For those who bought Charge's while told 4G would be covered in their area (but still isn't) . . .

[boobdole]

I am in the Ventura/Oxnard area and was told by multiple Verizon Reps in my area that 4G would be in my area by Summer of 2011.  It's currently March 2012 and still no coverage.  When discussing this with the online reps, I was told it should be in all areas by the end of 2013, making everyone who bought the phone, believing it would be in their area, to buy 4G phones at ridiculous prices ($300 for me) for technology they can't even use because of being misled by Verizon employees. 

My conversation with the Verizon people is documented here:

https://community.verizonwireless.com/message/789050#789050

Am I the only person that this has happened to or are there other people in this same boat?  Is it really fair to mislead customers to buying into something you don't actually plan on offering to them during their 2 year contract?  I find it hard to believe that last July they really believed it would be rolled out in our area by that summer but were only off by a mere 2 and a half years . . . (I did the math wrong in the conversation with the Verizon online rep, not that it really mattered). 

[Ann154]

Why did you create another thread?

This community is a peer to peer forum. Customers/users helping other customers.

[boobdole]

The other forum was a response to Verizon's service directly in hopes of contacting an actual Verizon employee.  This one is to compare my issues with the phone I bought, the Samsung Charge (during the likely period many others bought it since this was the flagship product at the time contracts were being grandfathered in, a time when many people chose to upgrade to this phone) with others who had similar experiences, which is directly peer to peer related. 

I was asking a question, highlighted in bold in my previous post:

Am I the only person that this has happened to or are there other people in this same boat?  Is it really fair to mislead customers to buying into something you don't actually plan on offering to them during their 2 year contract? 

[Davidoo]

You are not the only one.  I live in the Phoenix metro area and the coverage map shows everything within miles of me as 4G.  However, the day I brought the Charge home I saw it change to 3G turning onto my street.  I can get 4G in some in my house but it is spotty.  I called Verizon last summer (2011) and they said I should be getting 4G.  I was transferred to level 2 support and they told me the one tower near me was not yet upgraded to 4G which is why it was not working well at my house.  They said this tower was DEFINITELY going to be upgraded in the "fall" of 2011.  It is March 2012 and no upgrade. 

[boobdole]

Well, apparently, either we're the only two people with this problem or most people don't really care if they're lied to about these kind of things.  Personally, I think it's very concerning if a company is content with poor customer service.  But I guess that's just me. 

[DC5_K20Z1]

Same here...out in Fountain Hills, Az....and no 4g coverage yet...once I hit about 136st and Shea in Scottsdale, I pick up 4g

[cea]

Nope, your not the only ones. I live in Ventura too with the same exact situation. Verizon rep's just keep saying it will be a few more months. I think people are just too lazy to care enough to create a profile and voice themselves in this forum. Its a shame that large corporations like verizon obviously have the profits to do something about situations like this but would never do anything unless forced by a court after enough people got irritated enough. So...come on people! Get irritated and let verizon know. Ann 154; your posts are strangely over-sympathetic to verizon. If your not a rep or a moderator where is your head at?

[commonsense101]

4g is just data speeds, the phones that are 4g cost more because they have better processor or extra memory..

whats the issue? it works on 3g

[cea]

O _ o   The issue is in the title of this thread. But if you need some extra help let me break it down:

3G = Slower

4G = Faster

I want faster.

Verizon store rep. says, "faster will be here in 3 months."

I buy more expensive phone to soon have faster.

More than a year and a half later faster has still not come.

I wasted money on a more expensive phone that isn't faster.

And for $@?% sake why does Bakersfield, Fresno and Modesto have 4G before VTA/Oxnard area?

[Ann154]

Available backhaul (fiber infrastructure) in that area vs your area?

[romsRfun]

This is very true.  Comcast supplies Verizon's fiber to their comm stations.  If there is not fiber you get 3g.  What's the big deal?  Eventually Comcast will lay the pipe down for Verizon.  It's all about cost and supply and demand.  Demand + Cost = Supply.  You get the idea.

4g will come eventually.  It's very expensive to get it to where you want it.  Magic doesn't happen over night.

[boobdole]

The issue was the misinformation regarding 4G.  It would be a very different story if they had said "it will be there by the end of 2013."  I doubt many people would have bought the devices at that point if it wasn't in their area but they want to sell phones.  So they tell people instead that it should be out by the end of summer.

At the very least, it's purposely misleading or the company has a policy to purposely keep their employees in the dark and not understand the realities of the situation.  Like I said though, at the end of the day, they can either be legalistic and say "we covered all our bases, it's not our fault" and legally, they are right.  But from a customer standpoint who wants to be able to trust their company's words and service, it's not acceptable and will cost them customers. 

