Yes, my Verizon phone adventures continue. If you read the original post then you met Karen, thought not by name. What I haven’t told you is that I actually stopped into Verizon one other time and then I’ll tell you about the worst retail experience I think I’ve ever had because of Karen.
This whole story starts a couple of months ago when I got to meet Karen, though I didn’t realize that was her name the first time around. Then I went back into Verizon about a month ago. I was looking at phones when, low and behold, Karen comes up to me and asks if I wanted any help. I recognized her and really wasn’t in a mood to deal with her. I asked a couple of simple questions, again I didn’t get any answers. Then I asked her, “why wouldn’t I just buy a phone online to not have to deal with the mail-in rebate?”
I would think that is a question that they get a lot. Something they might even be prepared to answer? She gave me the same old “you could do that” which I don’t consider an answer. I told her I would and left.
My Palm Treo is dead.
Yes, it finally happened. I’ve had the phone for a while so it’s a heart-wrenching loss. What did I do? Well I headed back to the Verizon store in Bellingham, MA. I walked in and put my name in the computer. It must have been my lucky day because I didn’t get assigned to Karen. Instead Bobbie called me up.
As I go up to where Bobbie is working, guess who’s standing next to her? Yes it’s Karen. Bobbie asks she can help me and I say my phone just died and I want to get a HTC Eris.
Just as I say this, Karen chimes in, “I thought you were going to buy online so you didn’t have to deal with the rebate?”
“Excuse me?” I was appalled. She was just standing there and decided that she needed to say something to me. I look over at her and just say, “things change, what does that matter?”
She continued, “I thought you don’t like mail-in rebates?”
Now she just got under my skin a bit. I look over at her again and I reply with, “Karen, I didn’t want to say anything, but the reason why I said that was because of the experiences I’ve had with you.” Then I paused.
I watched her face change a bit and just when I think she was about to say something, I continued with, “I was in here before for well over an hour when you messed up my phone. Then I asked some simple direct questions that you were no help with.”
She replied, “I got everything straightened out.”
I said, “Truthfully, it was horrible customer service.”
She came back with, “Well, I thought I provided great service for you.”
Now I’m getting sick of talking to her, I just want my phone. “Well that sounds like a problem.” And then let’s end this conversation, “Karen can I ask you a question? You’re in sales, you probably get paid on commission?”
I paused and let her and Bobbie look at each other as if they don’t want to answer. Then said, “I’m actually getting 2 smartphones and signing 2 new contracts. That’s all I’ve wanted to do the last couple of times I’ve dealt with you. That’s what you missed out on.” I turned back to Bobbie.
At this point she walked away.
Bobbie, the salesperson I was working with, didn’t know what to make of this exchange and did nothing but apologize profusely. Bobbie end ed up helping me right through the process as one would expect. She answered every question I had and set me up with 2 new phones and 2 signed contracts. When she said we were all set, I said “thank you” and asked her if she would mind getting the manager for me.
When the manager came over I began to see the problem. I told the manager what happened and how I felt totally disrespected that someone that wasn’t even helping me decided to chime in for no other reason than to bother me. I also told him that Bobbie provided the service I expected. She took care of everything in a timely fashion and answered all my questions.
His reply, “We have a place online that you should go onto and fill out about your experience. You’ll need to do one for each associate.”
“Seriously? So should I do a separate one for you as well?” And I left utterly disappointed in Verizon sales but at least I had the phone I needed, right?
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Several years ago, I received a mailer advertising AT&T’s new digital service and offering a free phone to new customers. I immediately called Cellular One (my provider) and asked them if they had digital service. I was told that it was going to be announced on Monday and she could offer it now. I asked what king of phone I would get. She told me and told me the price. I asked about a free phone and she replied, “We can’t give a free phone to every Tom, Dick and Harry that calls in.”
Huh? Did you just say what I think you said. I ended the call pretty quickly and wrote a letter to the president of Cellular One telling the whole story and asking if I had to switch providers to get a free phone. The president did not call me, but the EVP did. He was apologetic. Gave me a free phone. AND he gave me his personal cell phone number while he said if you ever have any issues with us again, you call me personally. He knew how to make a customer feel special.
Bad customer service can put a good company out of business. Good customer service can give a bad company the time it needs to fix stuff..
Rick:
You hit the nail on the head with your last statement. Your story just makes me think of how bad the manager was as well. Once I met him and told him my concerns he made me understand why Karen was so bad at customer service.
This sort of stuff pisses me off to no end! If you hate your job that much stop working there! Karen sucks. lol. Ironoically my commentluv is about getting phone insurance? Did you get some on your new phones?
Btw, I have the HTC Hero (sprint’s android phone) AMAZING
Visiting from yakezie!
.-= Evan´s last blog ..Is Cell Phone Insurance Worth It? =-.
Evan:
I commented on your post. I did get the phone insurance but I’m torn on it. I’m hoping the HTC Incredible comes out within 30 days (rumor is April 29th) and then I’ll probably return the Eris for the Incredible. How do you like Sprint’s service?
Haha, the manager was icing on the cake!
.-= Ryan @ Planting Dollars´s last blog ..Three of the Best Blog Posts You’ll Ever Read =-.
Ryan:
He definitely was. It was so disheartening.
I’d fill out one of those online reviews on all 3 of them and then write a letter directly to corporate. Yes, it’s probably a waste of time, but it always makes me feel better.
I just wrote a letter to Chevy about my craptastic (not the word I used) 2005 Chevy Aveo that has needed to have a serpentine belt, 02 sensor, and thermostat housing replaced all in the last 6 months for $900 and it only has 42,000 miles on it!
Budgeting in the Fun Stuff:
I love the name by the way. I did go online and fill out their thing. No response. Then I sent this blog post to their twitter account. No response, yet. Maybe a letter is the way to go? I’ll continue to try to get their attention.
Thanks for the name compliment…I love the picture you chose for this post (I couldn’t see it from work…that’s freakin hilarious).
Yeah, I’ll need to bug Chevy some more if I don’t hear back this week too. Bad products and crappy customer service need to be addressed.
.-= Budgeting in the Fun Stuff´s last blog ..Overlooked Costs of Home Ownership =-.
Budgeting in the Fun Stuff:
If you don’t bring it to their attention they won’t know that they need to fix it. That was pointed out to me in my original post with Verizon.
One of my biggest complaints: Customer Service is dead. There was no reason at all for Karen to start goading you about your decision to buy online or in person. I probably would have left the store again and never shopped there again.
Mrs. Accountability:
I might have left except that I had started my transaction when she said something to me. Also, honestly, part of me wants to go back there any work with Bobbie who was a very good sales person from a service perspective. She did everything I asked of her and more. I also met another guy at a chamber of commerce event that has a Verizon store so if I need something I’ll probably give him a chance because of this experience.
I was arguing a price problem at Best Buy and the manager was over there. It wasnt really arguing as much as wondering why on a price. Turned out I was wrong, my bad, and I admitted it but the sales girl looked at me and smirked about being right. I called her out then, say it wasnt something to be smirky about. That cleared her face. Honestly Customer Service is dead. They shouldnt even call it that anymore.
.-= Brandy´s last blog ..oh noes =-.
Brandy:
We all make mistakes. You are out to make sure it is not them that is mistaken. I love the big stores that act like they have never messed up a price or something. Good for you for letting them know that the “customer service representative” doesn’t deserve that title. Too many people stand around and except poor service. There are still a lot of companies out there that provide excellent customer service. Just because a company gets huge and doesn’t want to pay their service reps well doesn’t mean we, paying customers, deserve less than stellar service.
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