When did tech support get so bad?

[slanoue]

I've been wanting to get a new phone because my S8+ is 5 years old. It still works great, but I wanted a new one. They cost so much now... When I bought the S8+, I got a great deal where it only cost $400 (half price). I didn't have to trade in my old phone, either. A few weeks ago, I clicked on one of the links in the texts that Verizon always sends me about "great deals." It said to trade in my old phone for up to $800 (basically, a new phone). But when I clicked on it, it said my phone was not eligible - not worth the trade-in. Then someone suggested I look around for more deals.

I went back to the Verizon site and talked to someone on the live text chat. She got me a new S23 (what I wanted) and it only cost me about $200 in fees (plus I have to trade in my old one). I definitely told her that I didn't want a new line; this is an upgrade to an existing line. I saved a copy of the chat, just in case she was wrong.

I was excited to get it today and set it up. I followed the instructions and backed up my old S8+. I turned on the new one and started clicking on the choices it gave me. I think I may have clicked on something wrong (I'm not sure). At one point, it gave me two choices that I didn't understand, so I chose the one that looked most like what it should be, I guess? Although it did ask me if I wanted to upgrade to a new line or an existing one, and I definitely clicked on "existing." Not only that, but it kept going back and making me sign in and do it all over again. This happened three times. It should not be this difficult to activate a new phone! I've never had this trouble before.

By that time, it was after 11pm central time. Then I got an error message saying that activation didn't work and I needed to call this number or go to a store. So I phoned the number, and the chatbot asked me what I wanted, etc. I told it that I needed help with activation, and it asked me to verify the phone number, so I did. Then it said, "Got it, now what do you need help with?" as if I hadn't already asked for help. Then it hung up on me. I tried again and tried to get a human tech support person, but it ended up hanging up on me again. I tried a different tech support number I found on the site and it told me that the "tech coach" was closed. I guess there's no more 24/7 tech support by phone?

So I went to Twitter (on my computer), where it said 24/7 tech support. It was about 11:40. Right now it's 2:40am my time. 😞 The first person I talked to, who gave the name Sierra, kept asking me the same questions. Then she disappeared.

Another person, Jose, finally showed up after I kept asking where she went. I don't know what the problem is, but there seems to be a good 4 or 5 minutes between every text. It's very difficult to put up with. I'm not that patient!

Anyway, he got me on the secure chat, so I had to go over to my phone (the S8+). Somewhere along the line, I noticed that my new phone (the S23) was now saying it was activated, but gave me a new, local number (not the one I was already using). So, somehow I have a new line, which is not what I wanted. Anyway, after I had to repeat everything to Jose, and he worked on the problem, he told me to restart the S23 and turn off the S8. That didn't work.

Then after a while longer, after I went back to Twitter DM and regular Twitter, saying, "Helloo, where did you go?" Finally, we got back on the Verizon chat on the S8+. He's trying to work on it. I would like to go to bed soon....

Look, I don't fault the people here doing the work. They're probably trying to help multiple people on Twitter. I fault Verizon, who seems to have severely downgraded their customer service and tech support. Shame on you, Verizon! 😞

While I'm here complaining 😉 I would like to say that I'm disappointed that the S23 screen is quite a bit smaller than the S8+ screen, yet it seems heavier and thicker. I'm not happy about that. I'm sure there will be things I love about the new one, though...

[vzw_customer_support]

slanoue, we're sorry to hear about the long experience. We want to make sure, were you able to get your phone activated?

*Brianna