Does Customer Service Play Book Need Some Wiggle Room?

[englishtimelord]

I have cut and pasted a recent LONG conversation I had with Customer service. I was surprised that apparently the playbook they follow is so rigid that they are unable to either make decisions or even pass the problem further up the food chain. Anyone else know a solution to this quicksand? Is it really necessary to change carriers when the solution is quite so simple with a little common sense when you would think that Verizon would be eager to keep good relations with customer bases on the fringes of their service area.

Verizon: Thank you for contacting the Verizon Wireless Chat Team regarding your device. How can we help you today?

You: booster

Verizon: All representatives are currently assisting customers. You will be connected to the next available representative.

Verizon: Thank you for your patience. The next available representative will be with you shortly.

Verizon: Thank you for your continued patience. The next available representative will be with you as soon as possible.

CHARLES: Thank you so much for your patience tonight while the system got us connected! How may I assist you?

You: okay, for the third time of trying, your signal booster has failed. It does not need reseting, re powering, it is dead. And I repeat it is YOURS, not mine

CHARLES: I can certainly understand your concern! Allow me to take a look into what I can do to help!

You: we are also experiencing serious wfi issues due to a typhoon, so please be nice and efficient, I have lost two cust reps already

CHARLES: I totally understand! I've heard about that storm coming being pretty nasty!

You: its just getting started but already 75 mph gusts

You: which doesnt help with signals on long conversations

CHARLES: I can imagine!

You: to reitterate the booster is your tech depts solution to my lack odf service, not mine.

CHARLES: Gotcha! May I ask if the network extender has an antenna in the back?

You: supplied FOC otherwise you would have lost my account

You: it has a GPS

You: not surer about aerial, Its in a completely different building to me, which again have explained endlessly

CHARLES: May I ask what exactly has been happening with the network extender?

You: it has to be plugged into the main modem which is in the service building

You: its all red lights, wont rest, tried all the tricks I have been given since it failed three days ago, but its dead

You: apart from power light obviously

CHARLES: Just to confirm, the power LED is the only light that turns on currently?

You: and bottom blue light whatever that is

You: I thought that was power

CHARLES: Alright, allow me to take a look into this for you!

You: okay, please be brief

CHARLES: No problem! I will work as fast as possible!

CHARLES: Alright, so the very top and bottom buttons were lit blue correct?

You: just the bottom one

CHARLES: Gotcha!

CHARLES: May I ask when this had started happening?

You: about three days ago, but has happened before and after much reseting and powering on and off it suddenly said hello

You: I should have shouted then but thought it was a glitch rather than a failure

CHARLES: I completely understand!

You: I dont like complaining so gave the unit every chance

CHARLES: May I ask if the router was reset when restarting the network extender?

You: no idea, but all other interfaces are working well

You: the router is a clean line and is used by a programmer so am sure it is functioning well

CHARLES: Alright, I understand! What I would recommend doing since the bottom light is still blue is to reset the router and the network extender at the same time.

You: thats just not possible. would completely screw a whole myriad of things. as i said its a clean programming line

You: in constant use

You: remember I live in Microsoft heaven lol

CHARLES: I certainly understand and I want to make sure that this gets taken care of entirely to get it back up and running. After reviewing the status of the LED lights the next step to try troubleshooting that is to restart the modem, router, and network extender.

You: charles the next step is for you to replace the unit actually.

You: I am really wondering why thats not obvious.

You: remember its YOUR unit not mine

CHARLES: I understand where you are coming from, but before replacing it we would want to try any necessary troubleshooting possible that can be done.

CHARLES: With the lights just being unlit and the last light still being blue the device can still be used. The way to get it back up and going would be to restart the devices connected to it.

You: I am happy just to change my carrier Verizon have now decided to go back on their actions

You: Charles, its connected to a huge network, you cant just restart a hub willy nilly

CHARLES: Which I totally understand. With the connections going out in that area recently due to the winds it may have interfered with the network extender.

You: nope

You: it started before the storms

You: and I was in town earlier and the local tower is working fine

You: otherwise I wouldnt be talking to you...wifi

CHARLES: I definitely understand. Even if replacing the network extender, the router and modem would still have to be restarted in order to get it all activated properly. I certainly don't want to cause an inconvenience, but I just want to get this fixed for you in any way possible.

