No complaints from me this time!
oldfashioned
Specialist - Level 2

I just got off a long chat session with a Verizon CSR who was extremely helpful and patient with me and at the end, I was very happy to fill out a very positive review of the experience.  And now I understand the context of this pre-paid gift card and there *is* a reward for loyalty with Verizon, now that I understand it.  I didn't even realize before that you can renew your contract once it expires and keep the same rates as before so that way, your rates can't just go up at any time with the monthly plan.  Mine have gone up a little but I just renewed my contract and for the same rates with some nice discounts included, I'll be getting even faster Internet and download speed, more TV stations (?), and upgraded phone service.  Heck...now that's a great deal and I know for sure you can't get that from the cable companies!  And here I was thinking the whole time that a rate increase with Verizon was inevitable.  I guess there may be some increase in the contarct rate over time time but to get these nice upgrades at lower rates will make my estimated monthly bill a lot cheaper than what it is now (back to what it was before my last contract expired) once I am past the one time activation fee for the upgrade.  The savings overtime is worth it then.

I understand now that for the special offers, you can turn them all down, you can choose the gift card, or you can choose a free year's subscription to HBO or Cinemax.  In the context of all that, turning down the gift card would have been stupid for me to do.  In all reality if I can do what I want with it like applying the payment to my next bill or putting it in my bank account or using it for food shopping, then what's the harm in that?  I do apologize if I was sounding ignorant about that before but now that I understand it, it makes a lot more sense.  I read more informaton about it and it seems very much like a debit card, to be used wherever Visa debit cards are accepted with restricitons and security features and there is a way to report it if it's lost or stolen.

I know that we all have had bad experiences with some customer service reps before but overall, I don't think my experience with the customer service has been that bad overall and this last experience is actually an addition to some of my other positive experiences in the past.  It seems to me like these negative experiences with customer service over the phone can happen with any corporation and I have been there plenty of times to know that.  In the scheme of things, if a conversation with one of these reps over the phone goes over poorly, it's better for me to end the call and call back later.  Emails and live chats and shared sessions have been serving the same purpose equally well for me.

Verizon is a great product and I really appreciate the great job this last CSR on chat did for me.  Sometimes all it takes is that one person to explain everything and she wasn't insulting or rude in any way, shape, or form.

There is no way I will ever switch to cable, especially knowing what I know now.  I can't see myself switching over to a lower quality product from cable just because of some bad CSR experiences over the telephone.   I don't really undersand this idea of disconnecting all the service and then starting with Verizon all over again just to get a cheaper bill, now that I see that I just need to renew my 2 year contract each time it expires.  I didn't know that before but I know now.