I have been a Verizon customer for about 8 years and have found it to be the best of the major service providers. This particular store, however, finds itself falling well behind the standards of Verizon. I went in today for help with my HTZ Rezound only to be turned out of the store to await shipment of a phone (bare phone without a battery, which I would find later to be the actual problem).
The store rep insisted I had a "loose charging port", which does happen on occasion but absolutely is not the problem with my phone. In the store, I had to pay an expedited fee to receive a replacement phone in three days (Holiday weekend). Worth noting, the rep's attempt at sarcastic humor was to ask if I had another primary number (other than my inoperable cell phone and only contact number) and chuckle that "at least it's Memorial Day Weekend". Perhaps he was a jerk, perhaps stupid, but I did not find any humor in that the holiday weekend would cause for me to be without a phone for even longer.
Once home, I used my wife's phone to call into Verizon's national help line. The gentleman on the phone was very helpful and apologetic about my in-store experience and offered proper replacement of my phone's battery. The expedited shipping was at no additional cost.
I then inquired with the telephone rep as to how I might seek better customer service in my area, and he suggested I call in to speak with the store manager. When calling in, I was put on hold to speak with Shelley (sp?), the store manager. Even though I have read on customer forums and was told by the phone representative that many stores offer in-store exchanges, the manager insisted that my experience today was perfectly acceptable, and had I paid the $6.99 insurance each month, then I would not be expected to pay for expedited shipping. ....And I thought insurance was for items/instances outside of manufacturer defects.
As a customer that pays for a family plan well over $500 per month, I would expect better service when visiting the store. I do not fault Verizon as a whole for this problem, but I certainly hope that someone at the Corporate level is made aware of the apparent issues with this particular store and pursues restructuring.
