verizon wireless, you have been a bad monkey!

Julia (after fixing HER treo yesterday) called me and told me that he was having an issues with Vzn Wireless. He emailed me a copy of what he emailed them, and said I could post it online.

So, heres his email to them (edited out his phone number, of course)
I’ll update this if he gets any response.

This is in reguards to a prepaid wireless account. The current telephone number assigned to this account is 505-xxx-xxxx. Prior to 11/10/2007, the telephone number was 505-xxx-xxxx.

I originally purchased this phone and account at walmart, with a samsung brand flip phone and service. That phone was damaged and became unreliable, so after the service expired, I did not further extend the account with additional refills. Recently, I found the need to have a mobile phone again, so I purchased a $50 refill and added it to my account. Since the original phone was damaged, I located a verizon wireless branded phone that i had previously owned, and called for an ESN change. The rep handled the ESN change quickly, and starting on 11/10/2007, I was functionally using the new phone, a Treo 650. I ordered online a used replacement samsung flip phone, and am expecting it within 14-20 days. I changed the phone number on the account on 11/11/2007, again, it was handled quickly and correctly.
I was functionally using the Treo 650 on your service all of today, 11/11/2007 using voice and text messaging. Other features of course, I do not expect to work or be compatible with your service, and I'm perfectly fine without having mobile web until my replacement phone arrives.
The problem, however was created when I called to change my plan to one of your newer inpulse plans, because I felt that it would be a better value to me with my usage patterns. The rep was unable to make the change because of the phone type. She suggested that I change the phone back to the malfunctioning samsung, make the plan change, then change back to the treo.
Following her advice, I changed the ESN to the malfunctioning samsung, powered it on to program it, called in to make the plan change, then called back in to change the ESN back to the Treo.
Again, I remind you, that I had full functional voice and text on the Treo the entire morning prior to this.
The rep said he was unable to process the ESN because it was a Treo. I informed him that it was working up until an hour before the phone call. He was very apologetic, researched it further, and transfered me to the escalations queue for further assistance. The representative that I spoke to in escalations was also apologetic, explained that was the current policy not to allow smartphones on the prepaid service because they were not fully compatible.
I said I understood that it was not fully compatible, and accept that, however, this Treo was functionally on my account that morning, and I just wanted it on there again temporarily until my replacement inpulse phone arrived.
She asked two additional people around her for information, and they arrived at the same conclusion. She suggested perhaps her supervisor would have the authority to accommodate my request on a case-by-case basis.
The supervisor, who would not give me her name, extension, just tell me she was a supervisor in the GA call center, was rude, condescending, interrupted me several times, and just left me with the overall feeling that she did not care about me as a customer, or about my issue. That is a complete turnaround from the normal, well informed, well trained customer service representatives I've come to respect your company for having.
She said she WOULD NOT (not could not) respond to my request, would not transfer me elsewhere or higher, that there was nothing that I could do, and despite my quoting directly from the Terms and Conditions of service, which I had just agreed to the most recent version of less then an hour before, that I was still wrong, and the Verizon Wireless can change those Terms and Conditions as they saw fit. She then interrupted me again and terminated the call as soon as I requested contact information for the Customer Advocacy department.

Now, please understand my situation.
I am a disabled veteran. I do not have a landline, I use a prepaid cell phone as my communications tool, but rarely use the service. I use voice and text, and voice mail as required. I do not use the service enough to justify a regular monthly bill or contract.
I understand that as a prepaid customer, and as little as I use the service, I am a low priority customer, however, I am still a customer. I still pay you for service, but not having a contract, I am free to take my money and service elsewhere.
I certainly do not want to do that, because I am very happy where I am, until this problem occurred.

I am not asking for credit. I am not asking for anything free. I am simply asking for the ability to use the equipment I own, which is compatible with your services, today just as I was doing so yesterday.
I know i'm not asking for the impossible, because obviously, It can be done, since it was done yesterday.
I fully understand that all the features of this phone are not going to work and I fully accept that, especially because I can barely figure out how to use the phone and text messaging on it as it is.
This phone meets my needs for now, it has big buttons, a large screen that I can read in the sunlight, and a loud speaker and ear piece.
I have a replacement phone on the way that would be fully compatible with your service, and intend on switching to that one as soon as it arrives, however, it will take at least 2 weeks for my money order that is being mailed on 11/12/2007 to reach the seller in New York, then followed by the phone being mailed 1st class mail to me. This means I have no functional phone for at least two weeks.
I have no way of keeping in contact with my sister and the other phone who need to contact me. I have no way of receiving voice mails from my medical providers. Most importantly, I have no way of reaching out for assistance should I need it. As you can see, this is a big deal for me.
All I would like is for the situation to be set back to just the way it was yesterday.

I feel that if my situation is unable to be resolved, that I must consider filing a complaint with the New Mexico Public Regulatory Commission, The New Mexico Attorney General's Office, as well as the Better Business Bureau, of which I am a supporting member.
I will also file a request for arbitration, which as I understand it would likely cost your company more money then I currently have in my prepaid balance, which I would not think would make fiscal sense for you as a company.

All I want is for someone to take authority over my situation, and fix the problem to my satisfaction so I may continue to be a customer of Verizon Wireless's for the future.

Thank you for your time.
Jason StJames

This entry was posted on 11. November 2007 at 12:54 and is filed under Written Entries. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.