Well, it goes like this. I logged into my account and I had a window pop up that says I can upgrade my phone/contract early. Our contract is up on January 15th. It also says that we can go into a Verizon store or do it online. I started going through the online process of upgrading but I hadn't totally made up my mind which phone I want so I decided I wanted to go to the store and physically see/hold the phones. We were 45 minutes south of my home when we decided to stop in to a store. After talking for a few minutes with the sales guy and him looking up our account he tells us that we have to go to a HQ store to complete the upgrade. So we travel another 20 minutes and go to a HQ store. First issue was when we walked in, there was another customer chewing the manager Carlos a "new one" because the customer service there is so bad. It should have been my first indicator to turn around and walk back out. But we didn't and we stood there for 15 minutes waiting for any one of the 5, yes 5 workers to acknowledge our presence. Yay, Carlos (MOD) finally came to our rescue! Nope, just kidding, after explaining to him why we were there (to upgrade our phones early) he put us on the waiting list. He said there was a customer that made an appointment and then there was 1 customer in front of us. "Should just be a few minutes." 45 minutes and 2 line budger's later Stephen was there to help. Just kidding...again! Stephen said he was unable to help us because our contract is not up until Jan 15th. Me: "Yes, but I received this notification (showed him the pop up) that we can upgrade early?!" Stephen: "But that is for an early upgrade." Me: "Right, well if my contract is up on Jan 15th, I would say that this would qualify for an EARLY upgrade, correct???????" Stephen: {With his mouth hanging open and a dumb look on his face} "But your contract is not up until Jan 15th". Me: "Well, what do you consider early, because I would consider 2 weeks early" Again, he just stood there staring at me and my husband. At this point, I can't stand to look at him let alone talk to him, so I ask to speak to a manager. Carlos comes over and asks how he can help us. I give him the low down of what just transpired. He also says that he cannot help us because our contract isn't up until Jan 15th. I show him the pop up window that states we can upgrade early. He says that it only qualifies for the "early upgrade" but if we're interested we can sign up for the "Edge" plan. NOPE, not happening, I'm not interested. I want to upgrade my phone early as the pop up says. After Carlos says "Right on" to everything I say, I tell him that I'm not his friend and I would appreciate it if he would act a little more professional. We drove 45 minutes "Right on" and have been standing here for 45 minutes waiting for someone to help us "Right on". That's when I lost it. I told him we would never do business with his store again and he should really find a new profession. I don't appreciate being told "Right on" after everything I say and he wouldn't last 2 minutes in any store of mine. He then asked me if I was critiquing his vocabulary. I said "Yes, you are supposed to be a manager, I'm already upset with the service and you tell me "right on" after every thing I say. He has no business being a manager let alone a door greeter." #1 He's a pretty pathetic store manager and #2 if Verizon wants to run their stores like the Apple stores, then you should take a lesson from Apple. I've seen the Apple store packed to the gills and they still manage to flow the customers through there in a timely and professional manner. Have people available to answer questions and find out if it's worth their time and yours to make an appointment, if not then get them out of there so you can tend to the people that can use your help. And for God's sake, educate your employee's. At the very least, the store manager should know how to handle this stuff. I went home and completed both upgrades online right up to the point where I was to pay, and then I shut it down. How come I can take care of the early upgrade all by my own big girl self but the people who are being paid to SERVICE CUSTOMERS can't figure it out? They told me it wasn't possible but I managed to do it?! I would rather wait 2 more weeks (When my contract is officially up) to give any vendor/carrier of my choosing my business rather than give it Verizon. Verizon has it's customers by the balls because of their coverage area and it really sucks. The amount of money we fork out to Verizon and the crap-tastic service we receive in return is sickening. But, just like Jakeman1 said, Verizon does not care so I'm sure this will complaint will fall on deaf ears and you'll tell me how sorry you are and that I'm an important customer to Verizon. I will be seriously considering switching carriers over the next 2 weeks while I wait for our contracts to expire. We left and came back before, but this time, we may not be back.