You: actually no, when it was connected originally that was not necessary

You: thats like saying when plugging in a new computer everything needs to be restarted isnt it

You: signal is signal

You: I understand you are going by a play book but we need to get to the final solution

CHARLES: I understand and the final solution would be to restart the modem and router to get it back up and running. The other option that I can try to take care of is to leave a notation on the account to perform a manager override at a local Verizon store to do an even exchange.

You: here is n local store. I live in the Pacific Ocean

You: I have been all through this a million times

You: your tech people made a two-hour ferry trip here to confirm the need for booster, at your expense

You: now if you want to send an engineer out again with the replacement all well and good. but seems a bit expensive to me when we gat MAIL

CHARLES: I understand and I'm providing any options that I can to get this resolved properly and quickly as possible.

You: wel all the options you are suggesting dont resolve the issue. its not working, needs replacing, its you tech depts unit, I am sure they will replace, but I dont want to have to shout my way up the food chain because I will shout really loud

You: or cancel service

You: and put a note in the Islands paper exactly why I did, and as an well-known author they will all read it

You: I have spent the last year advertising how good your service is, I can reverse that for a year quite easily

CHARLES: I certainly appreciate your loyalty with us and for being patient while I look into what I can do to help.

CHARLES: With the device still having the last light lit, it does not indicate a failure within the device. The proper way to get it going again would be to restart the modem and the router and the network extender. It cannot be replaced if the device is still working properly.

You: Charles its not working, one light is not an indicator it is. and thats a very dangerous thing for you r=to say. the other light could fail any moment.

CHARLES: After reviewing the LED indicators as far as the lights on the network extender, the way it would indicate a device failure is if the light is magenta. With it being unlit the device would just have to be reset.

CHARLES: Along with the modem and router. This would ensure a refresh between the connection of the devices enabling the network extender to properly work again.

You: all the lights above are magenta

You: I said that

You: my phone is the only connection a community has to the mainland in an emergency. This is not a small issue

CHARLES: I completely understand and want to be sure to get this resolved in any way that I can.

CHARLES: May I ask what color the top light is?

You: magenta

You: as far as i remember. I cant see it right now because I can see through walls

CHARLES: May I ask if the network extender has been tried on a different power outlet?

You: you obviously have never lived on a small island, you cant just walk from one room to the next

You: for god’s sake Charles, if the power was off no lights would show

You: \really?

CHARLES: I understand. The reason I was asking was because going based off of the troubleshooting I can see on my end is to try a different power outlet. I would not necessarily know the options available within the room and I just wanted to double check.

You: I know you are following a playbook, I said that already. I understand, but if you cant make the necessary decision pass the call to someone who can. I had to go through a lot of folks to get original unit, it probably cost Verizon thousands

You: but once you agreed the necessity I dont see why you just dont replace it.

CHARLES: I completely get where you are coming from and am currently reviewing options on what I can do at this time.

You: my god, it costs less than a smart phone after all and you replace those all the time, and their not your property

You: dont tell me you forgot to take out insurance?

You: sorry that was a bit below the belt

You: the funny thing is your company spends every day sending me offers to upgrade my phone, which I cant use. Ironic isnt it

CHARLES: Alright, I have taken a look over all the options on my end. With it not being able to troubleshoot at this time we would want to go over a few steps before issuing the replacement at no charge.

You: you are not going to charge yourself?

CHARLES: What I can do if we cannot perform any of the troubleshooting fully is to provide pricing options for a replacement.

You: no way

You: I am not paying for a replacement for your hardware, thats insane

CHARLES: Which I completely understand. To issue a replacement device without having to worry about paying for the replacement all we would need to do is be able to troubleshoot the device entirely.

You: then call anytime, you have my address

You: but within the next twenty-four hours

CHARLES: Due to it being a chat environment I would unfortunately have the ability to place a call. What I can do is notate the account of what information we had went over and provide the number for our tech specialists to further troubleshoot.

CHARLES: How does that sound?

You: not acceptable

CHARLES: I apologize that the solution does not seem acceptable, but at this time this is the most that I can do to help get that replaced without having to pay for the replacement. I want to get this resolved for you as soon as possible.

