AAARRRGGGGHHHHH!!!
(sorry, just had to get that out!)
OK, here’s my Verizon nightmare story - or, rather, the current one:
I already have phone service at my new house.
I am trying to cancel phone service at the place I used to live. BUT VERIZON WON’T LET ME!!
See, the online/web “Customer Support” site will let you:
-add a line
-add/delete features
-add DSL, wireless, you name it
-set up a new account AND cancel old service (but not just the latter)
But it will NOT let you CANCEL your current service.
So I call the “Customer Service” number for my state. I:
enter my 10 digit phone number,
go through 2 levels of menus,
select the option for “Completely Disconnect Your Service” (only thing this menu option is used for, so it’s clear that’s what I want to do).
What happens?
The line rings a few times.
A recorded voice comes on and suggests that I go to www.verizon.com.
NO. I CAN’T. I TRIED THAT AND IT WON’T ALLOW ME DO WHAT I’M TRYING TO DO; THE ONLY THING THAT ANYONE WHO GOT TO THIS POINT IN YOUR IVR SYSTEM WOULD BE TRYING TO DO! SO WHY ARE YOU TELLING ME TO GO SOMEWHERE THAT WON’T HELP ME?
A different recorded voice comes on and says that due to the call volume, I can’t be helped at this time and to call back some other time. And then it disconnects me.
WELL, WHY NOT TELL ME THAT SOONER? Like before I spent the last few minutes going through all the stupid menus.
And you have my number and ways to verify my account (SSN,etc.), why not let me do this automatically. I don’t actually need to talk to a human to do this!
Did I mention that their office is only open from 8am to 6pm. Too bad for working types. Luckily I can call from work.
This has been going on for a couple days. The first few times I didn’t even get this far - just got a busy signal! At the PHONE COMPANY!
So I have to PAY FOR extra days of service that I DON’T WANT, becuase I can’t get through to CANCEL!
Well, just a few minutes after starting this thread, I decided to give it one more attempt on the phone before the Verizon business office closed at 6pm.
The call went through. And I was able to cancel the service.
And as I felt guilty (?) for having just pitted them, I didn’t ask for a credit for the couple days I’d been trying to get through, as I had originally planned to do.
But just to keep the thought going, it still shouldn’t take all this to cancel one’s service. So, Nyah!
“we’re overworked/understaffed, and y’all just don’t understand the suffering we have to go through dealing with the like of you - we’re just doing our job, not that you care that I have 3 kids to feed (and 3 separate child support checks to collect). Btw, I’m only 18 so give me a break.”
There, now they don’t have to defend themselves: I’ve done it for them.
If you ever run into a phone menu that is more than one level deep, immediately start pushing zero until you get a human.
That generally works for me. Phone menus are fine for directing your call to the right department, but I refuse to sit and listen to options and press buttons for three hours when I 12 second conversation with a human will get the job done.
Can’t defend Verizon, but I can defend the phone reps, considering that several thousand service personnel were recently laid off. If only the people making the cuts were answering the phone, they might realize the frustrations of the paying customers. You can’t cut that deep and not affect service (which wasn’t any good to begin with).
According to some of the techs I worked with on a project in Puerto Rico last fall, “Verizon” has become slang for “a**hole” there, due to abysmal customer service.
