I just spent a good 35 minutes on the phone with Verizon. See, on top of my credit card numbers being lifted, my husband went through the same thing a few months ago. We’re still getting caught up with what automated bill payments we’ve changed and what ones we’ve forgotten. Today, I was dealing with the Verizon bill, marked overdue. (A note that I’d just had a round of Fun with Verizon not that long ago.)
I called. Automated system. Fine. I’ve walked through enough of them to know how to respond “incorrectly” enough times in order to reach a real person. The sytem eventually rerouted me to live support only … it didn’t. No, instead I sat on hold with no music, no sound at all, for five minutes. I hung up. I was in Verizon’s version of pergatory, apparently.
I went online. Change it there, right? Wrong. I went to the account info page to make the change and was greeted with this message: “You will lose your bundle discount (if you have one) by switching from your phone bill to another payment method. For questions, please call 800-XXX-XXXX.”
Nope. Don’t want to do that. But I had to put the new payment info into the system so I could pay the bill, right? I got on the phone again. It went something like this:
Verizon person #1: Hi. My name is Dick Doe. May I have your phone number to verify your account, please?
I give it. Then I say:
Me: I’m trying to change our payment information because we have new debit card information. Our original ones were stolen and the account numbers cancelled. Here’s the message I got when I tried doing that online (and I read the message to the person on the phone). What should I do?
Verizon person #1: Wow. I’ve never heard of that. Let me talk with my supervisor.
(On hold, listening to a cruddy rendition of “Leaving it All Up to You”)
Verizon person #2: Hi, this is Jane Doe. May I have your phone number to verify your account, please?
I give her the number.
VP #2: How may I help you today?
Huh? Okay, whatever. I tell her what I told VP #1. Her response:
VP #2: It says what?
I repeat it.
VP #2: That’s strange. Let me get e-billing on the line.
(More music, same song. Meant to calm people down, but it’s getting annoying.)
VP #3: Hi, this is Doug Doe. May I have your phone number so I can verify your account, please?
Again, I provide the number.
VP #3: How may I help you?
Me: You’re the third person I’ve talked with so far, Doug. Here’s the situation.
I recap all I’ve told the other two people, and asked, “How can I fix this?”
VP #3: It says that? Really? Never heard of that! Let me get IT on the line. Hold, please.
Gawd, there’s that SONG again. I try to work on a client file as I wait.
VP #4: Hi, this is Vickie Doe. May I have….. (you get the idea)
Me: Vickie, here’s the situation (I give her the shpiel). I’ve talked with four people now. How can I pay this bill and get this payment set up as automatic?
VP #4, slightly impatient: What state do you live in?
I tell her.
VP #4: Let me transfer you to the FiOS support group in your state. You may be on hold for a few minutes as they’re very busy today. (Yea, no doubt given the stellar support I’ve been subjected to already)
Within mere seconds, I heard this voice:
VP #5: Hi, this is Audrey Doe. May I….. (oy, not again)
Me: Audrey, you are now person #5 I’ve spoken with on this call…
VP #5: Oh dear! That’s unfortunate!
No kidding.
Me: Here’s the situation. Our bill is overdue. I want to pay it. I can’t. We have automated payments. I can’t change it. Here’s why. (explained message one more time) I would like to add a new payment method, but obviously I can’t or I lose my bundled services discount. Why I don’t know. But I will. It says so. I need to change this payment method now or this bill will be way overdue yet another month. Help.
VP #5, who actually heard, cared, and didn’t try passing the job on to yet another person in the Verizon food chain: Sure, I can do this for you. What’s the other method of payment you’d like to use?
I tell her. We get it all set up. I’m beginning to breathe a sigh of relief. Oops – too soon.
VP #5: The account is now changed. You now have your account set up to withdraw from your debit instead of your BANK ACCOUNT.
Me: What? We had this set up to draw from there in the first place? Then why is this account overdue?
VP #5: Oh, that’s because you added new services. Typically, bank account withdrawals are on a monthly cycle. Your new services weren’t caught in the first cycle. They’d simply be paid on the next billing cycle date.
Me: Then why did I just change the debit card numbers?
VP #5, obviously confused: I’m not sure.
I hung up and let out a loud groan. I told ALL of these people that the stolen debit card numbers were the reason I wanted to make changes. I also mentioned to every one of them the overdue bill status. Yet it took 35 minutes, multiple people, and a waste of my time and energy to make a change that didn’t really need to be changed. Why? Why can’t someone in that system thing beyond the support “prompts” and engage the brain?
What upsets me is I wasted billable hours wading through an obviously broken support system to find out only after five people and one payment change that I really didn’t need to do that. Maybe if I’d asked the right question I could’ve avoided it. But where is it up to me to know their accounting system, the process by which payments are made, and that the overdue bill wasn’t anything to fret over? Couldn’t one single person there tell me that before I wasted all that time and all their administrative time/money?
Verizon, for the love of the Almighty – teach your employees to solve problems with the proper application of common sense. Hiring them and training them in company speak doesn’t help your customers, and it’s causing you a lot of administrative costs you don’t need to be spending. If I were to treat my clients like this, I’d be out of work and out of clients.
Bless your heart! You are having a real "fun" Monday, Huh? BTW, I used to have Verizon service. Never liked them – now I know why.>:(
Lori, here’s my Verizon horror story… One of the things that really sold me on getting a BlackBerry was the ability to tether my BlackBerry to my laptop and get internet in areas that wouldn’t have it otherwise (or places that charge you for it). The guy in the store made it sound super-easy, but he neglected to mention that it’s an extra $15 on top of what I pay for regular internet, data for my phone, and talk minutes. No thank you!
I. Hate. Verizon. Last year FiOS came to our neighborhood, and some slick talking salesman/contractor promised us all kinds of things that were outright lies. Of course, getting out of the contract, that cost nearly double what he said it would, was nigh impossible.
If you ever call Verizon and get caught in automated phone menus, just keep growling “Representative” or “Agent” at the prompt, and after two or three times it will give you a live operator.
First of all, realize that Verizon does not give a sh–. You are only a customer, and easily replaced.
Second, transcribe your blog post into a letter to the CEO of Verizon, cc’ing the Attorney General of your home state and the state in which the Verizon executive office sits, and the BBB.
Add an invoice for your time.
That is the ONLY way you get results — from the executive office. I have to do that at least once a year.
As soon as they see that the AG’s office is copied, they respond. Without the AG cc, they do not. Because the AG’s offices WILL get on their asses and make them fix it.
I love your style, Devon. Actually, I have the letter already drafted to the CEO. Frankly, if they brought in a business improvement consultant, they could easily fix their issues. Why do some companies ignore such areas of improvement? I’ll never understand it.
My heart goes out to all of you. I’ve had a 24 hour fiasco (no joke) 24 hours in one week on the phone with verizon when I moved to try to get my service hooked up after they messed up the original request. I’m actually on hold with them right now b/c they left a man hole exposed in my yard (where there are several toddlers and kids around) and I can’t get anyone to take this seriously. I’ve been disconnected from 5 calls already… I just hope no one gets hurt.