The Frustration
In this technology driven world there’s one item 9 out of 10 people probably have – a cellular phone (mobile if your English, git). They help us out when our car’s broken down and we need to call for a tow truck. SMS messaging is proving to be more and more useful. Camera phones even come in handy at times. But there’s one thing we all have in common when it comes to this little bit of pocket technology – cellular phone frustration.
A while back I spoke about my excitement in switching from what was then AT&T Wireless (now Cingular, whatever the fuck that means) to Verizon Wireless. I had decided I wanted to drop AT&T Wireless because of truly abysmal customer service as well as impossible cellular coverage in my own home (practically none). Verizon had a far better service and customer satisfaction record, so I figured if I’m going cellular only, it’s time to make the switch.
So I did and about two weeks after I switched providers I turned off my home number for good. I was happy to have one less payment to those bastards at SBC (interesting how the bastards at SBC, the parent company of Cingular, ended up purchasing that other bastard company, AT&T Wireless. Interesting.). And at first I was mostly happy with the service they provided me, although over the past three or four months it’s gotten increasingly worse. The number of completely missed calls while I was in my home increased. Suddenly, two hours after a message was left I’d get a notification. That’s annoying. And the number of dropped calls, happening while I sat in a stationary position, also continued. This past weekend was the most ridiculous as I missed at least five calls on Saturday (I left my home at one point to discover five voice mails, while the phone never rang once). Sunday was about the same and both days I dropped calls three or four times. Seriously high shit levels of service.
I bitched and complained to Verizon on Monday, following the lead of my friend Charles who filed his complaint on Sunday (Charles lives three short blocks from my location). In fact, I called Verizon three times from my cellular phone and lost the call, so ultimately had to call back on my business line. That’s how bad it was. I bitched, I complained, I said if this pile of manure doesn’t get cleaned up shortly I want out of my contract and I’m moving over to Sprint PCS, which I know works well in my ‘hood. They asked lots of questions, many I deemed pointless, switched me to a “level 2″ representative (level this) and asked me many more questions, still many of which seemed totally pointless. They told me within 24 hours I’d hear from a technician.
Well, technician called me today and said they’ve been looking in to things. Apparently the cell site nearest me was not operating at full capacity and was having “low frequency” issues. They power cycled or rebooted or took a piss on the cell site and the tech said things should be working much better now. So far, he’s right, but really time will tell. It’s been rather quiet tonight, but I have had some calls come through without incident, haven’t dropped one yet and seeing as how I don’t have any voice mails without calls attached, I’m guessing all the calls are making it through.
I was impressed, though, as I have been in the past, with Verizon’s customer service. They do seem to be responsive and generally happy to take complaints with ease. Cellular phones are possibly today’s most frustrating appliance (they really are more an appliance versus an accessory), so I imagine Verizon’s customer support people hear it constantly: “This fucking service is bull shit. Fix it so I can bitch to my girlfriend about how bad your service is” or “My wife’s having triplets and I’m on call 25 hours a day and if you guys don’t fix this I may miss the birth of my own children” or “So, what are you wearing?” For putting up with incensed telephone users, the VZ CS folk deserve some kudos, or at least a package of M&Ms.