You: you are basically palming the matter off, which is fairly standard fair

You: I am typing the newspaper article now

CHARLES: It's not that I want to send the issue off to someone else, but in order for us to replace the device entirely without charging for it would be to complete troubleshooting steps on it first.

You: your passing the issue on, thats exactly the definition of palming off

CHARLES: Alright, well in order for us to replace the network extender at no charge we would just need to complete the troubleshooting steps needed to find out exactly what is going on with the device. Without being able to do that we would have to go over pricing options.

You: hang on please CHARLES: No problem! You: okay needed to cut and paste the whole conversation for publication, all done niow CHARLES: I certainly apologize for any of the inconvenience. Is there anything else that I can do to help get this situation handled going forward and get it replaced? You: I have no idea, thats part of your job, I seem to recall that I am supposed to be the customer CHARLES: Which I certainly want to do anything in order to help. In this situation all we would need to do is just finish with proper troubleshooting to get it replaced at no charge. You: you need to step out of the box is all. apparently thats more than your willing to do CHARLES: I understand and with anything regarding a replacement with things like a network extender we just have to follow the guidelines in order to see what is wrong with the device exactly so we can inform the manufacturer of how it can be improved. You: you do that when it is returned to you dear boy. Thats why you send return packaging CHARLES: Alright, well the most that I can do is notate the account for the next agent to go forward with further troubleshooting in order to replace the device. CHARLES: By doing that we can ensure that we do not repeat any steps and everything that is needed to replace the device with no charge to you. You: okay as you like, the entire transcript is on its way to customer complaints, just to let you know in advance You: apparently not CHARLES: Alright, I do want to thank you very much for all of your time and patience with me and for being the best part of Verizon Wireless! CHARLES: You may exit out of this chat by clicking the "X" in the chat window. Enjoy the rest of your day! You: dont say have a good evening, thats trite Verizon: Thank you for contacting the Verizon Wireless Chat Team regarding your device. How can we help you today?  You: booster  Verizon: All representatives are currently assisting customers. You will be connected to the next available representative.  Verizon: Thank you for your patience. The next available representative will be with you shortly.  Verizon: Thank you for your continued patience. The next available representative will be with you as soon as possible.  CHARLES: Thank you so much for your patience tonight while the system got us connected! How may I assist you?  You: okay, for the third time of trying, your signal booster has failed. It does not need reseeing, re powering, it is dead. And I repeat it is YOURS, not mine  CHARLES: I can certainly understand your concern! Allow me to take a look into what I can do to help!  You: we are also experiencing serious wfi issues due to a typhoon, so please be nice and eficient, I have lost two cust reps already  CHARLES: I totally understand! I've heard about that storm coming being pretty nasty!  You: its just getting started but already 75 mph gusts  You: which doesnt help with signals on long conversations  CHARLES: I can imagine!  You: to reitterate the booster is your tech depts solution to my lack odf service, not mine.  CHARLES: Gotcha! May I ask if the network extender has an antenna in the back?  You: supplied FOC otherwise you would have lost my account  You: it has a GPS  You: not surer about arriel, Its in a completely different building to me, which again have explained endlessly  CHARLES: May I ask what exactly has been happening with the network extender?  You: it has to be plugged into the main modem which is in the service building  You: its all red lights, wont rest, tried all the tricks I have been given since it failed htree days ago, but its dead  You: apart from power light obviously  CHARLES: Just to confirm, the power LED is the only light that turns on currently?  You: and bottom blue light whatever that is  You: I thought that was power  CHARLES: Alright, allow me to take a look into this for you!  You: okay, please be brief  CHARLES: No problem! I will work as fast as possible!  CHARLES: Alright, so the very top and bottom buttons were lit blue correct?  You: just the botom one  CHARLES: Gotcha!  CHARLES: May I ask when this had started happening?  You: about three days ago, but has happened before and after much reseting and powering on and off it suddenly said hello  You: I should have shouted then but thought it was a gliche rather than a failure  CHARLES: I completely understand!  You: I dont like complaining so gave the unit every chance  CHARLES: May I ask if the router was reset when restarting the network extender?  You: no idea, but all other interfaces are working well  You: the router is a clean line and is used by a programmer so am sure it is functioning well  CHARLES: Alright, I understand! What I would recommend doing since the bottom light is still blue is to reset the router and the network extender at the same time.  