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Verizon lost a tower in our community, service has dropped and bill is the same

On June 1st, our community lost the main Verizon tower to ATT. Since that time, service has dropped and many areas, this included voice and data service. I contacted the company early last month and got a ticket issued from the engineering department. I received a text on the 16th of August that I would hear something within 48 hours. Today I contacted customer service because I have still not heard anything and service is terrible. I told them it was not my fault they lost the contract on the tower, but I was being made to suffer. I work in the area where the tower went down and I depend on my phone. I am a school resource officer and this is putting myself and 1800 students at risk. I was kicked up to technical support and after a long conversation, I was told there was nothing they could do. But I could purchase a business network extender that was a refurb for $149. I asked if they were willing to send one as compensation for the loss of service and the still high cost of the service and was told no. I then asked if I could turn my phones back in and get out of my edge agreement, since they did not live up to their part in the contract and was told no. But they are willing to keep working on the problem.

I am very disappointed with the customer service this company now has. It used to be a great company and responsive to their customers, but no more. I was told by the customer service rep that there have been numerous complaints from the community since the loss of the tower. Not sure what my next step is, does anyone have any ideas?

Comments

Snn5

If Verizon makes a change that adversely affects your service agreement, then extenuating circumstances usually prevail.

Samsungcrash

I agree completely, but they have no intention on doing anything other than saying they are sorry

pherson

Then buy out your agreement and switch to another carrier.

rcschnoor

Samsungcrash wrote:

I work in the area where the tower went down and I depend on my phone. I am a school resource officer and this is putting myself and 1800 students at risk.

This is certainly a stretch. I wasn't aware there were any schools without landlines.

Snn5 wrote:

If Verizon makes a change that adversely affects your service agreement, then extenuating circumstances usually prevail.

Samsungcrash wrote:

I agree completely, but they have no intention on doing anything other than saying they are sorry

I'm not sure you understand what Snn5 is telling you. He is letting you know in a situation like this Verizon will normally let you out of your contract without paying your ETF, nothing else.

What exactly do you expect Verizon to do? You have no way of knowing if they are doing anything or not. They could very well have already started with getting a new tower for the area. Problem is that gaining approval from local governing bodies can take YEARS to get. Verizon cannot just go out and start building. They have to have the OK from local government. In at least a couple of locations near me in the past, this has taken over 10 years before cellular companies were allowed to erect towers in some towns. Hopefully your local government officials are not so resistant to change, but I wouldn't count on it.

Snn5

rcschnoor wrote:

Snn5 wrote:

If Verizon makes a change that adversely affects your service agreement, then extenuating circumstances usually prevail.

Samsungcrash wrote:

I agree completely, but they have no intention on doing anything other than saying they are sorry

I'm not sure you understand what Snn5 is telling you. He is letting you know in a situation like this Verizon will normally let you out of your contract without paying your ETF, nothing else.

Yes, I hesitate to be too general with a statement like, "If you aren't getting the service you think you should, Verizon will let you break contract."

Sometimes people are released from contract or other service agreements, but that is a hard fight to win, and is only won when Verizon has decided that all avenues of troubleshooting are covered. Verizon will spend their time and money to rectify a situation almost to a point most would consider to be a waste of resources. If Verizon lets a customer out of contract, Verizon knows they did everything short of actually losing money on a customer, i.e....spend all the revenue they made on the customer thus far on solutions for the same customer with no return on investment.

Samsungcrash

We have landlines, but as a school resource officer, I do not sit at a desk. I have the responsibility of two buildings on one campus and I am moving between those buildings and other places on the campus that I do not have access to a landline. Much of the time, cellular communications/messaging is what we rely on.

I understand all the problems with getting a tower built and I do not fault Verizon for the time it takes to build them. My problem is I am paying the same for the service I used to get and now not getting. What got me was when they tried to sell me a business network extender to fix the issue, so now I am to put in a mini tower so they will have more customers on the campus be able to use their technology.

veryfrustrated0118

You are paying the same for the service because it works NATIONWIDE without having to pay extra. NOT because it works where you live and work. Yes it is inconvenient but if you need to rely on mobile communication your job should be footing that bill. Maybe they'll pay for a prepaid basic phone from another carrier that you can use while you are at work.

rcschnoor

sprmankalel wrote:

Yes it is inconvenient but if you need to rely on mobile communication your job should be footing that bill. Maybe they'll pay for a prepaid basic phone from another carrier that you can use while you are at work.

Or for radios which many schools use in my area. They are more dependable than cellular and do not come with a monthly service charge.

Samsungcrash wrote:

What got me was when they tried to sell me a business network extender to fix the issue, so now I am to put in a mini tower so they will have more customers on the campus be able to use their technology.

This is not unusual for businesses/government agencies. To get continuous service inside of buildings and across campuses, businesses often pay to have these installed. To think Verizon would provide this for free is ludicrous. To cover an area the size of a school campus would be a several thousand dollar endeavor. It is possible Verizon thought you were calling with purchasing approval from the school.

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