Had a fun little experience with Verizon today. To make the story short, my internet was slow to non existent this weekend. So today at work I called them. They switched me to technical support, which had me do the typical clear safari, and reset network crap to no avail. I asked them if there were any local 3G issues which they assured me there were none. Problem not fixed, but had work to do. Called them an hour later as problem still not resolved. This yime, another reset, reboot, *228, clear safari, and still no go. Again, asked if there were any network issues, and again they said no, and i needed to restore as new through itunes. No problem, done that before. So i got home from work, did the restore and problem remained. Call them back and they sugessted a replacement from the local corporate office, and set it up for me. I give them credit for working with me andsolving issue, so off to the store i go. I walk in and tell them my problem, they call it up on computer and proceed to get me new phone. I get the new phone, not refurb, and ask them why my phone was not working, and they said the network had been having major problems for the last 2 days. Now corporate call center was totally clueless to this and tech support even more clueless, and wrote me up for a replacement which i got a new phone at corporate store. All they would had do was aknowledge network issues in my city of 200,000, and i would have been happy and waited. No. They had me go through all the hoops to the point they gave me a new phone instead of having any clue the 3G network was down for 48 hours in my city. So i got a free new phone for no reason, when it was the network all along. Im not complaining i got new phone, but shaking my head that verizon was total clueless to the 2 day 3G outage in my city.
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Verizon is clueless
- Thread starter wxman2003
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Sorry you had to go all through that. If it were me, and Verizon 3G wasn't working, I would have thought, "how typical"... and not bother calling.
There have been times where my Verizon 3G is so slow and usable... I just switch to my AT&T 3G data.
There have been times where my Verizon 3G is so slow and usable... I just switch to my AT&T 3G data.Verizon is not all it's cracked up to be (at least in my area) Slow 3G data speeds (okay, that's everywhere), and I got the EXACT same coverage that my AT&T iPhone gets, on my Verizon iPad 2. It was almost creepy how their bars would change to be the same at the exact same moment...
Try again.
I had an identical experience with AT&T this past week.
My 3G was down (in fact, everybody I work work had no 3G). I call them up and told them that nobody in my area with AT&T had 3G (60+ people) and asked if there was an outage of some kind. The clueless rep ignored me and proceeded to have me do similar steps as the OP, despite me telling her that it wasn't just me. She then said there was no outage at all in my area.
I called and got a different rep every day of the week with no results. Thankfully, the 3G came back online over the weekend.
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Whats the long version of your story?
Their is a good chance that the person from the call center doesn't operate from the same city or state that you were calling from, and its not really their fault that the system wasn't updated to reflect issues from your city, so he did the best that he could given the amount of resources that he had available.
I can say I've always gotten 3.4+ Mb/s on AT&T and always have full 5 bars...
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I'm sorry for bumping this thread, but I was just watching Louis C.K. and thought this clip was hilarious.
"Cell Phones and Flying"
http://www.slacker.com/song/louis-ck/cell-phones-and-flying
"Cell Phones and Flying"
http://www.slacker.com/song/louis-ck/cell-phones-and-flying
Hypocritical. Your original post did not say "So much for the almighty Verizon network in your area", it said "So much for the almighty Verizon network". Your original post therefore makes it seem like you are saying the Verizon network is inferior. It is inferior in some places AT&T is not, but Verizon is superior in some places as well. For example, my area I get 1.8 - 2.3mbps up on Verizon. In the past 3 years of having AT&T, my 3G has never surpassed 1.4mbps at any given time. My iPhone always gave me network failure errors when I had 5 full bars, and don't get me started on dropped calls.
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My understanding (from people I know, current and former employees of Verizon) is that the OP's experience is par for the course. Verizon would rather blame the device than admit a fault on the network side. So much so that multiple device swaps are considered an acceptable action.
No one is saying AT&T's network is any better. Both networks have issues. The difference is that Verizon's policy - in their marketing and in their corporate practices - is to deny anything that would threaten the image of superiority on the network side. If it's not the device, then it's the user that's at fault (see sig line). That's just what they do.