You: thats just not possible. would completely screw a whole myriad of things. as i said its a clean programmingline  You: in constant use  You: remeber I live in Microoft heavon lol  CHARLES: I certainly understand and I want to make sure that this gets taken care of entirely to get it back up and running. After reviewing the status of the LED lights the next step to try troubleshooting that is to restart the modem, router, and network extender.  You: charles the next step is for you to replace the unit actually.  You: I am really wondering why thats not obvious.  You: remember its YOUR unit not mine  CHARLES: I understand where you are coming from, but before replacing it we would want to try any necessary troubleshooting possible that can be done.  CHARLES: With the lights just being unlit and the last light still being blue the device can still be used. The way to get it back up and going would be to restart the devices connected to it.  You: I am happy just to change my carrier Verizon have now decided to go bck on their actions  You: charles itys connected to a huge network, you vaNny=t just restart a hub willy nilly  CHARLES: Which I totally understand. With the connections going out in that area recently due to the winds it may have interfered with the network extender.  You: nope  You: it started before the storms  You: and I was in town earlier and the local tower is working fine  You: otherwise I wouldnt be talking to you...wifi  CHARLES: I definitely understand. Even if replacing the network extender the router and modem would still have to be restarted in order to get it all activated properly. I certainly don't want to cause an inconvenience, but I just want to get this fixed for you in any way possible.  You: actaully no, when it was connected originally that was not necesary  You: thats like saying when plugging in a new computer everything needs to be restarted isnt it  You: signal is signal  You: I understand you are going by a play book but we need to get to the final solution  CHARLES: I understand and the final solution would be to restart the modem and router to get it back up and running. The other option that I can try to take care of is to leave a notation on the account to perform a manager override at a local Verizon store to do an even exchange.  You: here is n local store. I live in the pacific ocean  You: I have been all through this a million yimes  You: your tech people made a two hour ferry trip here to confirm the need for booster, at your expense  You: now if you want to send an engineer out again with the replacement all well and good. but seems a bit expensive to me when we gat MAIL  CHARLES: I understand and I'm providing any options that I can to get this resolved properly and quickly as possible.  You: wel all the options you are suggesting dont reolve the issue. its not working, needs replacing, its you tech depts unit, I am sure they will replace, but I dont want to have to shout my way up the food chain because I will shout really loud  You: or cancell service  You: and put a note in the Islands paper exactly why I did, and as an well known auther they will all read it  You: I have spent the last year advertizing how good your service is, I can revese that for a year quite easily  CHARLES: I certainly appreciate your loyalty with us and for being patient while I look into what I can do to help.  CHARLES: With the device still having the last light lit, it does not indicate a failure within the device. The proper way to get it going again would be to restart the modem and the router and the network extender. It cannot be replaced if the device is still working properly.  You: charles its not working, one light is not an indicater it is. and thats a very dangerous thing for you r=to say. the other light could fail any moment.  CHARLES: After reviewing the LED indicators as far as the lights on the network extender, the way it would indicate a device failure is if the light is magenta. With it being unlit the device would just have to be reset.  CHARLES: Along with the modem and router. This would ensure a refresh between the connection of the devices enabling the network extender to properly work again.  You: all the lights above are magenta  You: I said that  You: my phone is the only connection a community has to the mainland in an emergency. This is not a small issue  CHARLES: I completely understand and want to be sure to get this resolved in any way that I can.  CHARLES: May I ask what color the top light is?  You: magenta  You: as far as i remeber. I cant see it right now becuae I can see through walls  CHARLES: May I ask if the network extender has been tried on a different power outlet?  You: you obviously hae nver lived on a small island, you cant just walk from one room to the next  You: for gods sake charles, if the power was off no lights would show  You: \really?  CHARLES: I understand. The reason I was asking was because going based off of the troubleshooting I can see on my end is to try a different power outlet. I would not necessarily know the options available within the room and I just wanted to double check.  You: I know you are following a playbook, I said that already. I understand, but if you cant make the necessary decision pass the call to someone who can. I had to go through a lot of folks to get original unit, it probably cost verizen thousands  You: but once you agreed the necesity I dont see why you just dont replace it.  