Why is Verizon Roadside Assistance terrible?

[kryprokid99]

Last night I attempted to use My Verizon Roadside Assistance which I pay 3$ a month for years and had never used it til now. I live in Panama City Beach, Florida where Hurricane Michael hit just 2 weeks ago.  We have had a curfew in effect from midnight til 5am. Well I didn't have a chance to make it to the gas station before they closed, and they all closed around 11pm.  So there were no gas stations for at least 25 miles radius. I had just got off work and I live about 25 miles North and my gas needle was on the E line so I really didn't think I'd have enough gas to make it home.  I called Verizon Roadside Assistance, the automated operator said for faster service to use the RSA App, so I did. The claim took only about a minute to complete and it quoted me 70 to 90 minutes for service to arrive. I didn't expect immediate service, especially considering the circumstances of the hurricane. All of the local gas stations had been stocked with gas, as the city is getting back to normal.  Within 10 minutes from filing the claim I received a phone call from a VZW representative, she basically was confirming where I was, if I was in a safe place, I told her yes. She asked if I was out of gas and I replied I had very little gas and knew it would not be enough to get me home or to a gas station. She then said I would have to be completely out of gas to use the service. This is when I started to get pretty upset. I told her I would be out of gas within a few minutes of driving and then I might not be in a safe place anymore. She repeated herself again with the same ridiculous thing. So I just went ahead and td her that I actually was completely out of gas and she could go ahead and continue with the claim. Reluctantly she continued the claim. As I sat in my car waiting, about 20 min had passed and I received another call from the rep. This time she said she was not able to find a service truck at the moment and she'd call me back in a few moments. I remained calm, I realize it's not the reps fault. So another 10 minutes passes I get another call, this time she tells me the same thing, that no service was available at the moment. This was about 30 minutes after my initial claim. So I had enough of the run-around and I wasn't going to just wait until they find someone.  I told the rep to cancel the claim along with a few choice words on bow I felt about VZW Roadside Assistance.

My main complaint was really the fact that this is a service that Verizon has had for well over a decade, so you'd think they'd have a well organized system. No one should have to wait 90 min for a few gallons of gas, or a battery jump it any service when your within close proximity to plenty of services. I would think that whoever is in charge of carrying out the actual service would have gas on hand and shouldn't have to rely on a gas station being open. Not to mention that all gas stations locally were closed. Maybe if the company is contracted thru Verizon for Roadside Assistance and knowing that a curfew was in effect at midnight, it would probably be smart to make sure they had gas to do their job if a call came thru. Of Course no one plans on running out of gas, but sometimes the situation happens. I would like to say I felt rest assured that if any car problems that occurred that Verizon Roadside Assistance would be reliable to get you going  but instead the whole process was unorganized, unreasonable, and obviously it's not a priority for Verizon period.  They make millions of dollars just on the Roadside Assistance monthly fee and I am pretty sure the amount of claims as well as the cost of the actual service is so insignificant compared to the annual revenue that is paid in by the customers. 

So I finally made it home safely without the help of VZW. I immediately cancelled the Roadside Assistance feature from my plan. I'm really lucky I wasn't in a dangerous situation although it could have been very easily. I'm sure mamm people have had great experiences but all it takes is one situation that can ruin a good thing. Considering all I needed was a few gallons of gas to make it home, the process should not have taken any longer than 30 minutes tops. This is why people have such little trust in these major billion dollar corporations. They don't put their customers as top priority. Verizon is the top carrier  based on the fact they have had a solid lead in cell coverage reliablilty compared to Sprint, TMobile and ATT. They are also they most expensive carrier and they know they have the upper hand.

So I added Roadside Assistance thru my Geico policy which cost a couple dollars more but I'm sure the Assistance is much more reliable.

By the way, about an hour later after I was already home I received another phone call from a Verizon rep confirming that I cancelled the claim. I didn't have the energy to complain considering it was probably around 130am.  I guess all I can hope for is that Verizon reads these reviews and makes necessary changes. Seems pretty simple, but that's not how these companies work.

[glitchedpixel]

There are people that don't have Roadside Assistance and actually have to walk for miles in the heat/cold, something you didn't have to. Consider carrying spare fuel.