Frustrated with family base and Verizon

[ejtaylor822]

I have been a happy Verizon customer for many years.  Since they bought Alltel in 2008.  I have never had a complaint and have been very happy with Verizon until now.  I am REALLY frustrated.  Make that [Removed]!

I upgraded to a Galazy S8 Saturday (07/22/17).  I was going to trade in my previous Galaxy S6 Edge.  I mentioned that I would like to give it to my daughter but want better protection and monitoring of the device.  The sales person, who was VERY helpful overall, suggested Family Base which I was not aware of.  He went through all the features and how it worked.  It sounded like the perfect solution as we went through it in the store.

I get home and download Family Base on the S8 with no problems.  I like that I can control the data usage of all of our devices and that I can see the text and call usage on my daughter's phone.  I then go to download and install the companion app and told my device is not supported.  WHAT?!?!

Family Base Companion App is NOT compatible with Marshmallow OS?  Are you serious Verizon?  Are you really going tell your paying customers that YOU ARE STILL NOT COMPATIBLE WITH AN OPERATING SYSTEM THAT HAS BEEN OUT SINCE OCTOBER 2015?!?!?!?!  REALLY?!?!?!   You cannot figure out how to make an application work that you actively sell on an OS that came out almost TWO YEARS AGO which is loaded on the phones you sell?!?!?!

The features that I, and most parents it appears, wanted DO NOT WORK!  There is no (taken directly from the Google Play Store):

☆ See who your kids communicate with—know their names, not just their numbers

☆ See what apps your kids use most and when they download new ones

☆ Remote control your kids’ phones—lock them on demand with a click

☆ Set FamilyBase to notify you—like when they add new contacts or text after bedtime

On the first, I do see the numbers but I have no idea who it is as names are not provided.  The other features do not work at all.  Verizon should not be advertising these features IF THEY WILL NOT WORK ON THE OS THEY ARE SELLING.

I am VERY [Removed] at Verizon.  Really?  You sold me on a service that only provides partial functionality that you advertised.  Had I known this - shame on me for not researching but I trusted Verizon - I would not have went down this path and given the phone to my daughter adding another line AND paying for the Family Base service.

And to the tech support people that may respond to my post PLEASE do not tell me how "sorry you are for the disappointment and that your developers are working on a resolution"!!!  I see this posted all over the forum - FOR ALMOST TWO YEARS NOW - for people having the same problem with the Family Base Companion app.  FIX THE PROBLEM!!!

I fell misled and a bit of false advertising going on here, Verizon.  Very disappointing and frustrating after so many years of great service.

inappropriate content removed as required by the Verizon Wireless Terms of Service 

Message edited by Verizon Moderator

[rcschnoor]

So Verizon has a service  you don't like. Don't purchase it. There is normally a free trial period for these apps and you only started using it 3 days ago, call and cancel. You have spent NOTHING. You are no worse off than a week ago when you had not heard of this service.

IF Verizon ever gets this functionality working to your level of expectation, give it another try. No harm, no foul.

[vzw_customer_support]

We do appreciate your loyalty since 2008 Ejtaylor822. We do apologize for not confirming that this will not work with your child's device. We are always looking for ways to improve our Family Base and do appreciate your feedback. We would like for you to take advantage of the benefits that Family Base has to offer. Have you considered upgrading your daughter phone so the device can support the companion app?

AmberF_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport
If my response answered your question please click the "Correct Answer" button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!

[SARWOO84]

I was very happy with the FAmily Base app for my younger son's S3 -- it does not work on my older son's S7.  I upgraded my phone to an S8+ and gave my younger son my S5.  This is very disappointing -- it doesn't even work on his S5.  I agree -- the salesperson at the Verizon store was even confused as to why it didn't work.  I told him about all of the online complaints about no update for something that changed two years ago and his was surprised (!?!) -- this is incredibly disappointing.