Indirect Sales Locations Warning
This is a warning to all VZW customers based on a memo we received recently.
Some background information:
All credits applied to accounts are applied for one of two reasons:
1. Verizon Wireless Error - Your priceplan was not changed as requested, a priceplan change was futuredated rather than backdated, wrong feature added when phone activated, etc.
2. Customer Satisfaction Credit - Essentially this means as far as VZW is concerned it was your own fault and we couldn't care less, but if you shut up we'll throw a token amount of money at you.
The big difference is that a customer can receive one and only one Customer Satisfaction credit in a rolling 6 month period. VZW Errors don't matter, you get those credits as many times as n...
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Some background information:
All credits applied to accounts are applied for one of two reasons:
1. Verizon Wireless Error - Your priceplan was not changed as requested, a priceplan change was futuredated rather than backdated, wrong feature added when phone activated, etc.
2. Customer Satisfaction Credit - Essentially this means as far as VZW is concerned it was your own fault and we couldn't care less, but if you shut up we'll throw a token amount of money at you.
The big difference is that a customer can receive one and only one Customer Satisfaction credit in a rolling 6 month period. VZW Errors don't matter, you get those credits as many times as n...
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this is bs and should not be posted here.
do you work for VZW? I would hope not.
do you work for VZW? I would hope not.
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That's kinda stupid. If Verizon is going to authorize these other places to sell their products, they are giving their approval to that business. If they don't want to stand behind their work, they shouldn't have agents at all.
After all, most customers have no idea that there even is a difference to look out for. Before I started working here in May I didn't know there was a difference (I knew that places like Walmart, Radio Shack, Sam's Club, etc had the ability to sell new phones but not to do any account maintenance).
On top of that, you can't even say "the customer should've done more research" or anything like that. There's no reason without prior knowledge to assume that going to one store should be any different than going ...
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After all, most customers have no idea that there even is a difference to look out for. Before I started working here in May I didn't know there was a difference (I knew that places like Walmart, Radio Shack, Sam's Club, etc had the ability to sell new phones but not to do any account maintenance).
On top of that, you can't even say "the customer should've done more research" or anything like that. There's no reason without prior knowledge to assume that going to one store should be any different than going ...
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Hayate said:
I'd be pretty angry if they refused to handle a screw-up by one of their agents and I had to pay for it.
Or, the agent can assist in fixing the problem and learn to do business more properly in the future. This means that you want to do your business with someone who knows what they are doing, whether it is an agent or a direct store rep. If you go indirect, I doubt you'll want to chance it with someone from Wally world or Best Buy, but rather I'd go to a more reputable mom n' pop shop -- someone who also gives Customer Service.
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They may be able to but it's not a guarantee. What if you went in and asked for something and they put the wrong plan on or something like that? Like you ask for a 1000 text plan and they put on a 400 text plan or something. If the agent isn't able to fix it, the customer is out a lot of money.
I'm just saying that if the company wants to have agents out there, they need to back up that work. If an agent screws something up, Verizon should correct the problem immediately and then they should deal with the agent directly to work out whatever it was. There's no reason the customer should pay in that situation.
And yeah, I know better than to sign up at Walmart or one of those multi-carrier places I mentioned (unless you've done all ...
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I'm just saying that if the company wants to have agents out there, they need to back up that work. If an agent screws something up, Verizon should correct the problem immediately and then they should deal with the agent directly to work out whatever it was. There's no reason the customer should pay in that situation.
And yeah, I know better than to sign up at Walmart or one of those multi-carrier places I mentioned (unless you've done all ...
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I agree with you that I think we should be able to issue credits just the same for Indirect Agent screw ups as we do Direct Channel screw ups.
Sadly, if I do issue credits outside of the corp guidelines, I get dinged on my yearly review which affects my chance for a raise and so I can't do it. Most of the time our response is that you should go back to the location that did the screw up and demand that they reimburse you due to the screw up, because we can't if you've already received a customer satisfaction credit.
Sadly, if I do issue credits outside of the corp guidelines, I get dinged on my yearly review which affects my chance for a raise and so I can't do it. Most of the time our response is that you should go back to the location that did the screw up and demand that they reimburse you due to the screw up, because we can't if you've already received a customer satisfaction credit.
