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Are All Stores This Rude To iPhone Customers?

I am a new customer who just switched from AT&T after 10 years and after just buying my iPhone 5 last Monday, my SIM card apparently went out on Friday. I called Customer Service and he offered to overnight me a new one but apparently didn't opt for Saturday Delivery because it's Monday and I still haven't received it.

I had been without my cell phone all of Friday while at work so after work, I went to the LaMarque/Texas City, TX Verizon store to see about getting a new SIM card instead of waiting for the one to come in the mail (thank goodness I didn't wait!). I have 2 small children and no home phone. When I walked in, I told the guy the problem and he said I'd have to go to the Apple Store because he wasn't able to remove the SIM card. Huh? I told him I had just removed it myself that morning and he said if I could remove it, he'd give me a new SIM card but he just didn't have a tool to do it with. So I asked for a small paperclip and removed the SIM card myself.

While he was working on replacing this, a girl who worked there asked him what he was doing when she saw the paperclip and SIM card on the counter. He told her what my problem was and right in front of me she said "Oh I just send them to the Apple Store. It's not like we have those to just give away."

Am I not a Verizon Wireless customer??

Comments

Vearless

yes, in Ohio I walked in to replace my husbands old cell-flip-up type with one of the same. Just a flip phone. My gosh I was asking for the world. They didnt have Any, and could not order any!!

kaebfly

In your case...(not sure how the attitude of the store reps was) it's possible that the phone you were looking for is no longer available...which might explain why they didn't have any and couldn't order. You should be able to check online to see if it's still sold through VZW. If the staff was rude...report it to Corporate (assuming it's a VZW store and not just an affiliate). Or contact the store and report the incident to the manager. If rude behavior goes on reported it will never change.

To the OP, same advice. I've never had to go to the VZW store to get a replacement sim (knock on wood) so I don't know if they generally tend to steer people to Apple for one but it does seem odd. In my area though they wouldn't have that option...the closet Apple store is about 100 miles away. So I would assume if the store didn't really carry them they would likely say they would have to order it. I also find it odd that the rep wouldn't take the sim out because they didn't have the tool to do so...was this a store that doesn't have an actual in-house tech rep? All of the true VZW stores in my area have techs on site so I would assume they could handle taking a sim out...but I think there is one authorized retailer that sells all things VZW but does not provide any tech support...and will direct you elsewhere for assistance. Could it be possible that you were dealing with one of those type places? I know some can look like they are VZW (signage and everything looks like it would at a "real" VZW) but they may have something in small print that says "Authorized Retailer".

At any rate, I really hope that your experience isn't the norm. I admit, I haven't had to go to a VZW store too often since I started using the iPhone (Feb 2011) but I never experienced terrible CS in any of the stores I visited in the past.

amandal0514

I made sure to go to an actual Verizon store. It was out of the way (and why I couldn't go during my lunch hour) but I knew better than to try with an Authorized Retailer. Going to an Apple store would have been another 30 minute drive for me to the big mall and it would have been a huge headache with my 7 year old and 6 month old in tow!

BTW my SIM card was delivered to my house a few hours ago. I'm at work today so that would have been another entire day without a phone by the time I got to it.

21stNow

I'm not defending the behavior if it was rude, but I have seen store reps with another carrier reluctant to change SIM cards on phones that use microSIM cards. I gave the benefit of the doubt and assumed that they worried that they may scratch the phone with a paper clip. I know that when I went to Best Buy, they will use any and everything to open the SIM card slot with no hesitation.

Funny side note, I had one rep tell me those tools were expensive and hard to come by. I looked at him and told him that even in this economy, I don't consider less than a dollar expensive. I ordered one from Amazon and I think that the tool itself was 10 cents, with around 60 cents for shipping.

kaebfly

I wonder if you had contacted Apple over the phone if shipping would have taken as long? I guess since the order was placed on Friday it isn't too much of a surprise that it arrived on Monday (I don't think VZW ever does Saturday delivery...I may be wrong about that but if I'm not mistaken, if you order something on a Friday and they ship overnight you won't get it to Monday). I know one Christmas when I ordered an iPod for my son for Christmas they actually delivered it on a Sunday which was a total shock but that may have been a holiday deadline meeting thing...or a fluke.

Anyway, glad you go what you needed before today...not sure if the sim they sent you is useless but I sure would hang on to it...just in case something happened and you needed it!

Verizon_Support

@amandal0514,

I appreciate you bringing this matter to my attention; I understand how frustrating this can be for you. On behalf of Verizon Wireless, please allow me to apologize. Verizon Wireless has a strong customer commitment to delivering the best from our service and staff. I am disappointed to hear the service you received from this store did not reflect this commitment. If you have the name of the representative and the store location I can submit feedback for them to the store manager.

Please reply with the additional information so I can submit the feedback.

John B

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

KEV815PAN

Amanda, just so that you are aware of the following: Any iPhone Replacements or Repairs (during the Standard 1 year Warranty or 2 Years with Apple Care+) must be Repaired at an Apple Store Genius Bar, NOT a Verizon Store. Just FYI.

mflandshark

Same thing happened to me a few weeks ago except it was with a Motorola device. I was told by customer service that the store location would have a sim that works for me but they didn't. I wasn't upset about it or anything I just wish that the phone rep would have known before telling me to drive 30 minutes out of my way.

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