I have been with Sprint for many years. They have bad customer service. I am thinking of moving to Verizon. I have searched for reviews and read that Verizon's customer service is better than the other carriers. See this: http://cell-phone-providers-review.toptenreviews.com/
What I read in the Verizon forums makes Sprint sound good. Is Verizon really that bad?
I've had nothing but good "people" in dealing with customer service. It's not their fault that some companies policies prevent the customer service reps from helping more.
I've been with Verizon for several years. I"ve never had any of them be rude. They've always helped the best they can.
Thank you, good to hear that.
The customers who don't have issues don't come to forums like this. You are seeing a skewed slice of the customer base.
A good consumer (after trying to resolve issues with customer service) will
post in forums to let buyers beware, and let others know of their
experience.
I've had great luck with Verizon customer service. In fact recently renewed a new two year agreement using my upgrade for my wife (transferred my unlimited line's upgrade to her so I could keep unlimited, the online system views this as an upgrade from the line that receives the transferred upgrade, not necessarily the line getting a new contract).
I called the customer service reps after ordering the phone and elected the pickup at store option to ask them about waiving the upgrade fee. They explained the upgrade fee and what it was for (classes, etc...) and I told them I had been with them for many years, and would like them to issue a credit on my account to waive the fee. The lady issued the credit after just a few minutes it showed up on my account.
The only time I've had issues with Verizon employees is in the store. That same day I went in and got into an argument with the manager over keeping my unlimited data with the upgrade, I explained what I did to him and he said it didn't matter. After the phone was activated and I showed them the unlimited data was still there, they were shocked. However in the explanation over why I was to lose the plan they were very aggressive.
They do anything in their power to help you. Which to me is a great thing. If they cannot help you they will always be trying to assist you anyway they can find. They do not just say sorry I do not know your problem which to me shows great customer service.
I agree with this, the customer service phone reps are always extremely helpful. I have never gotten off of the phone with one of them upset or unsatisfied.
One of the big things as well is they all (to my knowledge) are located here in the US, which means they are easier to understand then some of the other companies which outsource their support. Not sure if Sprint does this, however it's certainly something to keep in mind.
That all depends. I have been with Verizon since before they were called Verizon and I have to say over the years I have had some Great Customer service and some horrible Customer service. I hate to say it but most of my Bad Customer Service has been within the last 2 years and prior to that it was good if not outstanding.
I think one of the many problems we see here in the forums is Verizon pushes everything to a Customer Service rep (Technical issues, return issues, damaged phone issues etc...) but they do not give the CS rep the kind of training they need to handle everything. Most of the bad CS issues I have seen in the forums has to do with the Verizon CS rep providing answers to why people are being charged for damaged or non returned phones and Verizon is really a third party to that process and rely on what the Processing center tells them or puts in their notes. The other bad thing I see here is that in many cases the CS rep just does NOT know the answer to the question either basic or complex so they give the customer what they think is the right answer or more so what the customer wants to hear.
The last part is While the CS rep might want to do the right thing and honor someone else's promise or try to make it right for the customer, Verizon does NOT allow them to in many cases especially if it deviates at all from actual policy.
I think the CS rep gets a bad rap in many cases and in some they are bad mostly from a lack of training.
It's high turn around. There's only so much a person can take. Often most people take out their frustration on these reps and eventually they'll go find another job.
Sometimes reps are being helpful and the customer doesn't see it that way because they are not getting what they want regardless of what happens. They have unrealistic expectations at times too.
No I do not work for Verizon. I have done a long stint CS jobs when I was much younger. You'd be surprised how much abuse these guys take on a daily basis.
Ha ha if you only knew all the times the public was loud or aggressive to me and my fellow state employees you could laugh.
What people forget is verizon provides connectivity to their network. If you have a connection problem then yes call customer tech support. If you want to change your plan, you call customer service or do it online yourself, if you want to buy a device or accessories you call the sales department, however in theses low paying high turn over customer service positions these people are reading from a database of issues and steps to correct them. In a rare case the issue of what we the customer believes should be done and what is allowed are two different things.
