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Verizon worker is a *****

My husband droppen his new iPhone 4; it slid off his knee onto pavement and the glass shattered. When we went to the Greenbriar Verizon store in Chesapeake, VA, the worker's first question was, "Did you buy the screen protectors?". I'm not sure about the exact term, but the thin plastic film. Anyway, when we said we didn't, he told us, "If you had bought the plastic, that wouldn't have happened. The glass would not have broken". We disagreed, but the guy just started acting like a *****. His smug nonchalant attitude made me want to smack him in the side of the head with my own iPhone. When we told him that insurant said it would cost $100.00, he said, "Yep! $165, actually". We said, "But this glass is supposedly made of the same glass helicopters are made with", but he just kept this idiotic stand that if we had purchased that litte piece of film, the glass wouldn't have shattered. I went so far as the challenge the nit, "So if I buy that piece of film and slam the phone on the ground, it won't break?". "Nope. It won't". I told him to get me the piece of film and I'd try it on the ground. He said, "I'll ring you up, but you have to do it outside". My husband dragged me away before I did something stupid.
We went to the Apple store and THEY helped us out tremendously. People, if your iPhone 4 glass breaks by a slight drop, TAKE IT TO APPLE STORE!! DO NOT PAY ASSURANT!!

By the way, when I asked the App tech if the film would have helped, he laughed and said, "It might have kept your screen from getting dirty. But if glass is going to break, a small piece of plastic isn't going to prevent it. The plastic is made to protect the screen from dirt and scratches". When I told him what the Verizon guy told me, he laughed again and said, " if you have a problem, bring it back here."

My question is, if it is going to cost so much money to repair the phone, why are we paying for insurance? The cost that the Verizon guy quoted was almost what we paid for the phone. When I told him this he smugly grinned and shrugged. I said, "then I want to cancel the broken phone line and sign up for a new iPhone!" He shrugged and smugly said, "ok! But then you'll have to pay $300.00 for breaking the contract!".
We've been doing business with Verizon for YEARS, since they've been in service, and we were pretty happy until today. After our contract is up, we're leaving Verizon. Until then, I want to quit paying for insurance. It doesn't help.

Comments

dbbrass

First... you are correct the people at the Apple store will often cut you a break (literally in your case) over specific issues. Secondly the insurance from Asurian does have a $169.00 deductible. HOWEVER, the retail price for a 16g iP4 from Verizon is $649.00. So if you damage your phone by accident or whatever, that $169.00 is one heck of a lot cheaper than paying full retail price of which you would you would have to do otherwise. The $199.00 price that VZW gives you is WITH a contract. And that price is available only once when you agree to the contract. So for me, the insurance is worthwhile because, I absolutely know that I can get a replacement cheaper than paying full retail whether the people at the Apple store cut me a break or whether I use the insurance. These devices are frickin expensive! Insurance really should be considered because, I'll tell you this... eventually even the Apple store will draw the line.

silver6055

dbbrass wrote:
First... you are correct the people at the Apple store will often cut you a break (literally in your case) over specific issues. Secondly the insurance from Asurian does have a $169.00 deductible. HOWEVER, the retail price for a 16g iP4 from Verizon is $649.00. So if you damage your phone by accident or whatever, that $169.00 is one heck of a lot cheaper than paying full retail price of which you would you would have to do otherwise. The $199.00 price that VZW gives you is WITH a contract. And that price is available only once when you agree to the contract. So for me, the insurance is worthwhile because, I absolutely know that I can get a replacement cheaper than paying full retail whether the people at the Apple store cut me a break or whether I use the insurance. These devices are frickin expensive! Insurance really should be considered because, I'll tell you this... eventually even the Apple store will draw the line.