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Yes, but I can tell you that I haven't. So can I say "So much for the almighty AT&T network"?
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So Verizon (through lack of communication on their side) couldn't figure out what was wrong with OP's phone and so they gave him a new one. Sounds like good CS to me, even if the whole thing could have been avoided. I don't know why you're trying to spin this into something that it's not.
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LOL... since I am a customer of both networks, I frequently say the same thing for both. Both aren't perfect... but I am still happy with both providers most of the time. I get the same issue as the OP from both networks, but I just expect it from mobile networks. I just switch from one network to another if one isn't working... or I just wait till it starts working again. I wouldn't call Verizon or AT&T... and sucks that the OP got the run around... but I think it's pretty good service of giving him a new phone... to rule out a phone issue. Anyhow, the most dependable network for me is at work, and home... where I am 90% of the time.
The title of this thread drew me in. I find Verizon to be clueless on a number of levels. The troll fight a few posts back almost discouraged me to the point of dismissing this thread as useless. But back to the title...
Verizon is clueless for not knowing about network outages. I agree. But they are far more clueless for a couple of other reasons. They refuse to promote iPhone and treat it as some sort of "second class" model among their flagship 4G Android based offerings. My niece works for Verizon and when I told her I was thinking about coming back from At&t to get the Verizon iPhone, you know what she said? You would be better off with the Thunderbolt. What? Finally after all these years VZW is getting the iPhone and they are training their call center people to recommend Android models to users willing to switch from At&t? Never mind the fact I went to At&t to get iPhone, there is another reason VZW is clueless... Their pricing.
After years of using various janked up phones from Palm and RIM on Verizon, I finally broke down and went to At&t when they started offering tiered data. I could get 200 MB a month for $15. It seemed like a good deal to me as I often checked my data usage on Verizon only to find I had paid $30 and sometimes $45 for a mere 6 meg of data actually used! So VZW finally brought back tiered data, with the lowest tier costing more than At&t's "pro" tier. You gotta be kidding me.
Does Verizon have a good network? Yes. It has proven reliable for me over the years. Does At&t have a good network. Somewhat. I have had more dropped calls since switching to At&t but it's "good enough." I have seen examples of Verizon and At&t call centers being clueless about any number of things ranging from billing to outages. In fact, I'd have to say Verizon has a slight edge in the quality of their call centers over At&t. But VZW's refusal to actively promote what is arguably the best designed phone on the planet coupled with their price gouging are two areas where they are cluelessly clueless.
But back to the title...Verizon is clueless for not knowing about network outages. I agree. But they are far more clueless for a couple of other reasons. They refuse to promote iPhone and treat it as some sort of "second class" model among their flagship 4G Android based offerings. My niece works for Verizon and when I told her I was thinking about coming back from At&t to get the Verizon iPhone, you know what she said? You would be better off with the Thunderbolt. What? Finally after all these years VZW is getting the iPhone and they are training their call center people to recommend Android models to users willing to switch from At&t? Never mind the fact I went to At&t to get iPhone, there is another reason VZW is clueless... Their pricing.
After years of using various janked up phones from Palm and RIM on Verizon, I finally broke down and went to At&t when they started offering tiered data. I could get 200 MB a month for $15. It seemed like a good deal to me as I often checked my data usage on Verizon only to find I had paid $30 and sometimes $45 for a mere 6 meg of data actually used! So VZW finally brought back tiered data, with the lowest tier costing more than At&t's "pro" tier.
You gotta be kidding me. Does Verizon have a good network? Yes. It has proven reliable for me over the years. Does At&t have a good network. Somewhat. I have had more dropped calls since switching to At&t but it's "good enough." I have seen examples of Verizon and At&t call centers being clueless about any number of things ranging from billing to outages. In fact, I'd have to say Verizon has a slight edge in the quality of their call centers over At&t. But VZW's refusal to actively promote what is arguably the best designed phone on the planet coupled with their price gouging are two areas where they are cluelessly clueless.
