I have been a loyal Verizon customer for at least 10 years. When I worked for my previous employer, it was based on my advice that the company went with Verizon for its cell phone service (about 20 lines).
So, I'm saying this as a preface, because I'm sold on Verizon as having the best coverage, and, at least in my personal experience, the best quality of cell phone conversations.
That said, I'm afraid the kindest thing that could be said about my story, is that Verizon badly needs to improve its computer systems.
I have just been through an utterly exhausting and exasperating experience with Verizon, which reveals a level of bureaucratic snarl and confusion that could be the plot of a television situation comedy.
The level of frustration I've experienced, and the contradictory information given to me, over this weekend, has been simply astonishing.
Here's my story. On Saturday, Jan 18, 2016, I went online, and used my internet account with www.Verizonwireless.com to order a new cell phone. I was using an "upgrade"; I had gotten a text message from Verizon informing me that I was eligible for such an upgrade.
I wanted to avoid going to the Verizon store, if I could, to save time. I was leaving to go out of town for the week, leaving about 6am on Tuesday, Jan 19, so I paid $15 extra to have a Federal Express delivery done by 10:30am on Monday Jan 18. Everything seemed to go fine, and I completed the order via the internet.
(Important information: the name on the account is [removed]. My wife, Margaret, and I, share the cell phone bill with Donald and [removed], who live at the same address, but they're on the 3rd floor, and we're on the 2nd floor.)
Later that day, I received two emails (forwarded to me by Donald, actually originally sent to [removed] : one that said that "your order has shipped", (order number [removed] ) and the other that the order was on hold (internet order reference number [removed]) because of a payment problem.
Contradiction, anyone?
I called in to Verizon on Sunday afternoon Jan 17, with Donald M*** on the phone with me. We spoke to a Verizon representative, and it turned out the problem with the payment was the zip code: Donald receives his bills at a PO Box, which has a different zip code than our physical address. So, Donald gave the Verizon rep the correct info, and we were told the payment was processed. But, I was also told, as a consequence of the delay in payment, the phone would not ship until the next day, i.e. Monday, and would therefore not arrive until Tuesday (when I would be hundreds of miles away).
What about the order that had supposedly already shipped? I was told this was the shipping material Verizon was providing to me, so that I could turn in my old device. Of course, nowhere in the email did it say any such thing. Any reasonable person would assume, since I only placed one order, that the two emails referred to the same order. One says the order shipped, and the other that it's on hold.
Anyway, I suggested to the Verizon phone rep, how about we change the shipping address to the address where I'll be for the week? You can simply send it to where I'll be. I was told that could be done, but it couldn't be done until a tracking number was assigned to the order. A tracking number might be assigned by later Sunday, or Monday, and that I would be sent an email, telling me what the tracking number was.
As of 9:30am on Monday Jan 18, I had received no new email from Verizon. I checked my online account with Verizon, and the status of my order showed it as being "on hold" because of a payment problem!! I called in to Verizon customer service, and the rep looked up the order, and said that there was no payment problem, but, still no tracking number assigned, so they still couldn't change the "ship to" address. But, by later in the same conversation, the rep
told me that in fact, the order had already shipped, and would arrive by 10:30am! Monday! (That is, within an hour). She suggested I wait until at least 11:30am, and if I hadn't received the phone by then, I should call back.
I called back 12:10pm into Verizon customer service, because, of course, no phone had arrived. The Verizon rep told me that there was still no tracking number, and that he therefore could not change the shipping address.
He suggested the surest way to get the phone, so that I could have it with me on my trip, was to go to the Verizon store. I told the Verizon rep that I was concerned that if I went to the store, with a pending order done over the Internet, the store rep might say that I was trying to "pull a fast one". The Verizon rep said that was not a problem, that he could not cancel the Internet order, but the rep at the store would be able to do so.
So, I drove to the Verizon store. The rep at the store told me that he could not sell me a new phone, because I already had an order which was pending. And, that he could not cancel the order, this could only be done by Verizon Customer Service, over the phone! He conferred with his supervisor, who got involved and who went over to the computer in the store, and allegedly canceled the order. But, then the phone rep tried to complete the process, with his tablet, of selling me the phone, and it would not let him do it. He went back to his supervisor, and told him what was happening.
The store rep, after conferring with his supervisor, then told me, the only way I could get a phone, was to have the existing order canceled, and the only way that could be done, was over the phone. He said I would have to call Verizon customer service, and they would cancel the order for me.
So, I called Verizon customer service yet again. I explained that I was calling from the Verizon store, and that I needed to have the currently existing Internet order ([removed]) canceled. I was put on hold for a half an hour (although the rep kept checking back with me to make sure I was still there), and according to the store rep, the phone rep called a half a dozen different people. (The store rep was able to follow what the phone rep was doing by conferring with his tablet, which showed all the different people that the phone rep was reaching out to).
Finally, the phone rep came back and told me that the order could not be canceled because it was already in transit! The phone rep suggested that the only way around the situation, was to enter an entirely new order, use my wife's upgrade to get the phone, and then when the Internet-order phone arrived on Tuesday, to have that shipment refused. When the shipment was received back at the Verizon warehouse, at that point the order would be canceled, the upgrade would be restored to my line, and that way, when my wife needed to get a new phone, she could use the upgrade from my phone.
This is what eventually happened, and I did walk out of the store with my new phone. This was after spending almost 3 hours in the Verizon store. Not to mention, of course, hours more spent on the telephone on Sunday and Monday with Verizon customer service, and then, of course, add to that the time on the Internet to place the original order. So, I would estimate conservatively that it took me six hours of my time to get a new phone.
So, it seems to me, there are several questions that have to be asked.
1). Is this the kind of experience you want Verizon customers to have?
2). Why could no one in Verizon telephone customer service access the relevant information from the Internet order to either
a) enter a new "ship to" address, or,
b) cancel the order?
3). Why was it, when I logged into my account on www.Verizonwireless.com, I was told as of Monday morning at 9:15 AM January 18, that my order was on hold because of a payment problem (when the payment problem had been cleared up already 24 hours earlier), but when I called into customer service at 9:30 AM Monday, January 18, I was told that the order had already shipped and that I would be receiving it within an hour? Both stories, were, of
course, equally false.
3) Why couldn't the Verizon store cancel the Internet order?
4) Why would the phone rep tell me that he could not cancel the order, but the store could, and then the store rep tell me exactly the opposite?
I will say, every step of the way, the Verizon reps were courteous, friendly, helpful, sympathetic, and professional. I find no fault in how they conducted themselves, except that they gave me false and contradictory information. At least they did so in a very nice manner. Despite what appeared to be their good intentions, they seem to be operating within a system which is virtually nightmarish!
I wondered a couple of times if maybe I was actually on Candid Camera, and a man would pop out and laughingly explain it was really all a big joke. Or, then again, I felt like I was in some existentialist plot written by Albert Camus.
I am writing to you, in the hopes that by taking the time to document my story, I might prompt some change within Verizon that would help other customers avoid having to go through a similar nightmare.
Sincerely Yours,
[Personal information removed as required by the Verizon Wireless Terms of Service]