RIght, but I think that reasonable people can really differ as to whether insurance is worthwhile. Typically, insurance makes sense for big-ticket items such as a house or car where (especially with the house!) you would be extremely unlikely to have the money to replace it. For the iPhone, the deductable is 169, so the insurance is "worth" $649-$169 = $480. And insurance costs what, $10 a month? Which over the life of the two year contact is $240 which is 50% of the value. That strikes me as very high indeed! Of course, there are stories of the phone breaking on month 1, in which case it is a bargin, but, assuming that the insurance company knows what it is doing, these are outweighed by the stories we don't hear of people who never claim but pay all the premium.

gerio

I agree with the OP's positions on pretty much everything she mentioned....right up to the point where she would leave Verizon for another carrier because of a bone-headed store rep.

Go to AT&T. THEN, when you take your phones in and complain of the lousy call service, you will find out what a ***** the store rep can be (I did, on more than one occasion).

You had the phone you wanted, you had it repaired at a good facility, why trash the carrier

unknown

Simple solution...don't balance your $600 phone on your knee and drop it on the pavement.

eagleboy33

It never ceases to amaze me how many people that have jobs today seem to resent the customer, and dislike their employer. Maybe if they had to look for the "next" job for 8 or 9 months they would appreciate what they had.

Leaving Verizon over a ***** employee is an option, but, that ***** has a supervisor, and bad employee behavior is not the entire company's philosophy. The more reports that a supervisor receives about poor, or indifferent behavior of a "*****" helps identify the bad apples.

It really does not effect that ***** if you leave, he obviously could care less. If the *****'s employer is not given opportunity to resolve the situation, other customers are likewise effected.

I'm just tired of the apathetic service received in many retailers these days, and have resolved not to blame the retailer, but, to be sure to speak up when treated like a putz!

budone

I would be interested in which Greenbriar store. Two out of the three are affiliates.

AZSALUKI

next time just speak to a manager. and to avoid a next time, take care of your $600-700 peice of delicate electronic equipment. this will also allow you to drop the absolutely ridiculous (in my humble opinion) insurance on these things.

told2me

Attempt working with 'tech support' regarding your pantech uml290 if you want the definition of '*****'.

Squallfyr

Insurance is better for Lost and Stolen in my opinion :smileyhappy:

pensfan0782

Squallfyr wrote:
Insurance is better for Lost and Stolen in my opinion

i'd rather use find my iphone app, track that person down and injure them

JohnB_VZW

On behalf of Verizon Wireless, please accept our apology for your dissatisfaction with your recent visit to one of our stores. We are disappointed the service you received from this location did not reflect Verizon Wireless' total commitment to quality for our customers.

In regards to the insurance on the iPhone, please keep in mind that the monthly insurance charge you pay also replaces your phone in case it is lost or stolen. All you would be responsible for is the deductible which is $169 for the 16GB and $199 for the 32GB.

You can remove the insurance at any time, please keep in mind that if it is removed it cannot be added back until your next new phone upgrade.

Thanks

Phonengames

It's actually worse than I thought, since we have the 32 GB. Glad they didn't offer a 64. The "lost or stolen" isn't too bad, but how do you know someone isn't going to claim they lost it and sell it on EBay for a profit? Y'all owe my parents a "thank you" card. LOL. Seriously though, this is probably why the deduct is so high.

OK, so I have one question: Apple replaced the broken phone, so it's not the same one Verizon sold us. We did buy insurance, but is it still eligible since it is a different phone? I mean, we received the exact make and model, but the serial number has changed. Will this effect the warranty?.

rgonzo

Your always taking a risk buying insurance. It's a roll of the dice and the odds are usually on the house if not they wouldn't offer it. I have always bought insurance and only used it once so I am already in the hole.

red4x4

Wow, Verizon supposedly apologized? I just spoke with four different reps, one of which was a manager, and all but one of which were unhelpful, rude and one rep actually lied about what happened during our conversation. My Droid, which I understand is no longer being made, broke. I have the insurance. It cost $90 to replace, because Asurion stated that it was my fault that it was making a noise like a car with a dead battery, wouldn't take a charge and the unlock touchscreen part would get stuck everyday. You can now buy a Droid X for $99. While I was on the phone I was then told that I could speak to a representative from the tech department and get a new phone for free. I asked what the point of the insurance was. I received no answer and I was speaking to a supervisor. The customer service at Verizon is a joke. The funny thing is I read in Forbes magazine that Verizon is one of the top companies to work for, promotions are plenty, it's fun, great benefits, etc. If that's the case the entire company is filled with ***** that get along really well and like to promote and reward other *****. Congratulations, Verizon, once my contract is up, you've just lost a customer. Time to promote the 3 ***** that I spoke to, have a party for them and give them gold Verizon pens.

