OL chat dropped me 8 times!

[rubbergumbum9]

I have no idea whether or not this is where to post, and I'll try to keep it short.  

This afternoon I logged into the Verizon site to upgrade my phone via chat.  I knew what I was in for and was prepared to spend some time doing it.  

Started with an agent who began the process in a bright-colored chat window with emojis available.  

Then that agent disappeared, and the chat window changed to dark and no emojis.  The agent had a different name.  I actually recognized her from a different support session, so we spend a little time catching up while she moved me along in the process, and I was going to buy the phone...and then she disappeared.  

Got on with a 3rd agent who told me to make sure I didn't disconnect so they could serve me better.  Huh?  Ok well sure, don't think I did that but...then she disappeared.  

4th agent asked how she could help and disappeared.  

5th agent got on and I was getting a bit ticked and let her know that I didn't want to keep having to start over.  Gave her all my info again, but then she asked me for the phone number associated with my account.  I'm logged in and the other four agents hadn't asked me...she didn't answer any of my questions as to why/what had changed.  I asked for the information on where I could report all of the above, which lead me to a 6th agent.  

6th agent got on and tried to re-start the sales process.  I said no, I just need to know how to submit a complaint.  She said, "Sure, let me get you that information from my manager who will be free in a moment. I promise (she promised twice) I will stay with you until your concern is resolved."  So I said, OK, well, while you're doing that, can you answer my last question about the price of my new phone.  "Sure!" then I was put back in the "please wait for the next agent" queue.  

7th agent came on and forget it.  Just give me your complaint line number.  7 agents, 3.5 hours wasted.  

So I get that this can happen but here's what I don't get.  I'm relaying this information to you not because of the terrible customer experience, but because it really makes me question whether or not I can trust your system!

1) The changing chat app represents a real security issue.  If I can be arbitrarily dropped from the chat line and pushed to a different system altogether without leaving your web site, how do I know if any of the people I'm chatting with are legitimate?

2) (Or maybe 1b) if one agent can tell who I am and the next one can't, how can I tell if the people I'm chatting with are legitimate?

3) It seemed some people had access to previous chats and some did not.  In any case at one point an agent said she had put the phone "in my cart," but by the time the next agent showed up it wasn't there.  So how do I know who's accessing my cart and/or whether or not I'm being charged or my service is being changed?

This isn't just bad customer service, it's a bad technical product!  I'm sure this advice will never be acted on, but this is a failure of either your tech support technology, rep training, or both.  

Man, I sound like a cranky old man, but I don't care!  Not upgrading my phone, that's for sure.  

[ryandegrunt]

I've been told so many different things by so many different chat tech support agents mainly that it's ridiculous and misinformation, lies and just clearly unhelpful. Bottom line is, don't even bother with chat tech support. Just call in. Trying to find quicker ways to access someone this way can be a challenge but they appear to give no training to their chat people and or the management is just so grossly incompetent on that side of things that it renders at useless