Is this taking the cheap way out?
oldfashioned
Specialist - Level 2

I honestly don't mean to sound sarcastic or critical and please excuse my delay in posting this.  But one customer service experience from Verizon that I never fogot happened quite some time ago when the picture wouldn't display on my TV.  The rep I spoke to wanted to replace the set top box so a new one was sent and I had to ship the old one back with a pre-paid label at a UPS Store.  That didn't solve the problem and finally a tech was sent to my house to find that the problem was a damaged wire that had been installed in the bedroom closet.

Was this just taking the cheap way out to avoid the cost of sending out a tech to fix the problem?  Or perhaps this rep wasn't trained properly?

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Re: Is this taking the cheap way out?
jmw1950
Specialist - Level 2

Just about everybody looks for the least cost solution these days, and to be honest, damaged wiring is pretty low on the list of likely candidates. The rep you speak to has a trouble shooting flow chart, and they are going to try the things that are most likely to solve the problem first. That generally means replacing the STB is next step if resetting the STB doesn't work.

Figure it probably costs about $30 to exchange STB's. I'd be surprise if sending out a tech costs Verizon less than $100, and if all the tech ends up doing is swapping STB's, it isn't a cost effective solution.

The reluctance to send out a tech is simply a reality of today's business world. It is all about ROI and minimizing the expenses in running the business. Customer Service almost always takes a back seat to cost these days, and just about every company now operates that way.

Welcome to customer service in the 21st Century.

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Re: Is this taking the cheap way out?
oldfashioned
Specialist - Level 2

It really makes no sense over the long run.  I think it's short sighted.  I myself at times still long for the days when the customer mattered a lot more and when things were built to last.  Even the tech who came here told me himself that any time you get only the program listings and no picture, more than likely it's a wire issue.  Why replace the entire STB just because resetting it doesn't solve the problem?  I had had this same issue long before this last instance and a tech was sent to my house instead of replacing the STB and it was a similar thing with the outside wiring.  I don't really care since I'm always paying rent on it but I just think that's dumb.  In the end, what is really saved by doing all of that?  The term "investment" as in investing time and a little more money to solve a problem definitely isn't in the modern day business vocabulary. 

Of course, it's all about the money and not the quality and not about the customer. 

I didn't even grow up with cable TV and quite honestly, I never wanted any of this until the day it was decided to pull the plug on analog reception via the antenna.  All the profits go to the CEOs and the corporate giants expand and take over even more.  I don't exactly call that "progress" and for all that money you are now forced to pay per month, the package includes all of these extra features which were never essential to begin with.  I'll never understand what the whole sudden "emergency" was to have to force everyone to do this so that now you have to pay all this money per month just to get decent TV reception.  Going digital was really a joke in the end and the converter boxes just kept everyone quiet about it.  

And believe me, I know the whole mentality about being so cheap everything and I think it stinks.  The lowest possible cost.  It's wrong over the long run.   

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Re: Is this taking the cheap way out?
oldfashioned
Specialist - Level 2

Now let's do the math with those figures you just mentioned.  It isn't cost effective.  Sure, replace the STB for $30 which is a waste of time and money and then send out a tech for $100.  That's wasting more money in the end by spending $130 instead of the $100 to send someone out to fix the problem in the first place.  It's really not rocket science.  lol...Why replace something like that unless something is clearly wrong with it?

I get tired of hearing about all of this emphasis on cost because every time, it's only about the short term and not the long run.  All this is doing is costing businesses and customers more over the long run.

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Re: Is this taking the cheap way out?
bobbo527
Specialist - Level 3

@questioning wrote:

I honestly don't mean to sound sarcastic or critical and please excuse my delay in posting this.  But one customer service experience from Verizon that I never fogot happened quite some time ago when the picture wouldn't display on my TV.  The rep I spoke to wanted to replace the set top box so a new one was sent and I had to ship the old one back with a pre-paid label at a UPS Store.  That didn't solve the problem and finally a tech was sent to my house to find that the problem was a damaged wire that had been installed in the bedroom closet.

Was this just taking the cheap way out to avoid the cost of sending out a tech to fix the problem?  Or perhaps this rep wasn't trained properly?


Sorry to disappoint but all the Cable companies do this, not just Verizon. Hell, we had the Dish Network at our house in Maine (and had tons or  problems with them) and they would NOT send out a Technician unless we agreed to pay $75 an hour, just to ge them to show up with no guarantee they could or would fix the problem(s). Needless to say we dumped the Dish, it was so bad. It's Verizons quick solution because so many problems begin with the box itself (but not all as you discovered).

I do NOT blame verizon for taking this tact, while it may not have been cheaper for your problem in the long run, taking into consideration all the calls they get, it is cheaper. I know, I had to have my 6216 DVR replaced 4 times in a year because the harddrvies kept failing (that is what you get for "reconditioned" junk). How much would it have cost to send a technician to my house 4 times just to replace the box? Now that I have a 7232 I could nto be happier.

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Re: Is this taking the cheap way out?
oldfashioned
Specialist - Level 2

Oh I'm sure not just Verizon uses that same tactic and with high call volume, I can kind of understand basing the solution on prior experience with similar problems, although lumping a problem into averages or comparisons based on the masses of other people with similar problems has its drawbacks too.

I'm not disappointed and I'm not about to cancel my service.  It really was a minor thing and not that big of a deal just to a local UPS Store.  Verizon is really the best deal I'm going to get and I'm leaving it alone.  I've heard horror stories about Dish Network, how its TV service is extremely sensitive to weather conditions because of the outdoor dish.  This was just something I wanted to put out there.

I still think that all of this emphasis on the cheaper way out has become an obsession for big businesses at the expense of quality customer service and I just think in this case, if somebody on the customer service end had looked and seen that there was nothing wrong with the set top box, the extra going back and forth probably could have been avoided.   That was all.  It just seemed the initial solution to the problem was based on assumption rather than facts, besides having all this emphasis on what is the cheaper way not for now. 

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