kaebfly

red4x4 wrote:
Wow, Verizon supposedly apologized? I just spoke with four different reps, one of which was a manager, and all but one of which were unhelpful, rude and one rep actually lied about what happened during our conversation. My Droid, which I understand is no longer being made, broke. I have the insurance. It cost $90 to replace, because Asurion stated that it was my fault that it was making a noise like a car with a dead battery, wouldn't take a charge and the unlock touchscreen part would get stuck everyday. You can now buy a Droid X for $99. While I was on the phone I was then told that I could speak to a representative from the tech department and get a new phone for free. I asked what the point of the insurance was. I received no answer and I was speaking to a supervisor. The customer service at Verizon is a joke. The funny thing is I read in Forbes magazine that Verizon is one of the top companies to work for, promotions are plenty, it's fun, great benefits, etc. If that's the case the entire company is filled with ***** that get along really well and like to promote and reward other *****. Congratulations, Verizon, once my contract is up, you've just lost a customer. Time to promote the 3 ***** that I spoke to, have a party for them and give them gold Verizon pens.

A little confused by your post...are you upset with Verizon or Asurion? Was there some sort of damage to the phone that made them say you were the cause? Such as water damage, drops? You have a deductible so if $90 is the cost then that's what you paid for all of this time just in case...nothing wrong there. As far as the rep saying you could get a phone for free...are you eligible for upgrade? Is there a reason they said you could get a phone for free? Also..."You can buy a Droid X for $99"...not sure what you have against current sale prices on a device. It's not relevant to your issue...current sale prices versus the deductible amount you agreed to when purchasing insurance have nothing to do with each other. You have to know that a). it's possible that when you do actually need to use the insurance your device model could be obsolete and therefore a later model could be out that costs the same or less than the device you have. That's economics and technology 101. b). the deductible amount that you agreed to may end up being more than the device is worth especially if the device doesn't exist in the retail market any more. c). the supervisor not answering what the point of insurance was...is probably not what you're really upset about. If they had given you the usual pre-canned answer (how it protects you from having to pay full retail, blah blah blah) you likely wouldn't have liked that answer if you're stuck on a Droid X being $99 today and that a rep managed to say you could get a free phone (either because you were eligible or they figured out a way to do it for you). Point being, unfortunately you got to experience the "risk" of choosing insurance. Some people pay for it and never actually use it (peace of mind but loss of $$'s), some people need to use it at a time that the cost is more than the device is worth (yet...if the device they used is no longer buyable they may have had to pay full retail for something else and had no opportunity for free or cheaper phone). Some people get the insurance and within months have to use it...and benefit greatly because they would have had to pay several hundred $$'s to replace it retail unless they found a cheap one through some sort of other source.

PJNC284

Phonengames wrote:
It's actually worse than I thought, since we have the 32 GB. Glad they didn't offer a 64. The "lost or stolen" isn't too bad, but how do you know someone isn't going to claim they lost it and sell it on EBay for a profit? Y'all owe my parents a "thank you" card. LOL. Seriously though, this is probably why the deduct is so high.

The phone is property of asurion if a claim is filed. A lost or stolen phone will have its ESN/MEID blacklisted, effectively rendering the phone useless and making it an expensive iPod Touch. Granted most blacklisted phones just get flashed to cricket or one of the other small carriers that don't care.

oxzide

Try not to let one bad "Apple" upset you so much... *snicker snicker* :smileyhappy:

dirkbonn

Phonengames wrote:
It's actually worse than I thought, since we have the 32 GB. Glad they didn't offer a 64. The "lost or stolen" isn't too bad, but how do you know someone isn't going to claim they lost it and sell it on EBay for a profit? Y'all owe my parents a "thank you" card. LOL. Seriously though, this is probably why the deduct is so high.