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BriggsBU said:
Most of the time our response is that you should go back to the location that did the screw up and demand that they reimburse you due to the screw up, because we can't if you've already received a customer satisfaction credit.
And how exactly are we supposed to credit their account? We can go to OMS and submit a credit request and tell the customer "not sure if they will approve it, but give it a week and we can find out" or we cann call up customer service and call them.
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Notice a few things? Like for example. A customer comes in and gets a phone. We are 10 bucks higher then VZW. The customer sees an ad for the phone and calls customer care and is basically told that "you have 15 days to return the phone. The agent should 'honor' the price. Go back and we will sell you the phone at the advertised price." Now, a customer sees my ad for a Moto W315 for free and they just bought it at the retail store for 29.99. The customer calls customer care and is basically told, "Sorry, but different places can set their own prices." So in other words, if I am cheaper...so what. But if I am a little more then I am ripping off a customer. Freaking aholes.
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The general consensus is that the Indirect Agent will monetarily compensate the customer for the overages/incorrect billing on the account that the cust is being held liable for.
Again, don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger.
Again, don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger.
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😲
so the agent will pull money out of the drawer and hand it to the customer for their overage?
🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣
so the agent will pull money out of the drawer and hand it to the customer for their overage?
🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣
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And again, I don't hold this against the CSRs themselves at all. I am simply saying it's a sh*tty policy for Verizon to have.
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But the agents can't just reimburse you for something on your bill. I know I don't have the authority to do that, and neither does my manager.
And to clarify, I don't have a problem with the individual CSRs on this issue. Obviously you're limited to what your company lets you do. I wouldn't expect you to risk your job or lose money to correct the problem. What I'm saying is that Verizon as a company should not have this policy in place because it is horrible for the customers that have to deal with a situation like this. I'd be extremely angry if I was faced with a situation like this and Verizon's response was just that I should've bought it at a corporate store.
And to clarify, I don't have a problem with the individual CSRs on this issue. Obviously you're limited to what your company lets you do. I wouldn't expect you to risk your job or lose money to correct the problem. What I'm saying is that Verizon as a company should not have this policy in place because it is horrible for the customers that have to deal with a situation like this. I'd be extremely angry if I was faced with a situation like this and Verizon's response was just that I should've bought it at a corporate store.
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I agree completely. I just don't want to see people get hosed by this policy, so I felt I should post it here so people would know.
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It's good information to have, definitely. I'd rather know this before buying from an indirect if I were to go with Verizon. However, knowing this information makes me like Verizon even less and pretty much guarantees that I will never use their service.
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The original post stated that there would be one credit within a 6 month period. That, to me, means the Indirect can mess up once, so I don't see this as a BIG deal. One of the biggest problems is the primary line switching done for addalines.
Direct store employees can get fired for making an addaline the primary line on the account. Indirect Agents are unaffected by this, at least to my knowledge. Why is it an issue?
1) The plans have to be adjusted to the proper way and credits have to be applied for minute overages, activation fee discounts, etc.
2) Manager exception codes have to be used for NE2 upgrades since the true primary line lost its eligibility due to this switch, which dings the stores doing the upgrades, or the...
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Direct store employees can get fired for making an addaline the primary line on the account. Indirect Agents are unaffected by this, at least to my knowledge. Why is it an issue?
1) The plans have to be adjusted to the proper way and credits have to be applied for minute overages, activation fee discounts, etc.
2) Manager exception codes have to be used for NE2 upgrades since the true primary line lost its eligibility due to this switch, which dings the stores doing the upgrades, or the...
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First of all, we can lose our agent's agreement if we did this. So that would be like the store rep getting fired, only in this case one indirect employee could potentially cost the jobs of many people. Also, we would be charged back the difference in the commission amount would anyone do this.
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crazyeaglefan236 said:
First of all, we can lose our agent's agreement if we did this. So that would be like the store rep getting fired, only in this case one indirect employee could potentially cost the jobs of many people. Also, we would be charged back the difference in the commission amount would anyone do this.
Good to know that... I don't think it's enforced that well though because we constantly are fixing situations like that.
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Is that you have never seen an indirect agency agreement or you would never repeat or spout off this garbage.
Indirect vs. Direct.
It is like the middle east, no end in sight!
Indirect vs. Direct.
It is like the middle east, no end in sight!
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