be otherwise.

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That's awesome. I just haven't had the same experience thus far. I'm not a complainer, even if I should sometimes. I don't send food back in a restaurant, things like that....I just expected a bit more today and it was a disappointment. I just need to weigh my options at this point. I'm really not excited about the new handsets on Verizon thus far in 2011, so it's not out of the question to change providers but at what point is that logical, you know? I've got 4 people's lines, hardware, etc. tied to Vzw right now, so. I'm probably not going anywhere...and they know it.

The thing that really just had me saying wtf was after I talked to them on the phone I started tweeting with them and we were exchanging info and I finally tweeted "I can't understand why Vzw would give up $920 and a 2 yr. commitment just to keep me from saving $200 on a phone"? They never replied after that. LOL....just par for the course.

Oh well, I'm done crying folks. I'll figure it out but if anyone here is with Vzw and would like to discuss it I'm easy to find.

 

[deadernie]

I have never had to call numerous times on any issue, get angry, argue, complain, or push... they have always just resolved my situation better than I expected or asked. When I noticed on my bill that my soon had run up a fortune in data charges and called to have that blocked, they credited the data charges. They didn't have to, I didn't ask them to, they just did it. I can give numerous examples. But yes, I do call them if I have a question on my bill, or need a service feature changed and i go into to the store if I have a problem with my phone. I have never been dissatisfied. And I have never had to be rude, angry, disrespectful. I am always very polite, courteous, and appreciative by they have never given me any reason to be otherwise.

Sent from my ADR6300 using DroidForums

That's awesome. I just haven't had the same experience thus far. I'm not a complainer, even if I should sometimes. I don't send food back in a restaurant, things like that....I just expected a bit more today and it was a disappointment. I just need to weigh my options at this point. I'm really not excited about the new handsets on Verizon thus far in 2011, so it's not out of the question to change providers but at what point is that logical, you know? I've got 4 people's lines, hardware, etc. tied to Vzw right now, so. I'm probably not going anywhere...and they know it.

The thing that really just had me saying wtf was after I talked to them on the phone I started tweeting with them and we were exchanging info and I finally tweeted "I can't understand why Vzw would give up $920 and a 2 yr. commitment just to keep me from saving $200 on a phone"? They never replied after that. LOL....just par for the course.

Oh well, I'm done crying folks. I'll figure it out but if anyone here is with Vzw and would like to discuss it I'm easy to find.

Don't feel bad OP. I've had the same phone number since 1992 that started with Bell Atlantic and eventually became Verizon and when I went to get a new Droid 1 at the release date but I couldn't close the deal at their corporate store. It's really hard to believe they would not budge on upgrading me a whole week early.

 

[Vulcan1600]

I stopped reading the thread when I got to this sentence. "Screwed" because you didn't get a promo shirt? I guess I should feel that way too since I was one of the first in line for the original Droid.

To the O.P. - are you going to a premium retailer or a corporate store? That could actually make a difference for you. The early upgrade policies and other promo policies are tighter than they used to be. I wish you the best.

 

[thebowers]

I stopped @ a corp Verizon store about a month ago, just checking to see when I could upgrade. I wasn't really looking to do it right away just wondered. The more I talked to the guy the more he wanted to get me into a new phone.

Anyways he stated that upgrades could happen up to 8 months before your upgrade date.