OK, so I have one question: Apple replaced the broken phone, so it's not the same one Verizon sold us. We did buy insurance, but is it still eligible since it is a different phone? I mean, we received the exact make and model, but the serial number has changed. Will this effect the warranty?.

As you said in an earlier post, the deductible was going to be $165. It sounds like the Verizon employees were trying to assist you by giving you less expensive options to replace your phone. i.e. Droid X for $99, or something like that.

Anyway, good luck with whatever you decide to do....

bangheadhere

I apologize, as I am still laughing. I am thankful I have paid the warranty on the Storm 9530 because over the past 2 years I have had this phone replaced at least 5 times. It is the worst product I have ever had the displeasure of using in my 56 years of life as it is known here on earth. :robotwink: I am wondering if Verizon wants to hire me, as I am the type of person that compares and analyzes why problems exist.

I took my most recent Storm today to the Verizon store and was told that it would need to wiped of all memory to restore it. I was locked out due to security password max. The kind sales person plugged my phone into their back-up and I was told that I could not have access into my phone and would loss everything, as my password was not being accepted. Well just before SHE was ready to wipe it, I asked to see my phone. Entered the password and gained access. I guess I should have spelled the 5 letter password as it gained access for me immediately. I will be kind and not elaborate, as then I would have to divulge my password that any 1st grader could spell. :smileyhappy:

But wait...! My one month old Asurion replacement Storm ceased to stop working via the 4 buttons at the bottom of the phone. Red hang up button, 7 dot Blackberry multi button, and green call button. Guess why????????!!!!!! Something must have been unprogrammed...why? Well, I used my car charger, and I had the multi charger in use and was charging my IPod at the same time. After utilizing this multi-functional charger my phone must have been unprogrammed as the malfunctions began at this time; hence, I would have to remove the battery to end a call; I could not view photos; I could not send txt; nor access the Blackberry options at all!! Nothing worked...until today when my phone was RESET at the Verizon store because I was locked out due to a password malfunction.

What a good day it is. My Storm is working...for now!! Hope this may help some of you poor souls that also have a Storm 9530.

SydneyK

But just look at what a resourceful troubleshooter you've become after using your Storm, bangheadhere! Ha. (I like your user name, but for some reason my iPad auto-corrected it to "bang washers.")

s0narbr

Ok, insurance is a protection that allows you to get a new phone in the event that you have broken the phone. Yes, it is the same price you paid for the phone for an insurance replacement, this is still much cheaper than paying full retail for the phone which is somewhere around $799.

This is the easiest way that I could explain it. Let's say you purchased a brand new car and then a few days later decide to drive on the wrong side of the road resulting in an accident which damages your vehicle. You wouldn't expect to take it back to the dealership or the manufacturer to get a replacement one for free or even at a steep discount. That's why you have insurance, but even still the insurance company charges a deductible when you make a claim, this is part of the agreement between you and the insurance company that was aggreed upon when choosing to use their service.

It's the same way with phones or any other products that you may purchase. You're responsible for taking care of it. Also as for having to pay an early termination fee is so that the carrier doesn't lose out on the money they've already invested by "giving" the phone away.

kustomsol

How totally naive people are.. i have been a Verizon customer before it was Verizon.. When you had to buy bag phones.In 1994..And one thing i have learned.. VERIZON does not care!!!! I will not go through all the problems i have had with them.. The only thing that keeps me with them is the reliability of the calls. Now if and when the ATT merger goes through i will be gone.

gerio

Oh, please, wake up already...

I deal with people all over the country on many different phone carriers.

From my conversations with them, they all care about the same, a little more or less.

Having said that, my year and a half's worth of experience with Verizon has been head and shoulders above the 14 years I spent with
AT&T (including 3 iPhones).

Go ahead and hold yer breath to see if they get any better after this merger, if it happens. You will be a-looking pretty blue in short order.

