Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Customer Service

[IrateExCustomer]

Open letter to: Crystal, Brandon, Lulu, Brianna, Sierra, Aaron, Justin, Ken, Ed, and the dozen or so other customer service representatives in the half-dozen different departments I was transferred to during my ridiculous journey.

Thanks for nothing.

The goal of customer service is not to get me off the phone or transfer me to another department. The goal of customer service is to help resolve an issue.

Verizon Customer Service Management (if you are reading), please go read the myriad of entries, updates, and notes associated with account #{edited for privacy}. Read them all from beginning through to the farcical end. Take note of all the people on your staff who were unable to resolve the issue. 

While you're at it, give Cara {edited for privacy} in the Retention Department in Andover (soon to be in Lowell) a raise. She is the only person I spoke to with the ability to resolve the issue and the temerity to take ownership of it. Sincerest thanks to Cara. She was the bright light at the end of the long, dark tunnel.

{please keep your posts courteous}

Let's start with the punch line so that anyone who dislikes details can stop reading early. 

I was billed $1,510.07 on 5/17/2014 for equipment that Verizon has had in their possession since 11/09/13. It was right there in the system, you just had to look it up. Even Ed could do that. Although he indicated I was (probably?) being billed because it was damaged. All the equipment I returned was supposedly damaged? It wasn't damaged, it was destroyed - by Verizon - because it was the old equipmen no longer being used. So I was being billed $1,510.07 for equipment that I returned and Verizon destroyed because they didn't need it. Let that last sentence sink in for a bit. Boggles the mind.

This was an issue that Verizon felt so strongly about that they sent the bill for 3rd party collections. Nice touch.

Serial numbers {edited for privacy} were sitting right there all along. They plant in Pennsylvania made sure to enter those into the system - and then they destroyed the equipment. 

I was informed by nearly everyone I spoke to from May through October that the problem could be resolved if I could provide the receipt for the returned equipment. Lacking the foresight that this may become an 11-month ordeal, I didn't properly file that receipt and could not produce it on demand. But that didn't stop them from asking for it - multiple times - even though it was clearly in the notes that I did not have it. Shame on me.

Here is an exchange that I had multiple times:

Me: Why am I being billed $1,510.07?

Verizon1: For unreturned equipment.

Me: I returned the equipment to a Verizon store in November.

Verizon1: Do you have a receipt?

Me: [sigh] No.

Verizon: Well then, there is nothing I can do. I'll be glad to transfer you to someone else who can't help you. Would you like me to do that? [I might be paraphrasing here, but you get the gist]

Me: [sigh] Sure, I'm made of time.

Verizon2: Why did they transfer you here? I can't even find your account.

Me: Because it's been closed for months. Try checking the archives.

Verizon2: Oh. Right. Good idea. Can you sit on hold for 15-20 minutes? 

Me: [sigh] Sure, I'm made of time.

Verizon2: Lucky you, I found it. But there's nothing I can do. You'll have to take this up with [insert the name of department that forwarded me here].

Me: I already spoke to them, they sent me to you. Please, pretty please, don't transfer me again.

Verizon2: Can you hold for a moment?

Me: [sigh] Sure, I'm made of time.

[Hold music. Couple of clicks. Verizon1 voice jail...again]

Lest you think I'm exagerating. I checked my phone records for the September and October exchanges with Verizon. Those two customer service visits required a whopping 283 minutes. That's four hours and forty-three minutes. But hey, I'm made of time.

The ridiculous journey is not over. I still have to wait for a call back from Cara. She is not the first person to promise to call me back. Let's see if she is the first one to actually do it. She should have news that I no longer owe $1,510.07 for equipment I returned when I was supposed to. Then I have to call {edited for privacy} to talk with the Credit Reporting Department to make sure this is no longer out for 3rd party collection and has not adversely impacted my credit rating.

There's a good story that goes along with the last-month service fees that paid-payment misapplied-resolved-rebilled-credited-resolved-rebilled (each time in a different dollar amount) -and finally resolved by, you guessed it, Cara. But that will have to wait for another post. Turns out I'm not made of time.

Management, you have my contact information if you would like to discuss this. Don't be surprised if I put you on hold though.

Respectfully,

IrateExCustomer

[LawrenceC]

Hi IrateExCustomer,

Your issue has been escalated to a Verizon agent. Before the agent can begin assisting you, they will need to collect further information from you. Please go to your profile page for the forum and look at the top of the middle column where you will find an area titled "My Support Cases". You can reach your profile page by clicking on your name beside your post, or at the top left of this page underneath the title of the board.

Under "My Support Cases" you will find a link to the private board where you and the agent may exchange information. This should be checked on a frequent basis, as the agent may be waiting for information from you before they can proceed with any actions. To ensure you know when they have responded to you, at the top of your support case there is a drop down menu for support case options. Open that and choose "subscribe". Please keep all correspondence regarding your issue in the private support portal.

[Verizon_Support]

Hi Matthew

We reviewed your account and you are absolutely correct and I know at this point it probably won't help but I really do apologize we put you through this.  We dropped the ball on this.

Cara has put in a ticket to reverse the charges for the equipment we received back in November. I have also called my credit team and asked that this collections charge be reversed so it will be pulled completely from your credit report as if it did not exist.  Brandon has insisted on calling you directly to confirm. Please let me know how that went.

Cara and I are both keeping an eye on your account

~Jess