So recently got a new Blackberry Curve from Verizon Wireless. I’ve been with Verizon for years now and I’m very happy with the service. I have very few dead spots and I’ve never had a problem with their billing. Their customer service, on the other hand, leave a little bit to be desired.
Bad Decision #1
My wife and I are both on Verizon plans. Because we use vastly different amount of minutes per month we’ve decided over the years to be on one account but completely separate plans. This allows us to BOTH get the “New Every Two” upgrades. Amanda was WAY overdue for her upgrade so she had a $100 credit toward her next phone. Normally it’s a $50 credit but I think because she was on this plan for so long that when we entered into that plan it was $100. She went into Verizon a couple of months prior to me and got herself a new phone. When the processed her upgrade they used MY upgrade ($50) rather than hers. Good news… her phone was free cause with a new 2-year agreement (which they force you to sign to get upgrade pricing) the phone was $49.99 with a $50 mail-in rebate. After her $50 credit the phone cost us nothing.
A couple of months later, my phone died and I was forced to get a new one. My “new every two” was finally up so I marched in and picked up a Blackberry Curve that after all of their rebates (and of course me signing a new two year agreement) was $169.99. Well… they were offering a $70 mail in rebate so that brought me down to $99.99. Remember when they switched and used MY rebate for Amanda? You guessed it… they had HER rebate listed as mine… that’s right, $100. SO, because of their mess up we BOTH got our phones for free. I’m certainly not complaining cause I got my new Blackberry for nothing.
Bad Decision #2
So, me being the techno geek that I am I always need to have the accessories that go along with my phone. Generally this consists of a car charger (cause I can’t stand when I forget to charge my phone at home and end up with no cell during the day) and some sort of holster or cover. Well, this time Verizon was running a deal on their “bundle”. You could get any 3 accessories for a deal (which of course is much better than paying their incredibly over-inflated accessory prices). So, I jumped at the chance to get a car charger, cover & screen protector for my new Blackberry Curve. Little did I realize that I already HAD a car charger that was compatible with this phone… arghh.
Back to Verizon I went on a rainy Sunday afternoon. After being greeting so nicely and waiting my turn for a good 15 minutes I was told – get this – that if I continued my transaction, I would owe THEM money!!! I tried to reason with them that they would be better off financially if I returned the “discounted” item that I purchased as part of their bundle so that they could then turn around and sell it for full price. They simply couldn’t grasp this concept. eBay here I come!!! Anyone want a car charger?
#3 – because of their CDMA network, they get very few new high tech phones.
#4 – They cannot do math: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCJ3Oz5JVKs
Didn’t realize it was cause of their network… I always figured it had to do with licensing.
failblog.org is awesome… Here at the office we’ve been completely hooked recently.
Another follow up to add to this post…
Amanda got her rebate just fine. I sent mine in for the Curve and of course about 6 weeks later I get a little postcard in the mail telling me that I’m not eligible for the rebate because they’d already processed a rebate on my phone number… ughh.
So, after 42 minutes on the phone with their customer service they have now told me that it’s taken care of and I’ll get my rebate in 6-8 weeks. We shall see.