Geri O

sjb411

I suggest buying an otterbox case, and saying screw the insurance. Apple gives 90 days phone support, and one year in-store technical support on hardware issues. And $69.99 adittional will get you an extra year, which in most cases will take you through the duration of the contract. As for Verizon customer service, it's really hit or miss. I too dealt with a few rude representatives in the past couple of weeks. But I also had a good experience in another store. I jumped over from AT&T too prematurely cause I thought the iPhone would be more reliable on CDMA, but I've regretted that decision since the day I bought it.

kaebfly

sjb411 wrote:
I suggest buying an otterbox case, and saying screw the insurance. Apple gives 90 days phone support, and one year in-store technical support on hardware issues. And $69.99 adittional will get you an extra year, which in most cases will take you through the duration of the contract. As for Verizon customer service, it's really hit or miss. I too dealt with a few rude representatives in the past couple of weeks. But I also had a good experience in another store. I jumped over from AT&T too prematurely cause I thought the iPhone would be more reliable on CDMA, but I've regretted that decision since the day I bought it.

In your case, when you jumped over and decided from day one that the move was too premature you probably should have used the 14 day return policy as your opportunity to port back to AT&T. Regret on something you felt from the day you did it is something you could have fixed. Not sure what reliability issues you aren't having with Verizon that you expected versus AT&T, but hopefully whatever your issue it is resolved soon. If it's something other than abilities you had with AT&T versus Verizon then that's a little different, but mostly it seems that people that switched did so because they experienced dropped calls more often than they liked. Most that switched for that reason seem to be happy with at least that aspect being better. Not sure if you have an issue that anyone can help with but if you post your issues on here or the Apple Support site I'm sure users will try to help you out if they have any suggestions.

dudewheresmycel

Just signed up to the forum and this is the first post I read.......funny stuff.....finally found someone with something nice to say. I too have had a bad experience at Verizon, but that is life. No ones ever had a terrible waitress or a clerk who at a retail store that is a *****? How about the convienence store or gas station clerks who are apethetic or just clueless? As I put it...when you have an issue and ask for help, the look on their face is like..."the look on the face of a deer in the headlights of a car".

I just went to Verizon as my 8 year old LG became a boat anchor, giving me 100% of its life span. I bought a Thunderbolt and the girl who waited on me was satisfactory. She left me alone to wait on another customer and for me to look at more phones. Another sales rep approached me and we continued from there. When I reached a decision, I asked if the first girl was on commission, and the answer was yes. I thanked the second person and said I would wait for the first girl who spent some time with me. I was then given to the store mgr to start the check out process(which was ultimately completed by my original salesperson). Thereby giving the "paycheck" to the correct salesperson. This is how this girl feeds her family. Isn't that why we work?

All the people in that store (I spoke with 4 of them) were very pleasant. The mgr was very helpful and very, very knowledgeable. They had an issue with transferring data one phone to another as the charging/data port on the old LG has been trashed for a year. They apoligized and seemed almost distraught that they couldn't move the data for me. I understood as I knew the phone was spent. Life happens some times. All in all I have had very good service at this particular store, for personal and buisness products.

As far as the insurance goes, why isn't any here complaining about paying car insurance every year and not getting anything back. How about Homeowners insurance or Life insurance. Where are those Flames? Its just that, a monthly fee that hopefully will help you out when you need it most.

How about our jobs and our customers? If you work with the public, have we ever had our customers be *****? Ohhhhhhh yeah, and we have to smile and say "thank you". Again that's life. A rep from Verizon posted an apology.....nice.....be thankful that someone from Verizon is monitoring this forum and replied. Thank you. Marketing 101...have a good experience and you will tell 3 people, a bad experience and you will tell 7. Its in print.

Well I've bored everyone to tears now....just my thoughts...

P.S. While looking at phones, a store rep was asking me questions and typing on a laptop in the store as we spoke. Before I new it I was now given an install date for the complete FIOS package (internet, TV and phone). I never told her that I was going to do the switch from my current provider. She was very nice, but pushy. Thats her job and is on commission too. I will call and cancel the install. Did that ruin my day....NO....am I going to a forum to scream bloody murder....NO.....am I going to yell that Verizon is a ***** artist....NO. She's just doing what she knows might work to make a sale. Feeding her family (2 cute little kids as we also discussed our children and traded showing pics).