CHARLES: I completely get where you are coming from and am currently reviewing options on what I can do at this time.  You: my god, it costs less than a smart phone after all and you replace those all the time, and their not your property  You: dont tell me you forgot to take out insurance?  You: sorry that was a bit below the belt  You: the fuuny thing is your company spends every day sending me offers to upgrade mt=y phone, which I cant use. Ironic isnt it  CHARLES: Alright, I have taken a look over all the options on my end. With it not being able to troubleshoot at this time we would want to go over a few steps before issuing the replacement at no charge.  You: you are not going to charge yourself?  CHARLES: What I can do if we cannot perform any of the troubleshooting fully is to provide pricing options for a replacement.  You: no waqy  You: I am not paying for a replacement for your hardware, thats insane  CHARLES: Which I completely understand. To issue a replacement device without having to worry about paying for the replacement all we would need to do is be able to troubleshoot the device entirely.  You: then call anytime, you have mt=y address  You: but within the next twentyfour hours  CHARLES: Due to it being a chat environment I would unfortunately have the ability to place a call. What I can do is notate the account of what information we had went over and provide the number for our tech specialists to further troubleshoot.  CHARLES: How does that sound?  You: not acceptable  CHARLES: I apologize that the solution does not seem acceptable, but at this time this is the most that I can do to help get that replaced without having to pay for the replacement. I want to get this resolved for you as soon as possible.  You: you are basically palming the matter off, which is faily standard fair  You: I am typing the newspaper article now  CHARLES: It's not that I want to send the issue off to someone else, but in order for us to replace the device entirely without charging for it would be to complete troubleshooting steps on it first.  You: your passing the issue on, thats exactly the definition of palming off  CHARLES: Alright, well in order for us to replace the network extender at no charge we would just need to complete the troubleshooting steps needed to find out exactly what is going on with the device. Without being able to do that we would have to go over pricing options.  You: hang on pleaase  CHARLES: No problem!  You: hang on pleaase  CHARLES: No problem!  You: okay needed to cut and paste the whole conversation for publication, all done niow  CHARLES: I certainly apologize for any of the inconvenience. Is there anything else that I can do to help get this situation handled going forward and get it replaced?  You: I have no idea, thats part of your job, I seem to recall that I am supposed to be the customer  CHARLES: Which I certainly want to do anything in order to help. In this situation all we would need to do is just finish with proper troubleshooting to get it replaced at no charge.  You: you need to step out of the box is all. aparently thats more than your willing to do  CHARLES: I understand and with anything regarding a replacement with things like a network extender we just have to follow the guidelines in order to see what is wrong with the device exactly so we can inform the manufacturer of how it can be improved.  You: you do that when it is returned to you dear boy. Thats why you send return packaging      CHARLES: Alright, well the most that I can do is notate the account for the next agent to go forward with further troubleshooting in order to replace the device.  CHARLES: By doing that we can ensure that we do not repeat any steps and everything that is needed to replace the device with no charge to you.  You: okay as you like, the entire trancript is on its way to custiomer complaints, just to let you know in advance  You: apparently not  CHARLES: Alright, I do want to thank you very much for all of your time and patience with me and for being the best part of Verizon Wireless!  CHARLES: You may exit out of this chat by clicking the "X" in the chat window. Enjoy the rest of your day!  You: dont say have a good evening, thats trite      Agent is typing...            CHARLES No problem!

[vzw_customer_support]

I'm sorry that you had a long chat session with no resolution. englishtimerlord. I know how critical it is to have working service and we are here to make sure you get what you need during the weather conditions in your area. In order for our team of technicians to replace any device, we do have a list of trouble-shooting steps that need to be completed to fix the issue. We don't want to inconvenience any customer by having them wait for a replacement device so our goal is to resolve the problem first. The steps we present to customers are steps that have been taken on multiple occasions for customers in your same exact situation and they have worked. Our goal is to never take you through any unnecessary steps. I hope you provide with the opportunity to complete our steps so that your issues is resolved as quickly as possible. Resetting the router and network extender is a very important step to fixing this type of issue. Please contact us via chat, by phone or through social media when this is done.

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