When I went so far yesterday as to state that Verizon Wireless Customer Service is a model for what’s broken in the USA, and re-name The Answer Guy’s Customer Service Wall of Shame to the Verizon Wireless Customer Service Wall of Shame in their honor, you probably thought I was done picking on Verizon Wireless Customer Service for a while.
Not Even Close.
Despite the opportunity to exhibit our Search Engine Optimization abilities that inept Customer Service from Verizon Wireless provided, I might have stopped. But then Verizon Wireless moved the bar for bad customer service even higher.
I’m getting to the end of my rope with my Droid SmartPhone. The battery is getting flaky, it’s running apps way slower than it used to, and I just can’t deal with it this way for much longer. I’m ready to upgrade.
As I told you a couple of weeks ago, I wasn’t happy with the offer Verizon Wireless Customer Service made to retain me as a customer after fifteen years, and yesterday I called Verizon Wireless, was made a better offer, and ordered a new Galaxy Nexus. The phone was supposed to be delivered today.
When I received the shipping conformation notice, it was a mess. The order was scheduled for two-day delivery, and sent to the wrong address. I called Verizon Wireless Customer Service immediately, and spent over an hour on the phone with a representative who claimed she could redirect the address that my new phone was shipped to, but couldn’t make it arrive on time.
This morning, I checked on the order in both FedEx’s and Verizon Wireless’ systems, saw that nothing had changed, and called Verizon Wireless Customer Service to see what had gone wrong. Another hour wasted, with the short story being that the order had not been redirected.
Not trusting Verizon Wireless Customer Service any longer, I asked that the service representative I was speaking with contact the store closest to me, advise them that I had purchased a new phone and wanted to pick it up in person. She did, and was refused the request by the store’s manager.
His “reason” had to do with systems. We went over this yesterday; bad systems aren’t an excuse for bad customer service.
“Rant, rant, rant”? Sure, but with a purpose. Or two.
First, I want Verizon Wireless to hear just how bad their customer service has become. And trust me, they will.
And second, I want to show you, conclusively, just how much of an impact well-executed search engine optimization can have:
You’re reading it right; in one day, the post I wrote about Verizon Wireless Customer Service has become Google’s 41st-best ranked place for the phrase “verizon wireless customer service”, and ranks even higher at both Yahoo and Bing. And even with the “wireless” left out, the page is ranking in two of the three search engines for the phrase “verizon customer service”.
And I promise those numbers will only get batter.
Verizon Wireless, please figure out what customer service is. Or don’t; we’ll be OK without you.
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[...] aftermath of the problems I had last week with Verizon Wireless Customer Service was that I replaced my Droid with a shiny new Galaxy Nexus, albeit with some more customer service stupidity …. And because there’s still a big piece of computer geek floating around inside me (and had [...]
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[...] Occasionally, I get caught up in things that are cool. Again, I rarely jump, but I’ve come close. I almost went iPhone last year when Steve Jobs passed on, but that was an emotional reaction at a whole different level then I prefer to manage business change through. And I ultimately stayed Android, buying a Galaxy Nexus despite Verizon’ Wireless Customer Service displaying ineptitude at a le…. [...]
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I saw this post because, like you, I’ve started noticing people coming to my site by searching for “verizon bad customer service” and several other queries. It leads them to this post: http://www.excelsiorlady.com/2012/03/hey-verizon-customer-service.html
I’m just commenting to give you an internet high-five. Verizon is the absolute worst.
High Five back atcha, Hanna . . . Verizon Wireless Customer Service is truly … AWFUL.
their customer service is so terrible.i have had nothing but problems with their htc thunderbolt.i have had 7 refubished ones sent to me where they say has been inspected.what a lie….so the last one i sent somehow got ended up with a cracked screen and they are chargeing me 300.00 for the phone…or i can give them my phone that ialready paid for a year ago…what a scam they are…verizon is the worsth phone company for ripping people off…i hope everyone drops them. by the way straight talk is everything unlimited for 45$ .go to them before signing a contract with verizon.
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At 4:00am on 14-Sept-2012 I clicked on the link “Pre Order iPhone5″ on the home page for Verizon and pre-ordered 2 iPhone5s 64GB. I paid full price, no contract, and spent $1900 for the order. The phones showed up a week later and the box contained 2 iPhone4s. I called Verizon customer service and they said I made the mistake. Doubting myself, I went through the process again with Verizon on the phone and discovered that the Chrome browser is incompatible with Verizon’s website. Chrome rendered the page such that the links for iPhone4 were under iPhone5 images. Verizon acknowledges this fault, but continued to say that it was my fault because there was a confirmation page. Admittedly, I must have missed the discrepancy in the last step where the order is confirmed. Here are some facts:
(1) I clicked on “Pre order iPhone5″ and ended up ordering an iPhone4.
(2) Nowhere on Verizon’s website does it say that Chrome should not be used.
(3) The confirmation email that is sent after the order is placed does not say what is ordered.
(4) Verizon recognized the above facts but was pompous, unsympathetic, and rudely denied any measure to correct the situation.
10 years ago I received similar customer service from AT&T and have recommended to customers, friends and family that they avoid AT&T. Many have listened. Now it seems that Verizon’s customer service has reached similar levels of horror and people should be aware of it. This is a sad situation for America.
Mark, I wish I was even a little bit surprised at that story. But yeah, Verizon Customer Service is AMAZINGLY bad.
I really appreciate the detail you laid out. Let me say, by the way, that their initial “you got a confirmation” position may be correct, but it sure isn’t right. And lo and behold, you point (3) The confirmation email that is sent after the order is placed does not say what is ordered blows even that out of the water.
Like I said, I wish I was amazed, but the state of the art at Verizon Wireless Customer Service is just plain beyonf awful.
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