When you get bad service and are truly upset, try and resolve it. If you can't, don't worry about it and avoid that situation again if possible. There's a lot of people in this life walking around sucking on lemons..........

SydneyK

Nice first post, dudewheremycel. I agree with all your points. Service from some is better than others, but I don't let it ruin my day. I treat everyone like human beings and if someone's having a bad day, it's not the end of the world.

WithVZWLongTime

You forgot to include the cost of the insurance in your little cost comparison: (Insurance cost per month * number of months paid prior claim filing) + $169 insurance deductible = Total replacement cost if using insurance or rather Total Protection Plan - the official name per Verizon billing statement. If an Activation Fee is charged for the replacement, that would also impact the total cost to replace it also.

Glad you love your iPhone 4.

Personally, I believe the quality of Verizon's customer service has rapidly degraded since they got in bed with Apple. My VZW Tech friends at my local store forewarned me about the coming changes due to the concessions Verizon made to Apple to get the iPhone. Concessions they would not have had to make if they had accepted Apple's iPhone in the beginning instead of first rejecting it and looking like fools when it flourished on an inferior network. Live and learn, but do not learn the wrong thing.

WithVZWLongTime

Unfortunately, since the iPhone arrived on Verizon, the quality of the Customer Service HAS greatly degraded and in rapid fashion.

Prior to February 2011, I could count on one finger the number of times I had been mistreated or had a Verizon employee handle an issue rudely. Since February 2011, I have run out of hands to count the number of times this has happened.

Recently, an in ept Tech Support ***** accidentally suspended my service (but it could only be seen on the technical side) while troubleshooting an issue I was having with text messaging. When he called me back five minutes later to see if the issue had been resolved and received the "temporarily disconnected" recording, he didn't even get an inkling that he must have done something wrong AND sent me a test stating "I can't call you back" NEVER mentioning that he was NOW getting that recording. This was approximately 1:45 pm CST. When I realized I could no longer MAKE CALLS, I called 611 and got runaround after runaround after runaround. My son had to take off work to come check on me because I am disabled and was home alone without any means of contacting anyone in case of an emergency. After repeated calls to Verizon a Level 2 Tech decided to check EVERY setting for my phone in EVERY Verizon system then at approximately 11:30 PM after my having been on the phone more than 2 hours, he FINALLY DISCOVERED the issue fixed it in two seconds, and explained and apologized for the "inconvenience". INCONVENIENCE?!

They put my family through this UNNECESSARY NIGHTMARE and it was merely an INCONVENIENCE to them. I had to call back three times before anyone would send the feedback to the Tech's supervisor and the reps all acted as if it was no big deal. To this day Verizon has not offered us ANY compensation for my being without service due to this Tech's negligence.

Today, I get one of those not so friendly reminders - "return the defective device....or be charged full retail price" - more than 1 1/2 days AFTER FedEx delivered the device Verizon. Verizon employee's explanation: "Oh, out system just probably hadn't updated yet." So Verizon's idea of good customer service now is to annoy and badger customers rather than have their systems update in real-time?

Truly saddening.

I remember telling a friend who has AT&T that I would NEVER go back to AT&T's atrocious Customer Service and that I would ALWAYS be loyal to Verizon PRECISELY BECAUSE of their Customer Service. (on more than one occassion)

Verizon no longer cares whether "we (customers) can hear them now" or whether we can "rule the air" because they hold all the cards and don't have to be nice.

I just feel let down and sad now because of ALL the companies with whom I do business Verizon WAS a FIVE-STAR STELLAR STANDOUT IN CUSTOMER SERVICE. Now Verizon is just like the rest: overcharge 'em and continue to reduce service.

If they complain, well, in the words of Marie, "Let them eat cake!"

Extremely disappointed.

JojoHunter

I just wanted to let everyone know that the the woman who assisted me on the phone today was amazing. If you ever get a chance to talk to Lauren from Tampa she is very helpful. I hope verizion gets to see this post

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