Verizon Makes Offering Service Blocks a Fireable Offense

Presto Vivace sends in a report from David Pogue at the New York Times, who learned from a Verizon customer service representative that the company has implemented a policy of punishing employees who suggest certain service blocks to customers looking to avoid unwanted or accidental fees. According to the representative, offering (for example) a web access block or premium SMS block without the customer asking for it can now lead to a reprimand or outright termination. The CSRs have also been directed to avoid issuing credits for such charges. "Essentially, we are to upsell customers on the $9.99 25mb/month or $29.99 unlimited packages for customers. Customers are not to be credited for charges unless they ask for the credit. And in cases such as data or premium SMS, where the occurrences may have gone months without the consumer noticing, only an initial credit can be issued."

Comments

Surprise?

[colinrichardday]

Is this really such a surprise?

Re:Surprise?

[erroneus]

It is in the "this is so outrageously disgusting that it can't possibly be true" sense of the word.

People who would offer service blocks are the same people who would endear a customer to the service provider as the company would then appear to show concern and interest in the customer's needs and interests. "Caring about the customer" was once the hallmark of a good and confident business and people were literally attracted to such companies. As I was growing up, this sort of behavior was simply normal and when a company didn't behave that way, I would tend to blame the employee rather than the company. Seeing this simply firms up my feeling about Verizon... and I mean ALL of Verizon.

Without fail, every service channel provided Verizon whether it is Verizon wireless, Verizon FiOS, Verizon business PRI service, Verizon T1 data service, Verizon DS3 or simply Verizon POTS is simply rife with bad customer service. Once the service is working, it stays working -- no complaints there, but every time PEOPLE get involved there are problems and while I have always suspected it came from the top, my suspicions have been increasingly with added evidence and now I get this story to add to it. I literally had to email the executive vice president of business sales to get ANY attention to my problems at all. The business office people would NOT respond to my emails or phone calls. And when I contacted their bosses I would get something along the lines of "I'll get someone on it right now!" and then nothing. Hell, even the EVP of sales didn't respond to her own email mail... she sent it to a lackey who is "showing interest" by investigating my claims before taking any action. So far, several days and NO action... just "showing interest" and "investigating."

* I would never willingly be a Verizon Customer * The character of the company is so rotten and corrupt that it simply makes me sick. If anyone wants this EVP's contact information I would be happy to provide it. They need a COMPLETE earful.

Re:Surprise?

[AkaXakA]

This Verizon policy is just like in the Incredibles! People working there will have to find ways around it...

MRS. HOGENSON: [sobbing] I'm on a fixed income, and if you can't help me,
I don't know what I'll do. [blows nose loudly] [sobbing]

BOB: All right, listen closely. I'd like to help you, but I
can't. I'd like to tell you to take a copy of your policy to Norma Wilcox
on...[whispering] Norma Wilcox. W-l-L-C-O-X. On the third floor. But I can't. I
also do not advise you to fill out and file a WS2475 form with our legal
department on the second floor. I wouldn't expect someone to get back to you
quickly to resolve the matter. I'd like to help, but there's nothing I can do.

MRS. HOGENSON: Oh, thank you, young man.

BOB: Shhh! [shouting] I'm sorry, ma'am! I know you're upset!
[whispering] Pretend to be upset.

MRS. HOGENSON: [sobbing]

Customer Service

[selven]

Customer Service: We're not happy until you're not happy.

Re:Customer Service

[nitehawk214]

All snarking aside - this is a case of CSRs forgetting who they work for. They work for Verizon - NOT the customer. They have to keep "what is best for Verizon" in mind when dealing with customers.

All snarking aside - this is a case of Verizon forgetting who they work for. They work for the Customers - NOT the money. They have to keep "what is best for Customers" in mind when dealing with money.

Yeah, I know I am full of crap. I hate big soulless companies too. But if their policy is to screw their customers at every turn, they will lose me as a customer.

Re:Customer Service

[Ephemeriis]

All snarking aside - this is a case of CSRs forgetting who they work for. They work for Verizon - NOT the customer. They have to keep "what is best for Verizon" in mind when dealing with customers.

They work for Verizon... Which makes its money off its customers... Lose the customers, lose the money, lose the job. It's that simple. Ultimately, the customers are the ones providing your paycheck.

I used to work at Electronics Boutique. I took pride in my job and went out of my way to make sure that the customer left happy. This meant that I would often ignore our product of the month - a game or device that we were supposed to push on people whether they wanted it or not. I would, instead, recommend products that people would actually enjoy.

I had a number of customers who came back to the shop repeatedly specifically because of my service. They would come back and ask me specifically if there was something new available that I thought they'd like - because I actually considered their preferences and past purchases rather than telling them to buy whatever our home office was selling.

