16 phones in 4.5 years!

[notspen]

The following is my tale, based on email written to Verizon ahead of a small claims case I will soon be filing against Verizon, of how I came to be known as “14-phone guy”:

In 4.5 years, Verizon has sent me 16 warranty replacement phones – this does not include upgrades or Asurion replacements.  Nearly all of the 16 suffered from data-related issues.  Some would freeze when an email came in while others would simply stop loading pages for an extended period.  By the end of my first year I had already been through three Blackberries.  Over the next three years came 11 Droids. Since January 2013, I have already been through three iPhones with the last, my current, frequently fails to transfer or receive data during most of the day occurring on most days.  Throughout all of this, Verizon never offered anything beyond replacing the device – meaning, they never once considered the possibility that there was a problem with their network.  4.5 years and 16 phones later, Verizon just now ordered the FIRST IT ticket on my account.  And I find that unreasonable and unacceptable.  Plus, the ordeal involving my current phone's dysfunction proved the worse.  That story follows:

In December, it was time for my 13th phone.  So, after all other OS failed me, or so I believed, I switched to the iPhone – what everyone believed would solve the mystery of my continuously dying phones. However, within one month of my December purchase, my first iPhone stopped charging while all data-based programs began to slow whenever an email was coming in.  But Apple replaced it.  The next phone would slow to a near crawl for extended periods whenever using data.  But Apple replaced it. By the third day of my next and current iPhone, it began simply freezing whenever using data – to the point where most of the workday my phone can only be used for texts and calls - a worsening but nearly identical to my experiences with the majority of my Verizon phones.  Specifically, my current phone can take two hours to load my Gmail if at all; lose GPS at any moment - often while in transit; and lose all internet accessibility.  This occurs most days, regardless of location - the one absolute is that it is the least reliable anywhere in Manhattan. However, this time Apple refused to replace it explaining that they believe the issue to be in the network.   Since Apple identified my carrier as the culprit, I called Verizon.  This began the biggest challenge and worst ordeal of all my 16 replacement phones.

When I first called, I spoke with one of the few truly amazing workers I have come across during my 100s of hours dealing with Verizon due to their failure to ever truly remedy the situation. This rep was the first and only to take note of how many phones I've been through and the first and only to finally ask, "What's going on here?"  He, more importantly, informed me that he was going to write my first IT ticket.  THE FIRST!  That's right; through 16 phones in 4.5 years, nobody had ever once written an IT ticket.   He explained that he was doing so due to a potential problem he identified that would have affected my service across all phones since joining the Verizon network - something related to an inconsistency between my phone’s number and its linked shared secret number  (I truly don’t remember but this number was described to me as a sort of identification number that is paired with your cell number and is used whenever roaming as well as by all data-related programs).  Just like what I have been experiencing, he explained that texts and calls would not be affected.  However, everything else, regardless of devise, OS, etc., could be compromised. What I heard was that Verizon could have prevented this from continuing and instead left me chasing an impossibility (that the problems were in the device) while wasting my time and money.  I believe that it is reasonable to assume that if an IT ticket had been issued earlier, or really if any investigative process was launched at all, then I would likely have saved many hours and much frustration.  However, at this point, the "ordeal" is just getting warmed up.

The IT ticket was submitted and I was advised that the resolution would take up to 72 hours but that they often call for more info with the first 24.  To date I have yet to receive one call on this matter. All info I have gathered myself when calling, which I did each time I found myself carrying a useless smartphone –  I called nearly every day.  Through the course of those calls, four reps decided to "take on the case" and promised to "call everyday” to update me - one called once to tell me that there was no update.  That was on day 13. I never heard from him again. I experienced literally no customer service while living with essentially a flip phone in an iPhone case everywhere in the city and frequently everywhere else.

At day 14, I literally begged for them to “do something.”  The only “offer” I received was to buy another phone and line and add it to my account.  I could then return it within the first 14 days for a full refund.  That was it.

