Category Archives: verizon sucks

i am a terrorist, rants, verizon sucks

i am an evil person, and i like it that way!

so i called the manager at the verizon wireless store in the supermall. i decided not to go down there in person, because i didn’t know whether or not i could hold it together, and i pictured myself potentially being hauled out of the supermall in handcuffs by burley cops, pretty much regardless of whether or not i was able to hold it together. so i decided to call, because the possibility of it ending disastrously was considerably diminished.

at first, the manager back-peddled and made excuses and tried to cover his own ass, but i hit him with logic – this didn’t come down to a discussion of which he was not a part, it came down to a simple matter: why was i able to get the price online, have the same price confirmed over the phone, and then, when i came down to the same store which confirmed the price over the phone for me, was i not only not able to get the same price in person, but was treated in a very condescending way for even asking, especially when i proceeded to go home and order it online for the price originally quoted?

he eventually apologised, but only after i had backed him into a corner, logically. i gave him a description of the sales person who had “helped” me, and he said “starting tomorrow, it would no longer be a problem”.

either he was stringing me along in order to get me off the phone, or i probably cost jayson (or whatever his name was) his job, which is nothing to sneeze at in this economy. if it could have been done any other way, i probably would have considered it, but it’s too late at this point. besides which, he probably shouldn’t be doing customer service if he can’t talk to people with respect.

burning man, ganesha the car, rants, verizon sucks

in other news…

i started the day with a phone call to verizon wireless, to check to see if there were any specials for my “new every two” plan. i checked it out online last night, and determined that i can get a LG VX9400 and as a result of it being my “new every two”, i would only have to pay $30 for it. the nice lady on the phone checked, and said that, yes, it would, in fact, be only $30 for the VX9400. so i decided that instead of waiting the requisite 2 to 4 business days for delivery, i would go down to the verizon wireless store at the supermall and pick one up in person.

when i got to the store, a nice young man named jayson (or something like that, i was too distracted with anger to remember details like that very clearly) asked me for my customer ID (which is my wife’s cell-phone number) and looked me up and said that a VX9400 with no accessories would be $98.50 before tax. i said, no i looked it up online, and it was only going to be $30, because this was my “new every two”. he said, no, the “new every two” only applies to the primary number (which is my wife’s cell-phone) and my number is an “add on” number, which doesn’t apply for the discount. when i offered to look it up online for him, he said, in a very condescending tone, that it doesn’t matter where i look it up, nor who i called, it was going to be $98.50, not $30, and there was nothing i could do about it.

at that point, seething with anger, i walked out of the store, and walked around the supermall. while i was walking, i called moe, and then i called verizon wireless, and by the time i got back to the verizon wireless store, i had bought the phone (i went home and printed out a receipt for $30) and everything was taken care of. i went back into the store and told the guy that i got the phone for $30, and that he sucked. then i walked out.

it’s my recollection that we went through exactly the same thing at the verizon wireless store in the supermall, two years ago, the last time i got a “new every two” phone. it really makes me wonder about what they teach their sales associates in training, if they really teach them that the rules don’t apply when you’re actually in the store, and that they are free to charge whatever they want (the non-discounted price for the VX9400 is $70 if you already have existing service, or $95 if you don’t already have service), or if they just assume that people are going to be stupid enough to believe whatever some nice man in a verizon wireless uniform tells them, just because he’s wearing a verizon wireless uniform. if people really are that stupid, we’re in deep trouble, and there’s no sign that things are going to improve for those of us who still have part of a brain left.

the only reason it hasn’t affected me more than it did is because i went from there to the post office, and while i was there, a old, local guy asked me if that was my car, and wanted to know how much it had cost me to paint all that stuff on it, and when i said i had done it all myself, he said “cool!” – which i took as quite a compliment, seeing as how he was in his 60s or 70s, and seemed really interested…

camp cirque de flambé post-burning-man party tonight at 7:00. it’s possible that moe will be there as well, which would be nice for me. i hope to give out the remainder of my “I Survived Burning Man 2008” buttons to the people i haven’t already mailed them to. BSSB at the Kenmore Oktoberfest tomorrw.