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ZERO loyalty incentives for existing FIOS bundle customers

And I mean ZERO.

My bundle is set to expire and a phone call to the dreaded customer service line to see what kind of new bundle was available produced pretty much what you would expect. Nothing.

Because I am technically not a new customer I was told I am not eligible for the current $79.99/month promotion. Nevermind that I am snail mail-bombed and e-bombed with that offer as an existing customer, which of course makes no marketing sense if you are not going to let existing customers sign up when their current bundle expires.

So .... the CS rep offered me a new 2 year contract with a $5.00/month price INCREASE. Yes, an increase. I guess that is the reward for sticking with Verizon and FIOS over Comcast.

My home is wired for both. I really prefer to have the FIOS but it sure ain't worth being disrespected as a customer and it sure ain't worth being a chump and paying $25 more per month than the guy next door.

You seriously need to revisit your service model because frankly this is just crap.

Comments

doreenski

Tried to give Kudos to this post - and guess what - it wouldn't let me! Verizon Customer Service strikes again!

[Deleted User]

doreenski,

Which post did you try to give kudos to? You should be able to give kudos to the original post by clicking on the +sign/thumbs up button. However, you cannot kudo your own posts.

qwerty112

I confirm - there is no way to give Kudos!

"Sorry, you can't give kudos to this post"

Well, it makes sense to block current customers from complaining! Future customers certainly would not like it.

Taking it to Twitter and Facebook should eliminate the problem!

BlackHalo

I had the same thing happen, although my contract is not up for another 12 months. I wanted to add a land-line, up the FiOS speed, and remove Showtime. If I was a new customer, the base rate, including discounts would have been $104, vs the $99 I pay now (before Multi room DVR etc...).

I did the online Chat thing, and well of course I got the run around, and told what a great deal I was being offered and did I want it. Im not sure what was more insulting, them trying to push the idea that the $129 deal was "so much better" or that they did not acknowledge the fact it was slap in the face for a current paying customer.

I guess the idea is they bring them on in waves. Basically, the $30 I saved each month on the previous contract, I would be paying for in the "new" contract,. Then when it comes time to renew, they bump up the price some more, hope you renew, and they get their money back the next time around.

So yeah, thanks Verizon... In the words of Darrell Hamond as Sean Connery...

Suck it... Suck it long... and Suck it Hard.

somegirl

@doreenski wrote:
Tried to give Kudos to this post - and guess what - it wouldn't let me! Verizon Customer Service strikes again!

@qwerty1 wrote:
I confirm - there is no way to give Kudos!
"Sorry, you can't give kudos to this post"
Well, it makes sense to block current customers from complaining! Future customers certainly would not like it.
Taking it to Twitter and Facebook should eliminate the problem!

My guess would be that you guys just signed up for the forum. (Based on your profiles, that's a very safe guess.)

According to the Community Ranking System, that would give you the default privileges, but not the ability to give kudos. Now that you have posted something and gained Contributor status, you should be able to give kudos.

Care to try again and let us know the result?

jrod_z28

I jut ran into the same issue where they were not willing to provide me with the new customer contract for 2 years, I guess they don't need my business. I'm switching providers.

GS110

Yeah the lack of the ability to get a half way decent deal caused me to get my cable from DTV. Now I am being told by customer service I cannot downgrade my service until my final bill is paid and to top it off I will keep getting charged for the triple play until then. I cannot afford to just shut it all off cause I use my internet for work. What a crock. I guess its time to go internet shopping as well. To bad because I really did like the FIOS internet.

topdog

I must say, I had a very different experience when I renewed my service. Why don't you try again and see what happens. Ask whoever you talk to to transfer you to the "Customer Retention Department. They will try very hard to keep you as a customer.

applemacdave

two things to chime in with here...

1) agree 100% with the OP, Verizon seems to have no love at all for existing customers. Currently, I can "upgrade" to the triple play with the same channels and SLOWER internet for $5 more per month... and this is a "deal".