[boobdole]

When I settled for this 4G phone, it was because I wanted to get in before unlimited data gets eliminated so I could be grandfathered in.  The 4g phones were single core, 1 GHz processors while the 3g phones were significantly cheaper, faster, dual core processors.  I settled on the inferior phone for the larger price so I could have 4g as it was "right around the corner."  I would never have bought the phone I did if I had known that it was going to take so long to get rolled out (why would I spend more money on a crappier phone for something that wasn't being released anytime soon? I could have waited for my next upgrade cycle for a 4g phone and got a better phone for cheaper). 

And to be fair, it's pretty poor on 3g cuz it was intended for 4g.  It has LOTS of connectivity issues.  For $300, I want a phone that works well with new technology.  Settling for an average to below average phone FILLED with crapware you can't remove that doesn't work well with present technology but will work with technology that was SUPPOSED to be rolled out that's never arrived is ridiculous.  And if Verizon was misleading, they are at least partially responsible and, if they really want to keep customers, they will make up for it or, at the very least, acknowledge the mistake.  Acting like they have nothing to do with it and that no mistake was done and such is insulting to a customer who is clearly not impressed by their customer "service." 

If I have any logic flaws here, by all means, feel free to point them out.  But to me, this is a no brainer.  It's simple logic. 

[KDM1976]

same here in pueblo colorado. was told middle of last year by the end of the year and still nothing.

[M91-30]

no verizon employee is supposed to promise/guarantee service by a date. this is because things happen, and verizon can't control this. that said, it's also not all their fault, as you believed them. service is supposed to be nation wide by the end of 2013, but even that isn't guaranteed.

[boobdole]

This is true that it is my fault for believing them but I still have the right to switch services at the end of my contract.  If a company is unwilling to make up for lack of services provided with their customer service support (or anything, really), why would I even consider staying with them?  Why wouldn't I give someone else a chance?  At the very least, they're every bit as bad and the only thing that's changed is that Verizon loses money and someone else gets that money.  I pay about $160/mo or so for the phones on my account and I imagine they'd like to keep that. 

This is what I see.  Verizon can either step up to the plate and say "we want to be known for our excellent customer service" or at least acknowledge that some people are getting screwed over and try to work with us.  If their attitude is going to be "we're going to wait until your contract is up and THEN try to be your friend", I'm not falling for that one and I WILL leave.  I will also share my experiences with Verizon with other people and they can decide whether they want to stay with Verizon or jump ship as well. 

But honestly, why has Verizon's customer service been so awful lately?  Or has it always been bad and I'm just now seeing it because I'm actually trying to get service from them?

[romsRfun]

The best darn statement I've heard yet.  lol         

[Tidbits]

Soon all devices that came out in the last 6 months would be considered inferior.

Also Verizon didn't force you to get a phone right then and there. You could have waited, but you had chosen not to.

Why does it have to be the charge? A hidden agenda for yourself. If you actually really cared about other people you would say all 4G devices whether inferior or not...

[boobdole]

The reason I chose a charge (unless I'm misunderstanding your question about why it had to be the charge) is because the only other options were the thunderbolt (which was rumored to get about 6 hours of use before needing to be recharged) or the revolution (which had nothing exciting about it).  Spec wise, at the time for anyone wanting to be grandfathered in with unlimited data, if you wanted a 4G device, the charge was the best option (but paled in comparison spec wise to some of the 3G phones that were being released at the time with faster, dual core processors).  The only thing the charge had going for it versus a regular 3G phone was it had 4G support.  Now if 4G wasn't going to even be released before the end of their contract, why would anyone buy 4g?  Hence, the misinformation about it being out by summer.  At this rate, I'll be out of my 2 year contract before I even get the chance to use 4G and I bought an expensive $300 phone that's slower, single core, has worse battery life, is laggy, and is bundled with all kinds of bloatware (to be fair, the last point might be true of other 3G phones as well but I can't confirm this). 

Regarding the "could've waited" part, yes, I could have.  Anytime we make a decision, we make decisions based on the information we have.  I was provided misinformation directly from the company so I chose to act on what I felt to be the best decision at the time.  If I had the correct information, I would have acted differently and I do blame Verizon for providing faulty or, at the very least, incomplete information. 

And what are you talking about a "hidden agenda"?  I'm asking if other people are in the same boat as me.  I'm not going to pretend to speak for people with different experiences and different phones because that wasn't my experience.  If you have a thunderbolt and you have the same experience, fair enough.  Feel free to add to the conversation.  All I'm doing is sharing my experience and seeing if others are experiencing the same.  There's no conspiracy here, calm down.