Elepent

I’m sure you remember my wtf?! rant about Verizon’s aircard overage fees and subsequent customer service dilemma. Thanks to the Thanksgiving holiday, I had to put off getting our issue resolved for a few days, but first thing Monday morning I braved the phone lines in search of a resolution.

How did things pan out?
- The initial CSR last week told me that they could double my coverage to 10G for $199/mo. Since Em and I currently share the unit we’d prefer to just have 2 plans and 2 aircards for the cost of $60 each plus taxes, etc, which would still work out to less than the double coverage plan. The CSR would have to transfer me to sales to set up the second plan and they could give me no guarantee that they would prorate my bill for the current month if I did that. No thanks.
- I went into a store only to be told by a CSR there that I needed to call Customer Service and ask to speak to a manager. As well as having it inferred that I would clearly be an idiot if I canceled my service altogether. I felt the CSR in the store should have offered to call Customer Service themselves to help resolve my issue and potentially sell me a second unit on the spot, but perhaps they simply hate their job too much to actually bother doing it well.
- Monday, after calling the automated system 3 times, waiting for a CSR , and the system somehow disconnecting me twice while on hold, a total of approximately 20 minutes from the start of my calls, I finally got to speak to another representative.
-  I immediately asked to be put through to a manager, but the CSR first made an effort to resolve the issue themselves and while I understand that this is their job, I commend them for the attempt and their decorum. This CSR was much more pleasant than the previous 2, but offered me essentially the same information as the first CSR.
- I decided to hold and wait for a “supervisor”. I was on hold for an additional 10-15 minutes. Perhaps longer, I should have kept better track. I was checked back with repeatedly which was heartening
- When I finally spoke to the “supervisor”, they agreed that the second aircard was obviously the way to to go, given our situation and that they’d be happy to credit us the overage fees if we purchased a second plan. Since our mailing situation is weird, I said I’d like go into one of the stores to pickup the aircard, and the “supervisor” attatched a note to our account for a follow-up call to get the fees reversed, and save me the trouble of calling back.
- About 30 minutes later, I received a call from another Verizon CSR explaining that it’s not required for me to get a second plan in order to have my charges reversed and since we are still in the first full month of our bill, they’re happy to reverse the overage charges. They did just that. No hassle. Thanks for your business.
- I proceeded immediately to the nearest Sprint store and purchased our second aircard from them.

Now, why did I do that? If the first CSR had been as accommodating as the last one I talked to, I might have considered getting a second Verizon card. We’ve been really happy with the coverage, the software is easy to use and comprehend. I was only unhappy with the overage fees. It’s likely given the extreme difference between the Verizon fees, and their competitors, I might have gone elsewhere anyway, but I would have at least considered a second account. After this experience, it’s unlikely I will ever purchase another Verizon product, or renew our contract with them. As it stands, it took 5 different CSRs and entirely too much wasted time to convey one simple company policy to me, the customer.

So why Sprint and not AT&T? We currently have AT&T cell phone plans, and while I’ve been a Cingular/AT&T customer since 2001, the only reason for that is the excellent customer service we get at a store local to our home in Michigan. Being out on the road and away from that resource, there’s no incentive for us to go with AT&T as our aircard service provider as well as our phone provider, which is the reason we strayed to Verizon in the first place.