2) anyone else notice that the ONLY Verizon-backed response to this thread is about the kudos statement and not the actual issue at hand?

I'm currently shopping to switch to anything but verizon, it sucks because I've been a customer since day 1 availability in my area and I've sent at least a dozen people their way, but I'm tired of paying out the <you know what> because I'm an existing customer.

armond_in_nj1

@applemacdave wrote:
... Verizon seems to have no love at all for existing customers ... I'm currently shopping to switch to anything but verizon ... I've been a customer since day 1 ... but I'm tired of paying [more] because I'm an existing customer.

If I understand the argument here, the complaint is that existing customers are unable to take advantage of promotions offered to new customers. Perhaps it's just me, but this situation resembles what logicians refer to as a tautology. I.e., the words are self-explanatory or self-proven. You cannot get a "new customer" promotion if you are not a "new customer," and usually you cannot get "new customer" status by dropping an account for a certain period of time, and then re-establishing the account.

This isn't a "Verizon thing" or a "Comcast thing" or anything similar. It's a time-worn retailing technique that's in use in a wide range of industries. By way of comparison, my local newspaper is constantly offering me special 6 or 12 week rates, provided that I later subscribe at the full price. I would find it very unusual if they later offered me "new subscriber" rates, and continued to do so, throughout the life of the relationship. I suspect others can think of many similar examples.

applemacdave

I hear you loud and clear on that and perhaps I could have worded things a little better... I'm in no way trying to portray a sense of entitlement to a new customer offer as, like you said, it's self-explanatory. My point of view is that there seems to be little-to-no effort on the part of Verizon to retain customers that have been loyal to them for a very long time. In the end, Verizon is in business to make money, and good for them - they offer goods and services in exchange for money and the theory is that they hope to bring in more than they shell out (cost of goods sold vs revenue). What I'd like to see is some sort of incentive to stay with Verizon in the face of competition. Currently, I have very little incentive to stay - or worse for Verizon - continue to recommend their services to friends and family.

armond_in_nj1

@applemacdave wrote:
I hear you loud and clear ... I'm in no way trying to portray a sense of entitlement to a new customer ... What I'd like to see is some sort of incentive to stay with Verizon in the face of competition. Currently, I have very little incentive to stay - or worse for Verizon - continue to recommend their services to friends and family.

Fair enough. It took me some time to decide to transfer my existing range of services (including four separate providers) to VZ, partly because I didn't want to spend the time I knew it would take to get things where I wanted them. Now that they're there (or very nearly), I'm once again loathe to switch.

At the same time I was never completely satisfied with one or more of my earlier providers, particularly with respect to the quality and reliability offered. That's no longer an issue with VZ (at least not now or not yet), so I'm willing to forego a monetary incentive to stay put. I am not saying that VZ has been one hundred percent accurate in responding to my needs the first time at bat, but rather that having learned a bit about how to phrase the issue, I've ended up where I want to be.

Of course nothing is simple these days, and my position may change with time. That's where it is at this writing. Wish you the best in your quest, old sport.

fw_guy

While Verizon provides an overall good service, there are a couple of areas where they fall down:

- accurate billing; posts abound where it takes, on average, 3 months to get an accurate bill after signing on with Verizon

- getting a human on the phone; today I got one, for account retention, and they dropped my call after about a minute; yes, I was being polite, no, I will not continue with Verizon

- competitive pricing; Verizon and Verizon Wireless seem to be of the opinion that they provide the best service, so they can charge the highest price

I don't know which is cause and which is effect, but a handful of years ago, my wife and I took a trip to Hawaii, and while there, met a bunch of Verizon employees (managers) who were there on a Verizon conference, staying at the Ritz Carlton. Is our pricing high because of the cost of such boondoggles, or are the boondoggles a reward to the executives for being able to extract such high prices from the customer base ?

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