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Poor Customer Support

Steve0

Aug 23, 2005, 8:45 PM
I am nearing the end of a two-year VZW contract with a Samsung SCH-i600 SmartPhone...the most expensive cell phone I have ever owned, and by far the worst. It has been replaced twice for insurance reasons, and twice for technical problems (low mic sound level, lockups, and more). Unfortunately, all the replacement phones exhibited the same problems as the first.

In January, after two service replacements (one reconditioned, one new) that did not resolve the problems, VZW offered to replace the i600 with a different model, but there was no other model I found satisfactory. I didn't want something as large as a Treo or a PDA, and there were no other SmartPhones. I had to learn to live with the i600, warts and all.

After many more problem...
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wfine81

Aug 23, 2005, 8:59 PM
Im sorry you had a bad customer service experience, have you tried any of the newer phones?
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Steve0

Aug 23, 2005, 10:33 PM
I went to see them at the local VZW store but none really appealed to me. My ideal phone would sync up with Outlook (for calendar as well as contacts), but I don't really use it for e-mail, internet, or text messaging. And I would like to be able to play WAV or MP3 files as ringtones (as the i600 does), but this is a nice-to-have, not a must-have.

This all may mean my next phone may be another SmartPhone, I don't know...and if so, VZW is slow to adopt the latest SmartPhone OS, which may make me consider another provider more suited to the tech-savvy. Of VZW's offerings, the Samsung i730 looks possible, but really it's too much (and too big) for my needs.

Not sure what fits.
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Vatothe0

Aug 23, 2005, 11:49 PM
Verizon tests phones for almost a year before releasing them. Notice how long after Sprint had the Treo 650 that Verizon released theirs... It was still in testing. There were so many problems with the 600, that Verizon actually took the time to work all the problems out. I used to have an i500 and it was just ok. It would freeze up every now and then or have some sort of other random problem, but in no way did I blame Sprint.

Phones being of whatever quality people feel they are, usually has nothing to do with the carrier. If you buy a lemon car, it's not the dealership's fault. If you have Comcast internet and your computer runs like trash, it's not their fault. Same thing here.

The Motorola E815 has a mobile office kit available fo...
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drew00001

Aug 23, 2005, 11:53 PM
Just asking, but have you ever thought about the manufacturer of the phone rather then the wireless provider? Why would you leave a service provider when the majority of providers sells the same brands? As far as I am concerned the only valid reason for leaving a wireless company is the 'wireless' service you get. If you get dropped calls and no service or bad customer service the mahority of the time then CHANGE!!!!!
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Steve0

Aug 24, 2005, 6:40 AM
The problems I've had with the Samsung i600 only form the backdrop to the problems I recounted above with relation to VZW customer service. The long history of problems I've had with the phone are a matter of record at VZW customer service; the question, then, is what are they going to do to keep this customer satisfied, and am I being a reasonable customer?

I think I am. When they first offered to replace my i600 with a different phone, there was no other model with the right complement of features to serve my needs. So I decided to sit tight and deal with the i600 and its problems for a while longer. That, in my mind, is being a reasonable customer. I didn't ask VZW to take any action that cost it any money.

My problems with the i600...
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Steve0

Aug 24, 2005, 6:44 AM
I will add one thing: It was the salesman at my local VZW store who turned me on to phonescoop.com. That was more helpful than VZW customer service!
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Vatothe0

Sep 4, 2005, 5:40 AM
I called Comcast last week to tell them my tv sucked and I wanted them to replace it with a 50" HDTV since the tv I have doesn't suit my needs any more.

Guess what they told me....

This is the same thing. Verizon doesn't make any of the phones. Even dropped calls can be a manufacturer problem. I've heard the VX-4400 praised as one of the best phones ever made, but in the same breath the 4500 as one of the biggest turds ever made. Well the network certainly didn't change and neither did the company so you might want to look at the manufacturer.