Verizon also maintains a technical database for your individual devices, again its a process of let's start with solution one and work our way up to solution ten. If lucky the screen instructions should fix the situation. You then are happy. But you can call the device maker and their tech support people are reading from a troubleshooting script. No one can possibly know what and how every phone and tablet will ever encounter so tensions run high, customer feels his/her issue is not being taken seriously and they vent. Get angry, threaten, etc. In Verizon's case they throw money credits at you. Or they lie and say they are giving credits but they don't or cannot because the system only allows a certain dollar amount. Its a way to appease a customer for the moment and get you off the phone.
Then we run into customers who just did not read their contracts, manuals, plan particulars and call in and demand the change under their so called loyalty or amount they pay for service. Again your broken phone is not Verizon's problem. They will honor manufacturer warranty, they will direct you to Asurion Insurance, they will try and troubleshoot basic phone issues. But they can only do so much. My personal take should be that verizon and other cellular carriers only provide connectivity to their networks.
The customer should purchase the devices directly from the maker of the phones, the makers should provide the OS updates, and the warranty should be handled through them and not Verizon and other carriers.
These cries of my WiFi and data is not working, and I have huge data use with this phone or that should be addressed through the maker of your phone and not Verizon.
Verizon should be only there for connectivity to their network issues, text and phone call issues, and plans and billing.
The contracts should be gone and then the other issues of my phone stopped working, it was stolen, I left it in my cold freezer, I sent it back and now your billing me for non receipt etc. It should be handled by the customer and phone manufacturer. Verizon then can handle the issues without all the gripes of non working this or that.
But I can only dream…..
Thank you all for your input. It is very helpful.
I have been with Sprint since 1998. I have never had a lot of problems until recently. Sprint is upgrading their towers and I am constantly having trouble making and receiving calls. I have continued to support Spring through this since last July. Now I am hearing they will take another 6-8 months to finish the upgrades. This is in the Minneapolis, MN area. I have called Sprint many times and they are not willing to do much to keep long term customers. I have received two discounts to my bill, $40 total. But this is nothing compared to the impact to my business.
I understand that Verizon is the "top" carrier out there from what I read. They have the best coverage, the best support and they cost the most. But if they truly have the best coverage and support, I am willing to pay for it.
Thanks again for all the input.
In one respect you are 100% correct, verizon wireless has the best network. But you will pay through the nose for it.
The customer service from just two years ago if you check online sources even JD Powers (who gave them outstanding customer service marks) now ranks them towards the bottom on "customer support" something known as greed and profits by any means has taken over. So customer service is low on the food chain and suffers.
Sprint is upgrading and expanding, its logical that growing pains will happen. But remember eventually the service will be top notch you just have to wait for it a mite.
Good Luck
The problem with JD award. It's at times luck of the draw. Surveying a % of users won't give you the actual number of happy people vs. unhappy people.
Yes. So don't bother changing. You'll never get any answers. You'll get put on hold for 71 minutes and then they will cut you off (terminate the call) and your blood pressure will shoot sky high because you can never get any help out of this bloodsucking money grubbing company. They are too big for their britches!
Let me reword my reply. If you are looking for customer service, you may from time to time receive a good rep that goes the extra mile.
If you are looking for follow-up or technical support for, let's say, oh I don't know, NO_SERVICE POOR_SIGNAL NO CONTACT INFORMATION FOR TECH SUPPORT OTHER THAN MAKING A PHONE CALL AND STAYING ON HOLD THEN GETTING DISCONNECTED, then I say no. Don't do Verizon. Truly you will get better service with straight talk or one of those type phone services than Verizon, even though they all use mostly Verizon towers and signals. However, the signals are better with one of the other guys phones and their plans. Which are much cheaper anyway.
Why should any customer have to go to a forum and SEEK help from support? Support should be readily available via phone, email, chat (with a real person and not a computer picking up on keywords). See if you can locate technical support OUTSIDE OF THIS "SUPPORT COMMUNITY". Oh, and you can air your questions on Facebook and Twitter. Isn't that helpful? Don't bother, you won't get answers there either.
Happy New year.
We think our customer service is the best in the business! We'd love to have you as a customer toddelof! You can follow this link to start the process of transferring your number to Verizon. http://bit.ly/qDhvBY Have a great day! Thank you, MichelleH_VZWFollow us on Twitter @VZWSupport
