Phone broke. It was a smooth transition purchasing a new one. Lost my unlimited data plan though. But, of course, had to connect with customer service.
Three days into having my new phone I got a text message from Verizon saying that I have exceeded my two gigabyte data plan. Keeping it short, I visit the store and they tell me to call customer service. So I do.
I called the customer service number and got an automated voice system that asked what I wanted. There’s a button for everything else you could want, payments, minutes, checking data, etc,. but there was no button to get in touch with a sales rep. It took four calls until I figured out that I had to say that I wanted a customer service rep after I pressed “4” and was asked to state why I was calling. If you’re going to provide a number for customer service, have it connect to customer service. Strike one.
After figuring out how to get ahold of a customer service rep, the automated voice system said they were receiving an extremely high volume of calls and it would take a while to get on the line with a customer service rep. I was on the phone with one in 5 seconds.
If you ever have an automated voice message system to take service calls, remember that there’s a difference between preparing for the worst and being honest. I would rather be told the truth of how many calls are coming in even if the volume is low. Anyone calling customer service expects to be on hold for a while, even if told otherwise. Lying was strike two.
I had my situation resolved in less than 10 minutes. He (I don’t even remember his name, explained in a moment) reset my data usage from the time I got my phone. Done and done.
Yet, there was still a problem. The third strike. I got to speak to a human, but he wasn’t very human. He avoided the question of how his day was and turned it around to if I had protection on my phone. Instead of sparking a conversation when silence ensued, he merely thanked me for my patience. Everything he said felt scripted. I couldn’t help thinking that I could have had a better conversation with the automated voice service.
Want to know a reason why Apple is the go-to goodie about customer service and not Verizon? They are human. They have a conversation. And you get a hold of an actual person when you call customer service.
Stay Positive & Lessons Learned For Future Business, I Suppose
Garth E. Beyer
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