Steve0 is lucky to be offered a warranty replacement so far after the warranty expired (unless he pays for extended warranty). Sure it sucks he got a phone that didn't work the way he...
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Steve0

Aug 26, 2005, 10:51 AM
Over the past week VZW has repeatedly called me at home, because I am nearing the end of my 2-year contract, to sell me a new contract. The first few times they called, I picked up and there was no-one on the line to answer my hello. It happened again last evening, but this time I called back to complain about this rudeness. The CSR on the line explained about the automated dialers but was unapologetic about the inconvenience to me. I told him I wanted to opt out of any further solicitations, but of course these things take time to work through the system (I don't know why in this day and age of computers) and they called yet again this morning.

I listened to the pitch; the terms of the new plan sounded attractive, but as I explained to ...
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jackscolon

Aug 28, 2005, 3:38 PM
Hey Steve0, there were many other phones to choose from when you decided to go with the fancy one. While that's not the point, Verizon Wireless also replaces your phone with a diferent model after the third replacement.

Expecting appologies from a ramdom SECOND representative that has no idea you have already been contacted the FIRST time is almost... funny but none the less the rep should have apologized. Thank god I don't work in that dept.

I have a phone MOTOROLA V265 which I get many complaints about every day at work. I knew about this before I purchased the phone. I droped my phone several times, droped several calls and the phone works great for me. Why? Because I don't expect to use my phone for more then a phone call. Now the...
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Steve0

Aug 31, 2005, 7:28 AM
It's not "almost funny." It's good business, and it's simple courtesy. Nobody likes getting hang-up calls. (Do you?)

I'm not sure what the point of your story of the V265 is, if not to imply I have an "ego" problem. One would think you believed I've never been around cell phones before. The fact of the matter is that the i600 is the most expensive cell phone I've ever had, and the worst-performing. For all its fancy features, the i600 worked poorly as a phone, and that in my mind trumps everything else. On that I think we can all agree.

When all is said and done, I'll probably continue with VZW, but I'll probably be retreating back to regular (non-SmartPhone) phones. The best cell phone I ever had was the StarTac. It lived up to its pr...
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Vatothe0

Sep 4, 2005, 5:49 AM
The Star-Tac is (almost unarguably) the best cell phone of it's time. I just about bought one 2 months ago but didn't when I heard about the E911 regulations.

Being a former smartphone ownner, I understand what it's like to call customer service and know twice as much about the phone as they do. You only have to know about that one phone but they have to know 20 or more phones. It's unfair to expect them to know everything about every phone. That being said, more complicated phones, come with more complicated problems. A nuclear power plant has more critical problems than a coal power plant.

There are Get It Now apps that will sync your Outlook calendar with your phone and the subscription price will not add up to the price of a smart...
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vzpeaches

Aug 30, 2005, 6:38 PM
Oh hell no. See you needed to take the offer they made to you in January. But your picky self decided not to. Not our fault. We tried to remedy the problem early on. What do you expect us to do? we dont make the phones, but here we go trying to offer you solutions and what do you do? decline em. so thats right. we took that away. try out another carrier and see how their customer service works, or watch those calls drop like they are hot. Then you will realize. RELIABLE: YOU'LL KNOW IT WHEN YOU HAVE IT AND MISS IT WHEN IT'S GONE.
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Steve0

Aug 31, 2005, 7:17 AM
> We took that away.

THAT IS THE PROBLEM. Problems don't go away magically. Troubleshooting moves in a forward direction towards a solution. VZW wanted to take two steps back in the diagnostic process, only because so much time had passed. That's not troubleshooting, that's POLICY. It's about business, not about solving problems.

So can the attitude don't treat me like a "retarded customer." I made the most reasoned decision I could in January given the choices I had, never anticipating that VZW would step backwards in the diagnostic process later on.
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fooldmeonceagin

Aug 31, 2005, 7:42 PM
Just a question for you....Would you still expect them to honor the same solution lets say a year? 2 yrs? from when they first offered it?? Jan to Aug is a long time, things change, phones are discontinued, new phones come in...I know you say you were trying to make the most informed decision but 8 months? Don't want to get into any war here, but that is a long time to me to make a decision. And if it would've been my company, I probably wouldn't have honored something that was offered that long ago either.
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Steve0

Aug 31, 2005, 9:53 PM
I would expect them to honor the offer right up to the end of the current contract.

The wait was not for me to make a decision, but for Verizon to expand its offering of phones to include a suitable replacement for the i600.

If the replacement offer had an expiration date, that should have been made clear; it might have changed my decision.
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