[Drummit]

I've gotta tell you my Verizon horror story. I've never been one to complain too much and Verizon has been pretty on the spot with resolving any issues I've had, but over the last 2 days I'm about to switch carriers.

It really started with my Touch Pro. I know plenty of people love them here, but my opinion is that this thing is garbage. I purchased one at FULL RETAIL. Of course, it was a piece of poo and had to get a replacement. Well lo and behold, this one's defective and falling apart and puking on itself as well.

So finally I've had enough and I call Verizon with my aggravations and they inform me my line is open for an upgrade. I was trying to get across that the phone I have is defective and I don't want another HTC phone, but ok, I'll give a little to try and resolve the problem. No worries. While I'm on the phone I tell the rep that I need to get a phone for my son for Christmas. My new-every-2 isn't up till Dec 30th so they agree to help me out by letting me have my upgrade a week and a half early. Cool...sounds like the right thing to do by my count to keep a customer happy. Awesome. So the rep asks, "Would you like me to ship those or would you like to pick them up in the store?" Hey, I'll get them today! No shipping and don't have to wait. The rep says "I'll note the account and any Corporate store can get you taken care of for the prices we talked about." Thanks! You've been super helpful!

So I get in my car and drive 20 minutes to the Verizon store with a smile on my face. I get there and check out the phones and everything looks great. STRIKE ONE--The store rep tells me that there's nothing on the account so it's gonna cost this this this and this then you have to wait for the rebates. Hold the phone a second...I was on the phone for 45 minutes with this guy who said everything was in order....can we get on the line and get this straitened out? STRIKE 2-- "All we can do is call *611 just like you." Ok.. soo.... are you going to do that or what? So THEN the store rep tells me, "Well they just never do that. If you want to call them back and straighten it out, then just come back in." WHAT THE?!?! FOR REAL?! You're telling the customer to fix it himself?!

So I go out to the car and call *611 and get a different rep who checks into the issue and is APPALLED that the store rep handled things the way he did. She explains things should have been explained a bit better, sorry for the confusion. Alright...let it go..she's trying to fix things. So... she says she'll overnight the phones at no charge and credits my account for $25. Phones will be there tomorrow...someone has to sign for them. Oh. I'm going to be gone till late..no worries, I've got a friend that owes me a favor and Fedex runs early so he can take off after the package shows up. Got the bases covered...life is good again. Around 7:30-8:00 the same rep calls me to tell me that she forgot to tell me they credited 1000 minutes to my account because it's a contract renewal. Thanks for the call! At this point, I'm satisfied and I'm excited to get a phone that hopefully lives up to my expectations.

So my buddy shows up as I'm leaving at 7am today...call me when the package gets here and lock up on your way out. Thanks! I call at lunch... no drop yet. No worries. I call on my way home at 6pm...no package. WTF?! STRIKE 3!! I call Verizon... "You told me my phones would be here, what gives?" So they tell me, "Oh, you placed the order after 3pm so it didn't ship yesterday. It'll be there tomorrow." ?!?! Well why did you tell me it'd be here today...you inconvienienced me (and made me call in a favor so my buddy could sit here and drink up my beer and empty my fridge) Oh..bigger problem...I'm gonna be gone all day tomorrow and I've got no one to get the Fedex guy. Not to mention, I won't be home till after 7pm tomorrow and the next day and Thursday is Christmas Eve. "Well I'm sorry for the inconvienience...anything else I can do for you?" Well...where can I pick these phones up at? "I've got no way to figure that out. You'll have to wait till they try to deliver it, then call Fedex and they can answer that for you." STRIKE FREEKIN 4!!!!!!!! So I lose it. Sorry is no longer good enough. Get someone on the phone that can make this right. I know you can't deliver it any faster, but I at least need to know WHERE I can go to get my phone and what is going to be done about this runaround I'm getting.

So Josh the floor manager gets on the line. After explaining to him the hassle I've been through, he "advises" me that basicly, he's not going to do anything. More apologies and the phones will be there sometime tomorrow. Sometime before 7pm. I'm starting to REALLY get perturbed, so I reiterate that I have done everything that the reps have asked me to do...all the way down to calling customer support myself to iron out the miscommunications from the first phone call. (Which I still think is a crock!) I inform him that I'm not a happy customer and I don't think that the customer service dept has their stuff in order. All though the first two reps tried to handle the situation the whole affair has been botched at every turn. First off you send me 20 minutes to a store, then the store rep makes me call to try to figure out where the ball got dropped, then tell me you'll have the package to me the next day so I inconvienience a friend for an entire day for nothing, then you can't even tell me where or when I can PICK UP the package that is going to be delivered that I won't be here to get. hm. THEN when I express to you that after this, I'm considering returning the phones and changing carriers (costing Verizon close to $2000 a year) , you "advise" me that you've done all you can do. What did you do?! I was credited $25 by someone else and someone before that did the courtesy of moving my upgrade date up a few days. Whoopty freekin doo. THE SUPERVISOR didn't even have the gumption to get on the horn and figure out where or when I could pick up my package.

Maybe I'm out of line...I don't know. But, I'm not asking for free phones, merchandise or a months credit on my account. I pay on time. All I expected was for things to be handled the first time. Instead I end up running in circles and getting more and more frustrated, only to end up with a SUPERVISOR that straight out doesn't give two bits about whether or not customer service is actually providing a service to the customer. SHAME ON YOU VERIZON!!!!! If one of my employees treated a customer like this they would be looking for a new job! If I ship something to someone and there's an issue with the package I! look into it and find a solution and then contact the buyer to let them know what's up.

VERIZON, I HOPE YOU'RE READING THIS!! I'M NOT A SATISFIED CUSTOMER!! I'M FRUSTRATED AND ANGRY AND I'M ABOUT TO TAKE MY BUSINESS AND MY MONEY SOMEPLACE ELSE!!!