This resulted in many repeat sales for Electronics Boutique, even though I wasn't doing what the home office thought was best.

By contrast, my manager was one hell of a salesman. He could convince anyone to buy anything. We had a couple come in looking for a PS2 for their kid for Christmas. He convinced them that the Xbox was a far better system (and it just so happened to be the product of the month). They bought the Xbox.

After Christmas they came back in to return the Xbox, because it wasn't what their kid wanted. It didn't play the games that their kid already owned. It didn't play the games that their kid wanted. They were quite annoyed at my manager for ignoring their desires and selling them the wrong product. They wanted to know why he ignored the fact that they had Playstation games they wanted to play. They wanted to know why he didn't tell them that the games they wanted were Playstation exclusives.

They didn't buy a PS2 from us. They just returned the Xbox. They then went across the hall and bought a PS2 from our competition - even though we had them in-stock for the same price.

I don't know if they ever came back and bought anything else from us... But that was at least one sale that was lost because my manager did what the home office thought was best.

What is best for the customer is, ultimately, what is best for Verizon - whether Verizon realizes that or not.

Shaft your customers enough and they'll switch to a different company.

Re:Customer Service

[Jeian]

I used to work for a mid-sized drugstore chain that's since been bought out. I have a lasting memory about this very subject...

At my store, it was practice for us that if someone was buying an item and didn't know there was a weekly coupon out for it, we would tell them about the coupon and scan it for them. (This, despite guidance from our district management that "coupons are intended to attract new customers, not lower prices for existing customers, coupons should not be offered to people who don't know about them.")

One time, when I did this for an elderly woman who was shopping with a friend, she turned to her friend and said "That's why I love coming to this store. They look out for you here."

Verizon might take a hint from this.

Re:Customer Service

[Widowwolf]

Do you realize on average about 1 every 2 months there are changes to multiple things such as the privacy policy, contract and a number of other things that, if you don't agree with the changes, you can terminate your service without paying the fee. People don't pay attention to their bill so they don't realize when these things happen. Same thing for credit cards. They are basically changing the contract, which if you do not agree to the new contract, you don't have to live with it, and they can't make you pay for it.

Re:Customer Service

[TheRaven64]

There is an old rule in business that one happy customer tells 10 people, one unhappy customer tells 100 people. With the Internet, they probably now tell 1000 or more people. Another important rule of thumb was that it costs 7 times as much, on average, to attract one new customer as it takes to retain an existing one.

For something like a telephone, where you pay a regular amount, this is really important. If you retain a customer, they keep paying you every month. If you lose a customer, you lose a regular income and have to spend a capital sum attracting a replacement customer. Good customer service shows up as a line item on the expenses side of the budget, but in the medium term it gets you more money than it costs.

Re:Customer Service

[Widowwolf]

Basically if you get your bill and notice there is a change to ANY part of the contract or service agreement(Such as trying to force you to a different plan or changing procedures for billing) This is a change to the original contract you signed with the carrier. Look for your provider to bury changes to Terms of Service with your bill. Quite often providers modify their service plans, much of the time the modification is a benefit. It doesn't matter, this voids the previous contract. Read the small print on those inserts included with your bill, it will spell out that you have 30 days (may vary on where you live) to cancel your contract with no charge simply because they changed the contract. Pay attention to how it tells you to cancel because sometimes that's very important. But remember if you pay that bill before this, most time it is look at as if you agree to the new changes and henceforth the new contract.

Customer Service Is a Misnomer

[qbel]

It is very likely the customer service representatives who are offering those service blocks to better accommodate those customers are the better representatives who are actually trying to do a good job. And people wonder why customer service for some companies is so horrible, it is because of policies like this.

Re:Customer Service Is a Misnomer

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

It is very likely the customer service representatives who are offering those service blocks to better accommodate those customers are the better representatives who are actually trying to do a good job. And people wonder why customer service for some companies is so horrible, it is because of policies like this.

Its the bean-counters' fault.
Revenue losses from service blocks and credits are really easy to measure.
Profits from customers made happy by good customer service are really hard to measure.
So, as is frequently the case when organizations become hyper-focused on metrics,
decisions get made that maximize metrics but don't make good business sense.

T-mobile is great in this respect

[Anonymous Coward]

T-mobile, say what you will about its coverage. But it has excellent customer service. They voluntarily suggested these blocks, and they have lower rate plans for people out of contract who don't need subsidized phones. As the market is saturated, most people who want cell phones got them. Those who don't need/want premium service are happy with their two or three year old phones. T-mobile, and others who are offering lower rate plans without phone subsidies are going to retain these customers. And the nickle and dimers like AT&T and Verizon would find it difficult to peel off customers from them.

