You know, because solving actual customer problems is...

I don't think I have ever experienced as much dysfunction and defending of poor performance. I never would have thought I'd be experiencing misappropriation of customer's funds through questionable and manipulative practices in order to keep the cuffs on you, even if they have utterly fallen short on fulfilling promises that were made pre-sale by Verizon. My only conclusion is they need to retain as much line subscriber meat as possible to keep "the churn" down while they figure out one of the worst roll outs of Al I have seen by a long shot. So abysmal.

At the beginning of the year I noticed a promotional tablet offer. Generally a phone is enough. The main thing I like to use these devices for is to interact with medical monitoring tech stuck on me. I use and monitor (glucose, vestibular, hearing interface with AI....). This was prompted by my wife breaking her phone and since we both had older ones, seemed like a good time to participate in this.

I will truncate the story commencing with the visit to the store, as the experiences illustrated out here on Reddit are right in line with others. We decided to go with the phones and promotional tablet.

As mentioned previously, I have medical issues as a 100% disabled vet I don't say this for pity; That is the fact that ties me to my income.

As it happened, at the store the sales associate was an Army vet and during the sales process he said he would personally make sure I'd get the tablet. So at $10 a month for this device, home internet with a good price and the line charge that may pinch the budget-but only a bit. Doable. This we can afford.

It is turning out to be the absolute worst decision I've ever made.

I didn't realize that this tablet... and the attempts to work within Verizon's framework just to get it solved is useless. Not euphemistically: Useless. An uncountable attempts for hours and hours and hours and hours. After multiple times doing this, you start to see the predictable "story arc" play out the same way each time. At some point I could tell where this would end by the artificially injected enthusiasm narrative and initial setup of setting customers expectations by cheery commiseration then, "We'll get this fixed for you, OK?"

From this point on I know I'm screwed.

Nothing ever worked out correctly. None of it. And the blame shifting is incredible. So I ended up here, as many do, with the intention of broadcasting the problem. Wild.

You find out that if you want things to -possibly- be fixed you'll fare better on a social platform, at least at being heard. And, astonishing to me, you will soon find Verizon associates bashing customers in a public manner that is really bad news for the company. Bitch all you like as 6-pack Joe but qualifying you ARE a Verizon employee and absolutely know this person is wrong because they do everything right.

And if they can't convince you, some of them start with the "just another stupid customer" or, as in my case with "No_Emu_88". His initial comments were fine but predictable, but moved into the now expected treatment you'll get from these folks. It ended with:

"This guy has to be suffering from some sort of mental illness may be due to war maybe not. I'm blocking the thread, he is insane and just wants to bitch about nothing."

Nothing.

* Complaining about being charged all at once for a tablet that should have been $10 a month, unannounced, that resulted in a bank account with negative numbers and other bills not being paid = Nothing.

* $35 overdraft fees daily for the screw up = Nothing.

* Waiting for weeks and weeks for the laptop. The Samsung Galaxy Tab s10+5G never came. = Nothing.

* After some 6 months and countless interactions with Verizon a tablet of half the value, a Galaxy Tab A11+ 5G did. = Nothing.

As mentioned previously, I am a disabled vet and live on a specific amount of income and have done so for decades. I know what I make and the income number is exactly the same within each year. I can't simply drop $400 and go run down to the social club while chucking Perrier cans out of my BMW.

That number has caused a cascade of events that grow deeper by the day and I do not have the means to correct it. I shouldn't have had to.

The end result is that I just want them to fix what they've absconded.

They can have any or all this electronic crap. This whole experience, when it comes to a conclusion is that I will not use these things again. I've done it for about a year previously and it turned out to be far, far less distracting. Not an option for many, but it is for me and that'll be that.

Wouldn't it be easier just to send the correct tablet and get your line fee from the home internet we purchased. I mean just fulfill the deal as it was advertised?

Wouldn't it be easier that you tell your condescending associates to quit ruining whatever reputation you used to have by telling them that they are on the professional side of the Reddit equation and need to curtail the speculation of someone's condition because they are complaining?

I guess not because it is Nothing.

Predatory. Be extremely vigilant.

My experience with Verizon (in line with the other complaints here and elsewhere: They don't help, pivot and shift to sales, be promised emails with solutions... On and on. But mostly unhelpful advice to solve your actual problems. They don't, won't and lie. My experience with them leaves me -$400 in my account (for those of you on autopay... I'd reconsider--that $30 extra dollars you save is now basically an insurence premium to protect you from Verizon and their assumption of what they get to take from your bank account.)