On the 17^th day without any contact from customer service, I called and was told that the IT ticket had identified the "cause."  I was told that my phone suffered from poor coverage in my home area.  Now mind you that I never complained of issues near my home and was very specific when explaining that it is the most problematic in Manhattan.  Additionally, of my many Verizon iPhone 5 friends who frequent my apartment, I am the only to complain of accessibility issues. Furthermore, not only was I clear when describing the issue, but when the IT ticket was described by customer reps who I was speaking with at Verizon, it mentioned my home calling area as the problem area and both times I corrected them.  I specifically asked that they adjust the IT ticket accordingly. However, this was apparently for naught as the 17-day IT ticket ultimately “investigated” an inaccurate complaint.  Meaning, after 17-days, I am left with no resolution or even progress - or even reliable access. My phone continues to struggle even when sitting next to my girlfriend, a Verizon iPhone 5 customer as well. I believe this 17-day - but should have been three day – IT ticket report is an utter fabrication. Flat out.   No investigation was conducted. 

I then requested that my second ever IT ticket be written and submitted now containing that appropriate location – everywhere but mainly in Manhattan.  In the meantime, I am now entering my 22 day since first informing Verizon of the failures of their network to deliver reliable service to my 16th phone.  Again, Verizon has done nothing.

The take home message? Clearly, Verizon has failed me. They did not do all they could in order to provide me with access to their reliable network, which caused an absolute loss of time, money, and effort, not to mention an absolute loss of faith in Verizon.  I have worked harder then anyone at Verizon to remedy this still unresolved problem while Verizon failed to perform their due diligence in attempting to remedy the situation.  I use a failure to perform due diligence here to represent Verizon’s refusal to explore all possibilities especially given the extreme circumstances concerning my case.  Instead, the route easiest for each customer service rep was taken and they simply replaced the device instead, which essentially puts the problem back on me and continues to deny me access to the network.  I was told that filing a full IT report could take a rep hours to complete.  When taking this further, due to Verizon's failure, it is likely that my ability to take full advantage of the network as described in the contract was prevented.  This has resulted in numerous difficulties including recently becoming lost on foot for two hours in Baltimore during a heat-wave due to my data connection dropping for two hours all while trying to navigate my way to a destination - in fact, just this past weekend I had to pull over to wait for my GPS to load while driving to Baltimore.  Beyond the impact of an unreliable phone, I have dedicated an untold amount of hours both on the phone and in person attempting to remedy the situation all the while Verizon did nothing but were the only ones who held the ability to correct the dysfunction. I was literally wasting my time and it was a result of Verizon’s failure.

I was also told that beyond a $52 credit given early in July for the days of compromised connectivity but before the actual filing of the ticket, Verizon will not credit me any amount for any of the days spent investigating the ticket.  I was told that Verizon credits for time their network was down – not slow.  I explained that email would take hours upon hours to load to which I was told, “…so you’re saying that it would eventually load.”  They also informed me that according to their records, my phone had use “a lot of data” during the times I reported.  I have no idea how this is possible due to all I’ve described but I do know that the phone would not simply freeze; it would continuously attempt to load a page, refresh mail, or connect to GPS. Perhaps this was the cause. Regardless, no credit was offered. I did call back and try again to which I was offered $10.  I denied the offer.

This is simply unacceptable and I will not accept it.  Thanks to the ridiculously erroneously-based or flat out bogus IT report, which states that I have "poor coverage" in my home calling area, I am able to leave Verizon with no cancellation fines.  However, forgiving the cancellation fee in no way comes close to making up for the time dedicated and lost on this futile effort.  It is the futility of this effort and Verizon’s refusal to allow me access to the network by failing to investigate anything beyond the device while I continued to experience significant disruptions – all the while paying full fare – that I believe warrants consideration of the legitimacy of the right of Verizon to keep my payments.  I believe they do not and should even owe for the unintended consequence of their intentional refusal to explore instead of replace.  Fortunately, this is a quantifiable amount, which I intend to pursue.

Verizon needs to care about customers in general but should take note of one who has gone through 16 phones in 4.5 years.  One for whom Verizon never opened an IT ticket and instead just saddled him with years of difficulties.  One who waited 17 days with no contact at all just to be told the results of investigation into the wrong address and that offers no resolution.  And one who still lacks reliable access to the network.  There is absolutely no justification for this.

If you know how to help, please do.  I am doing all I know left to do: posting this email everywhere I can.

Thank you.

[#2]

Great long story. But you have a few problems here. The phones have been replaced and replaced etc. At no cost to you. No money amount expended there.

