Verizon Wireless Alienates Yet Another Customer

The complaint consists of two parts. First, the phone was defective on several accounts from the moment I purchased it, and Verizon has refused to replace it. Second, Verizon's customer service policies are designed to cause a war of attrition in which the customer is left powerless to object. I will detail first the problems with the phone, and second the saga of my repeated attempts to resolve the issue.

The phone has never been able to send text messages, but it took some time for me to realize this, since it has always received text messages with no problem. Six or seven repeated attempts to resolve this issue (following the same involved troubleshooting process) have failed. I was told to visit the nearest authorized dealer (40 minutes away).

The phone's GPS application worked for a month after the plan began. I was informed by Customer Service that it was because a free one-month supplement to my plan had expired, and that unless I extended it, I would have to pay per megabyte for GPS data usage (this is not what I was told when the phone was purchased, see below). Reinstalling the application resolved the issue, although repeated calls to customer service continued to give conflicting answers as to whether I would be charged for data usage. Some time later, the phone's GPS application again failed to launch, and when reinstall failed to resolve the issue, I was forwarded to the nearest authorized dealer. I remain unsure of whether Verizon will charge for megabyte usage of the GPS application, should it ever begin to function.

Throughout the several months following the activation of the plan (January through March), it has been a constant battle with Verizon's customer service in attempt to resolve the issue. To date, I have called Verizon Wireless Customer Service seven times (not counting call-backs to the same representatives). Each time, the phone is troubleshooted following the exact same process, regardless of my informing them that I've already done so. This process involves the several steps I originally took to ascertain the nature of the issue, culminating in resetting the phone to factory settings. All of this I did once before calling customer service, and on every call. At the end, I am told that they cannot resolve the issue. On several occasions, I have been promised a callback to find out if I'm still having the problem; I have never been called back. Once, I was forwarded to technical support, who extensively troubleshooted the phone. The technician informed me that the problem was with the cell phone towers. He would investigate and call me back. He never did.

Since then, repeated attempts to contact the technical services department have failed. If I say "I would like to speak with technical services," or "May I speak with a technician, please," I am answered with "This is technical services," although it is clearly Customer Service. I understand that this script is designed to screen out problems that can be resolved by technical services, but the repeated refusal to forward me, and the attempt to trick me into thinking that there is no such separate department have wasted many hour of my time while I cooperate in the same troubleshooting process I've engaged in half a dozen times, in the hope that maybe, at the end, I might be forwarded to someone who can help.

When I realized that Verizon was preventing me from receiving the service I had purchased, I ceased payment. As the payments became overdue, I informed anyone who would listen that as soon as my service is restored to what I was paying for, I would be happy to make good my account. On my most recent call to customer service, I was informed that no further troubleshooting would be performed until my account was balanced. Attempts to be forwarded to second tier troubleshooting were denied. I attempted to escalate to a manager, but I was denied, being told that "the manager is in a meeting, and I don't know when he'll be available." I pressed to be escalated to another manager; she refused. After having informed me that until my account was paid, she could not help me further. I pressed and grew increasingly frustrated with the refusals under a veneer of polite offers to help. For example,

If I say: "Well, if you won't escalate me to your manager, may I speak with another manager?"

The CSR says: "I can't do that until your account is payed. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Then I say: "I'm not going to pay until my phone works how I'm paying for it to work."

She would say: "I can't do anything with your phone until your account is payed. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

This type of exchange became increasingly frustrating until I hung up, and have not called back since.

To summarize, the GPS on my phone has worked intermittently, and although it was resolved on one occasion it has since stopped working again. The text messaging service has never worked as promised, and customer service has been increasingly ineffectual. The one occasion on which I was able to speak with someone who was able to troubleshoot beyond just resetting the phone, I was told that there was some problem with the towers, and that I would be called back. I was never called back. Seven attempts to reach that department have been blocked by customer service, and my attempts to escalate the issue have been refused. Finally, Verizon refuses to resolve the issue until I pay for services I am not receiving, and I refuse to pay for services I am not receiving until the issue is resolved. It has become painfully obvious that the obnoxious on-hold reminder, "You are our Number One priority," is a blatant lie. Ryan Hyde.