My opinion is this is the result of what I think are disingenuous bait and switch promotions mentioned here and elsewhere combined with an abysmal AI system that is nearly as incompetent as the company is dysfunctional.

At the end of the day, I am no further ahead in getting Verizon to refund money on that promotional item. I am many days in and it is more accurate to say multiple months with the overall experience. I am a 100% disabled veteran that has the resources that reflect that. My check, once a month and that's it. I have no way to pay back what Verizon absconded and I have have zero confidence in them setting anything right (welcome to the club, right?)

So you can imagine the stress. So for the last day, I've been thinking that I should either step it up or give it up. If I give it up , I am not exactly sure what to do. I suppose the bank account will be in negative numbers until my check arrives on the first and I look for resources like food shelves for chow--a world these executives live so far from I'd assume they have a very difficult time perceiving what that is like. I'd be happy to break down for them.

Ultimately, giving up means one less person making it difficult for Verizon grifting consumers in general (though personally I am very motivated to prevent this from happening to my fellow disabled vets.)

Stepping it up doesn't mean trying to come up with a resolution from Verizon as they have impressed on their captured customers that you're not going to get anywhere unless it is sales or 'the hand', so I am thinking of doing something a little more public that will cause more attention to the issue: Let's call it a social awareness campaign. A couple of banners, a chair and a place to sit all over the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. I have the time and motivation and would spend my day hitting a food shelf then protesting in strategically placed public area and perhaps even on a bridge during commute times (I need to check if a permit is required) at least once a week. I'd send out press releases to see if any media wanted to have a chat with me in my old Army uniform.

I would need very little help; perhaps some of you talented quintessential sh*t disturbers can create some impact graphics that I can use (keep 'em polite and factual) or change up on my protests. I've already got a stool and public transportation for disabled vets is free around here, so I've got a ride.

It would take about a week to get this into action, but as I said, extremely motivated to advertise the predatory, hubristic behavior Verizon uses on their customers.

Effective ideas welcomed.

I don’t normally post rants like this, but I have never experienced such utter incompetence and lack of respect from a company in my entire life. As a loyal, long-time Verizon customer with 5 active lines on my account, you would think my business is valued. Apparently not. I have been completely stripped of my primary phone number for the last 4 days because of a massive chain of errors by their own staff.

Here is the unbelievable story of what happens when you try to do something as simple as a standard eSIM transfer with Verizon Wireless:

Day 1: It all started when I tried to transfer my eSIM from my old device to a new one. The agent on the phone clearly didn’t know what they were doing. After over 2 hours of getting nowhere, he literally told me he was going to "trick the system" to make it work by reserving my number. When that failed, he promised he would call me back the next day at 1:00 PM to fix it. He completely lied and never called.

Day 2: I had to call back into the queue. The next agent looked at my account and explained that the first representative had completely messed up and accidentally suspended my phone number while trying to "trick the system." She promised me it would take 24 hours to reactivate, and swore she would call me back the next day at 4:00 PM to ensure it was working. Guess what? Another broken promise. No callback.

Day 3 & 4: I called again today out of pure frustration. Now, a third agent tells me the system is throwing a massive error code because of the suspension, and they have to request a "full investigation" for the second time. When I rightfully demanded to be transferred to a supervisor, the agent flat-out refused, telling me that supervisors "use the same system" and won't be able to help me anyway.

For four straight days, I have been left completely without a working phone number. Did any Verizon agent offer a temporary number or an interim solution while they scrambled to fix their own mistake? No. I actually had to go out of my way to Xfinity Mobile and pay out-of-pocket for a temporary line just to stay connected to the world. To make things worse, because my number is locked up in their system errors, I can’t even port my number out to a different carrier right now!

Here is the kicker: I have recorded the entire conversation with the last three Verizon agents. All three of them are on tape explicitly admitting that the first individual completely mishandled my account and wrongfully suspended my line.

Verizon, you have failed on every single level. Your customer service value and basic respect for loyal consumers is nonexistent.

If this isn't escalated to an executive supervisor and fixed immediately, these call recordings and a formal complaint are heading straight to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Better Bureau Bureau (BBB).

Please share this, especially if you are thinking about switching to Verizon! 🛑 Verizon

#Verizon #CustomerService #ConsumerRights #VerizonWireless #TechFail