Re:T-mobile is great in this respect

[ZosX]

I second this. I have T-mobile and while their android phone selection is kind of sucking right now, I can still get away with wireless tethering for free and they have one of the largest caps (10 gigs). I've easily blown through 2-5 gigs already this month. They also just boosted their speeds locally and I'm now pulling like 2.5-4mbps, which is a lot better than the 1mbps I was getting previously. Don't know when I'll start to see speeds over 5mbps, but I should probably upgrade to the latest radio. The worst they do to the people that exceed their caps is drop them down to edge, which still at least leaves their phones somewhat usable. Every other provider wants to nickel and dime you to death. Boost is good for cheap phone service, but their network is terrible and nowhere even near edge quality. I'd feel pretty bad for anyone that bought their proposed android phone. Its going to be rather painful. Seems like sprint is content to milk the old nextel network for all its worth.

DIY

[audubon]

You can go to verizonwireless.com and add (or remove) the blocks yourself (note: some of the links are found at the extreme right or bottom of the page):

Account -> Plan -> Set Usage Controls -> Add/Remove Blocks

• Block Ringback Tone Purchase
• Block Premium Messaging
• Block V CAST Music
• Block Premium Animated Messaging
• Block Mobile Web
• Block Web Purchases
• Block V CAST Video Clips
• Block Application Downloads

Re:Should be automatic

[TubeSteak]

No, the one thing we do NOT need is more federal regulation. There are plenty of other companies to choose from; pick a prepaid company and work with them.

As a country, we decided a long time ago that consumer protections are more important than allowing the free hand of the market to work its magic.

In other words: just because there are better options, doesn't mean we should allow abusive practices to continue.

Frustration

[Munden]

I was given the task of overseeing our company's 102 user Verizon phone bill each month back in Oct. 09. Each month I downloaded the new bill Verizon they put up in an XML format and I threw it into my database. I reduced the bill from about $6000 to $5000 in simple waste and no reduction in service - I could easily drop another $750 with minimal impact affecting only the abusers. Anyways, I noticed in April Verizon started to charge about 60% of the users with a new $1.99 for 1MB usage charge. Now I've seen this 1MB usage charge before, but it was always with one of our users that downloaded a ringtone or had access to the mobile web - it was always attached to something they did. When I called Verizon and spoke with their CSR I asked what the 1MB charge and have they changed anything because there were all these new $1.99 fees. I was told there had been no changes and when I gave them specific examples of users with these fees they said it was for this or that. I had at this point almost 6 months of data and I gave counter-examples for each explanation of what these new 1MB charges were for.

The rep was quickly overwhelmed by my examples and they said they would escalate my case to a tier 2 technical representative. Days go by and I finally get the explanation that the 1MB was for connecting to Verizon's Mobile Web - which was total crap because it's blocked and you can't actually connect. When I asked for clarification they said it was for "trying to connect" even though it is blocked on our plan. I was not satisfied because we went from 2 explainable $1.99 1MB charges a month up to 60+ the next and so the representative requested all of my examples. Two weeks go by and I start to get complaints from our users that they can't text even though they personally pay for text plans. I found out that all of my examples were given full data blocks by the CSR. I had to call and make them reverse all their unauthorized changes but we are still up about $120 each month due to these new charges. It pisses me off to no end and I requested to personally meet with our Verizon rep but that was denied by management and I was told to just let the $120/mo go.

Don't freak out, Slashdot

[fooslacker]

Verizon has to figure out some way to convince Apple that is it evil enough to deserve the iPhone...I'm guessing it went down something like this.

"I mean come on those things are cool, we want to sell them too...we can treat customers just as poorly as AT&T...watch this!!!"

Accountants don't run customer service

[sjbe]

Looking out for the customer's best interest in terms of the services that the business offers is in the best interest of the business.

Quite. Bean counters don't see this. They don't see the customers walking away...

I happen to be a Certified bean counter and you couldn't possibly be more wrong. If you ever want to understand what is going on in a company, ask the accountants. They know exactly how many customers have walked away, how much money those customers were worth, how expensive those customers were to service, etc. Most of the time they even know exactly why those customers left. If you want to know where the bodies are buried (so to speak) in a company, ask the accountants. But knowledge is not control and blaming the "bean counters" really is a case of shooting the messenger. The finance and accounting geeks just provide analysis and reporting in most cases. They don't control the purse strings.

Accountants are perfectly well aware of the value of good customer service. Accountants however (usually) don't control what gets funding and what doesn't and they certainly don't control how customer service is managed. An accountant's job is to present accurate financial information to management. Ultimately it is management's choice to provide (or not provide) good quality customer service. If you want to blame anyone for bad customer service, the blame starts right at the top where it belongs.