It is always the network yet support centers never seem to know that. Not just Verizon but any of them, ATT, Bright House, TWC etc. Very frustrating but maybe it reduces call volume since some customers don't bother calling anymore.
I don't know if I'd call it good customer service. Sounds like they put the OP through a bunch of hoops because the right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing. If there was good communication between all of VZW (and it could have happened to ANY carrier), they could have said, "yes, we're having some reports of network issues" and the OP and anyone else in that area that called in wouldn't be hoop jumping, running to their corporate store (wasting time and gas) and then having to restore from backup onto a new phone. They could have just held tight until the network issues were resolved. Sounds like it was a few hours at least of wasted time and depending on how far the drive was, a few $ in gas. "Good service" wouldn't waste your time for nothing.
The title of this thread drew me in. I find Verizon to be clueless on a number of levels. The troll fight a few posts back almost discouraged me to the point of dismissing this thread as useless.
Do you think VZW was bitter over AT&T having exclusive rights to the iPhone for so long? That with a combination of knowing the iPhone will sell itself so why not promote the heck out of other devices?
I don't know if the carriers work this way but if I had to bet, I'd say they do - Is VZW making more money per device for android phones vs iPhones? Just a thought.
Off topic - Nice Jeep and from the D too. I have a '09 2 Door - Detonator Yellow. Didn't make it to Silver Lake yet this year but I've still got some time.
(Not sure why this was voted down), I infact also had the same problem in the boston area a week or two ago. 3G was down over the entire city.
CS is only aware of what they are told. Considering that, seems like they made the best of the situation with the info they had in hand. It's certainly not the vast cover-up the poster I quoted was implying.
I think Verizon is working more on the future than the present... All you see now is 4G commercials and what they provide... It would be nice if Verizon thought about having decent data speeds for consumers now instead of the 4G....
One step at a time...
One step at a time...
Do some research on your request and you'll realize that moving forward with 4G is the best move they can make. Options to upgrade their 3G network are limited and expensive.
Lack of communication between departments & regions seems to be common amongst communication providers. And the irony is a freaky shame.
My niece works for Verizon and when I told her I was thinking about coming back from At&t to get the Verizon iPhone, you know what she said? You would be better off with the Thunderbolt. What? Finally after all these years VZW is getting the iPhone and they are training their call center people to recommend Android models to users willing to switch from At&t? Never mind the fact I went to At&t to get iPhone, there is another reason VZW is clueless... Their pricing.
No, we aren't clueless, I've been an Apple guru since High School but I will tell you than my stores will make $200-$300 MORE on average of Gross Profit if we sell you and Android Smartphone as opposed to the iPhone and I tend to push it more for the sake of hitting goals.
For the sake of example, we make more gross profit on selling a car charger than selling an iPhone on a secondary line. They're just not as profitable as other phones because their box cost is stupid high. A Primary line isn't much more. All of our profit from the iPhone comes from Accessory attachment. Additionally, Verizon gets paid on the $29.99 Data Plan gross profit on ever phone except the iPhone.
I hate to say it, but your niece was looking out for her goals and her stores profit.
EDIT** And let's not mention the fact that the iPhone is terrible for customer service if something is wrong with it. It's the only phone in the store that we have to tell the loyal customer "sorry, we can't swap your phone, you must drive an hour to the nearest Apple Retail Store to exchange it." Additionally, if a customer exchanges any other phone for the iPhone, we not only lose money for the 2 day old handset that we can no longer sell in our store because it has an ESN history, but we lose gross profit because the iPhone pays less. And if said customer returns said iPhone, the store loses $700 due to the fact that we have to eat the cost of that phone because it's now used so in turn it's the only phone we have to charge a restocking fee on.
As a consumer, I love Apple and the iPhone, as a Verizon Wireless RSM, it's an absolute nightmare.
I've enjoyed stellar service, call quality & speed for over a decade with AT&T. That plus excellent customer service, makes them my favorite.
In addition I've been with Verizon concurrently for the last five. While they are pretty good, they lead as the most expensive. But for this phone enthusiast I'm willing to pay it.