You say a secret number with your number. I think you mean the ESN/MEID number that identifies you on your home and roaming networks. Each new replacement device should have been changed in verizons system. Evidently the one rep was feeding you a line and at the same time starting a technician ticket. Sometimes they fix the issue and you never hear from them again. Other times your ticket is cancelled unfixed, or considered not valid. Who or why verizons tech support does this is a mystery.

You could have left them at anytime instead of wasting almost five years. Now they offer you no ETF and say you can leave and you don't want to leave? Why? You have shoddy service verizon now is saying your service is not viable at your location.

Take my advice and leave. You could go to small claims court but what dollar amounts are you asking? I think you can only go back the last 3-6 months. Sue them for your plan monthly amount. But if their records show you had phone service and even partial data they may fight you on it.

Get service from another provider.

Good Luck

[paytonpaul]

I agree that is a very great long story and i never been experience that kind of warranty in my life however i also seen some problem about it.

[notspen]

Trust me, the phones may have been for free but in order to get 16 phones, 100s of hours were spent.  Not to mention time lost in troubleshooting each one - when they never pursued alternative possibilities.  It's absurd.  And you believing that them not charging me an ETF is something I should be grateful for is absurd as well.  Obviously you have not endured what I have with Verizon and therefore do not understand exactly how this time has been.  So please...

And i am leaving Verizon.  However, I was advised to remain a customer until it is settled or I decide to end my pursuit of an equitable resolution in order to allow for any possible credits or refunds.  And yes that is proving difficult because they argue that if my phone takes 8 hours to load then it is SLOW and not frozen and therefore i have to pay.  Again, it's absurd.

By the way here's Verizon's explanation as to why my data drops all day whenever I'm in New York City (this has been confirmed with two reps - this is what they have the nerve to offer as their explanation)

Verizon wireless has a limited number of towers available in New York City, which is a "difficult area to cover" due to the "tall buildings." Therefore, any customer in a high demand area such as New York City will likely experience a slowing down of their cellular and data services. This, in combination with the "tall buildings," make some areas more difficult to reach than others. Taken together and you get what I have: a phone that gets no data service all day long in NYC.  Meaning, Verizon that losing access to data all day whenever in the city is part of normal network functioning!

[oldfashioned]

If you have gone through that many phones in 4.5 years, I would say it's time to take your business elsewhere because that clearly shows you are not getting reliable surface.  There is no reason why tall buildings in New York City should be the cause of the problem.  That's absurd.

[vzw_customer_support]

Hi notspen,

Thanks for reaching out to us.  I am sad to hear that you had to get 16 devices. That is a lot of devices and a lot of time.  Have you ever had a trouble ticket done.  Please follow me and send a direct message with your contact info. I would love to dig a little deeper to get this fixed. 

Thanks, BobbyS_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

[notspen]

First IT ticket ever was at the end of July - about one month ago. Never one before. That ticket was a 72-hour ticket that no one called to update me while i had a data dead phone for 17 days. I called then and was told that they investigated my home calling area despite me having told them over and over again that I'm referring to everywhere but especially manhattan. Also that I have no idea about my home calling area because I'm always on wifi there. They then issued my second ever ticket this past Saturday now specific to manhattan. Monday they called to tell me that I lost l data all day each day I was in the city due to the city being a high demand area that is difficult to cover due to the tall buildings. Literally. I called to speak to another rep so I could hear it again; yes, high demand and tall buildings were resulting in total loss of data accessibility. And what's worse is that since I described the data as taking eight hours to refresh, I was told that I won't be given a refund for even the days during which they investigated the ticket because they only do so for loss of connection not a slowing down. That's right 1 eight hours to refresh was considered slow.

A rep called twice and last said he would call this morning at 830am so we could try a hard reset while Verizon suspends and the. reactivates the line. This would have been the first individualized, direct, and specific support verizon has ever offered - he, like the other now 6 reps, never called back.

And it's actually 18 phones.

- Spencer

[#8]

When I used to travel to Broadway and Wall Street area every Thursday for work I very rarely had those issues.

I know that it was possible to achieve the slow downs at certain times in the day. But not all the time.

Like the other poster said, change providers and see if its better call and data wise during your 14 day tryout period.

[notspen]

Thanks for taking the time to tell me to switch.

- Spencer

[#10]

Not at all lad, it was my pleasure to assist!