The Harrisburg East Mall Verizon Wireless dealer is a real detriment to Verizon Wireless. I went in for a new cell phone, having an account for my jetpack. Told them I did not want to spend any cash that day. First, it took about an hour to do all the so-called paperwork. Before completing the transaction, they transfered my Tracphone number to the Verizon phone I wanted. When they "rang up' the sale, I was told -- after, by now, an hour and a half of dealing with incompetents, I was told I owed somewhat over $50. I do not know if my phone number was changed to a phone I don't have. If it was, I can assure you that Verizon Wireless will be the subject of a Better Business Bureau complaint and a suit in Magisterial District Justice court. The franchisee is, as far as I am concerned, an agent of Verizon Wireless. The thing is, I doubt that I will consider Verizon Wireless for ANYTHING, in the future. VW should take more care in overseeing what franchisees (is that the right term -- or is it franchisor?) do as bad service by them reflects on Verizon Wireless. AND there is nobody to talk to at VW to complain about these incompetents! BAD customer service!
I'm sorry to learn of this experience, bobharrisburg. I want to mkae sure we submit feedback for your experience. Was there a specific representative you worked with? Can you please provide additional details about the store so we can submit feedback. You can find the location information here: http://bit.ly/3SdsA To display non corporate stores, please check "Include Authorized Retailers."
AndreaS_VZW
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The store was Precision Wireless, 3501 Paxton St., Unit G1, Harrisburg, PA 17111. The salesman was (I believe) Darrell. Darrell was apparently a new employee and attempted to be helpful. I told him up front that I had a Verizon Wireless account for my Ellipse jetpack and wanted a cell phone with unlimited talk/text minutes. I further stated that I would not have sufficient funds until the 29th of December and wanted to walk out with a cell phone without paying anything. I cannot use a touchpad phone and found a phone that had a "pull out" qwerty keyboard that had no price listed on it, other than a "per month" charge. I assumed this was either a "free" phone or could place the per month charge on my Verizon Wireless account. The salesman then changed my cell number from my Tracphone to Verizon and his supervisor or manager came over to "assist". After "ringing up" the transaction, I was told that I had to pay a little over $50 in order to have the phone. At that point, having been patient with the inexperienced salesman for nearly two hours, AND possibly having my number changed to a phone I do not have, I told them I was very unsatisfied and was going to file a complaint. The manager or assistant manager then got a bit almost snotty, his attitude and demeanor being "you don't like it, get out of the store." While I do not believe there was an intentional bait and switch, I do believe that this could have been handled better. . .and I certainly believe that employees should be better trained (or at least more closely supervised during their initial week or two on the job). The difference between "management" and "leadership", I guess -- of course there isn't much leadership and too much management anymore, in my opinion. Thanks for listening.
You don't have any court case that is certain.
Authorized resellers of Verizon Wireless be it where you went or a Best Buy or Target do not have full access to your Verizon account.
Personally if you wanted bill to account (if credit qualified) it more than likely cannot be done through a reseller. That would be a real Verizon Wireless Corporate Store. Even then the bill to account option is not always granted. And for a new phone you pay $35 activation and tax on that device. Many times this cannot be deferred on bill to account. So you have no real complaint.
You should have assumed the worst will happen and bring money or credit with you.
Your complaint will just be placated and fodder for laughter. Don't even bother with filing one.
Its the world we live in alas.
Did they give you a rebate form to fill out? There aren't many phones that you can get without paying money for them and you'd still be asked to pay some sort of tax.
The major issue is that I asked them up front if there was any way I could walk out of the store with an activated cell phone, based on my existing wireless account, without paying any money. They assured me I could. The reason for my belief that this was possible is that is exactly what happened with my jetpack. I guess the solution is to avoid these types of retailers -- who purport, by their signs, to be Verizon Wireless stores not some franchisee (or is it franchisor?), and I think that I could win a suit based on apparent agency should it come to that. . . Which it won't.
Some of them also charge fees for their services. Please don't say that Authorized Retailers are less competent than a Corporate Store. They are all people who deserve to be treated as such. I work in retail and I deal with that crap every day and I take offense to it.
I think what you have to look at is these so called "Verizon Wireless Authorized Resellers" make their store fronts and internal store designs to "look like corporate stores" deception at its finest.
Yes if some of these resellers were to be asked if they are resellers or if you look at some of the literature in these locations you will see their true name (On call or Nextgen) and of course on the paperwork. But these stores hire staff to make more than their affiliated partner.
Personally I shoo away any sales people with brush of hand. Don't care how friendly or helpful they seem to be.
When I want a sales person "I call them over if needed"
I don't want to hear about specials, or price deals, or buy one get one free or half off etc.
However I have one regret in that one nice guy at a car dealership took time to show me a convertible. He handed me a business card and said if you decide to purchase this car or any other vehicle please ask for me.
Turns out I threw his card out. Two days later my wife wanted the car. And as luck would have it the nice guy who took the time to show the car I no longer had his name. So he lost a huge commission.
But as a rule I don't cry over sales people.
Verizon provide then the signs for the stores. They have to. It's the same as the one on a corporate store. However, underneath that sign are the words Authorized Retailer or Premium Retailer. They get the same support from Verizon as a corporate store does. I believe that a sales person, if they truly have the customer's best interest at heart, is going to be good whether they work for corporate or a retailer. In fact, those corporate sales people are worse sometimes, I think. I just don't like people putting us all (sales people) under one umbrella.
I agree that many times customers can be arrogant, rude, a major pain in the butt, impolite, impatient, snobbish, boorish, etc. But my experience has been that most customers look to a sales person for help because the sales person has "superior knowledge" of the merchandise and other matters affecting the sale or potential sale. I'm an old dinosaur, and believe people should be treated with the same respect that you would like to have afforded to you. But when someone is either so ill-trained (management's fault) or so anxious to earn a commission on a sale that they either willfully misrepresent or outright lie, then I have a major problem with not only the salesperson but the company. . .whether a franchise or not. Most salespeople in retail are very helpful and friendly (though I think some who work on commission might be tempted to shade things a bit!). Any complaint that I have regarding Verizon Wireless or its stores goes directly to management, supervision, and training. Believe me, I've been stuck in a situation where my manager's bonus depended on my doing work over and above that required. He got the bonus and I got the shaft. . . My fault, I should have said "Take this job and shove it!", but I was a dedicated little trooper. If Verizon Wireless is not going to heed customer complaints and take the initiative to rectify the problems reported, I suspect that an avalanche of complaints to the FCC or Congress might lead to increased regulation. . .not something that any CEO wants to be blamed for. Maybe that is the only answer, scream loud and had to the regulatory agencies of your state and the federal government as well as to Congress! These companies can't purchase ALL of our legislators. . .or can they?
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