Horrifically bad customer service
Wootings
Enthusiast - Level 2

I've been a Straight Talk customer for a long time.  I prefer to use ST phones on Verizon, since that coverage is best...I really wanted to buy a new Moto G and activate it on ST, but Verizon has them on lockdown out of the box and you can only activate them with a Verizon account.

So I hemmed and hawed, and figured I'd give it a shot.  The Verizon plan is woefully inadequate from a data standpoint when compared to ST (only 500Mb of data from Verizon vs. 2.5Gb at full speed, then unlimited at slower speeds from ST) but I decided to try it anyway because the Moto G was such a better phone.  And I can put my phone on wifi when at home to get data anyway.

Well...my first day as a Verizon customer already has me mad as hell and wanting to leave.  ST is so vastly better when it comes to customer service it isn't even funny.  When you turn the Moto G on, you can only make an emergency call or create a Verizon account - so I did that, and got access to actual human beings to set up my account and port the number.  I say "human beings" because although they were friendly enough, it took them a couple tries to make it work.

Once the port was done, I had to set up the autopayment with my debit card - trying to make any phone call at that point will force you into a telephony system where the only 2 options are making a one-time payment or setting up autopay.  When I selected the option to set up autopay, again a human being took my debit card information and got everything set up.  At the end of the call she said we were all ready to go, and thanks for being a customer etc.

Well.  My phone never allowed me to make calls.  Or recieve calls...or text messages.  I tried to call back into customer support to see what the problem was.  And that's when the real frustration started.  IT IS A PHYSICAL IMPOSSIBILITY TO GET A HUMAN BEING AT THIS POINT.  And if you think I'm exaggerating, go ahead and try it.  If you try to make a call from your Verizon phone, you're shoved into the telephony system I got above - where you either make a one-time payment or setup autopay.  Which, of course, I had already done.  So neither of those options are valid, and there is no possibility of getting to any other options of any kind, let alone to a human being.

I then tried calling technical support from my Verizon phone.  It does the same thing to you.  Try to call the 1-800 or 1-866 customer support lines - same thing.  THERE IS NO WAY AT ALL TO EVER GET ANOTHER OPTION OTHER THAN MAKE A ONE TIME PAYMENT OR SET UP AUTOPAY, LET ALONE GET TO A HUMAN BEING.  Verizon at this point is content to let you die.

I then tried to call Verizon 1-800 and 1-866 support numbers from my home phone.  Guess what?  Once you tell them what Verizon number you're calling about, THEY PUT YOU INTO THE SAME (removed) 2-CHOICE TELEPHONY SYSTEM WHERE THEY WANT YOU TO JUST SIMPLY DIE.

Let me reiterate - IT IS A PHYSICAL IMPOSSIBILITY TO TALK TO VERIZON WIRELESS ABOUT WHAT THEY (removed) UP ABOUT SETTING UP YOUR PHONE.

In desperation, I paid *again* to try to activate my phone - making a one-time payment on top of the autopay that had already been set up.  So apparently if you pay twice, you can then use your phone.

But let me be very clear - I already hate Verizon so much that there are no words to describe such hatred, and I will be leaving again as soon as I possibly can.  I would really like to take my new Moto G (which I paid full retail for with no contract) to Straight Talk, because they are infinitely superior to Verizon in every way - ESPECIALLY CUSTOMER SERVICE - but if that's impossible I will be strongly considering just returning my Moto G and going back to my old phone.  Although I've heard rumors that the Moto Gs can be taken to ST after 6 months on Verizon...

Either way, I will be gone very soon and never come back.  (removed) you Verizon and your catastrophically horrible customer service.  Nice job on throwing a brand-new customer away the instant they buy a phone from you.  Unbelievable.

>>Edited to comply with the <<


Message was edited by: Verizon Moderator

Labels (1)
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Re: Horrifically bad customer service
clenarz
Newbie

Worst customer service ever. 

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Re: Horrifically bad customer service
Ann154
Community Leader
Community Leader

Straight Talk can use the GSM networks too. Buy the unlocked version.

I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.

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Re: Horrifically bad customer service
clenarz
Newbie

True, but I don't want to buy another phone. 

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Re: Horrifically bad customer service
xchambers
Contributor - Level 2

I'm not sure how you figure ST is "better" than Verizon in "everyway". Verizon has the most reliable network out there covering 97% of the US and expanding fast. If you are so concerned about talking to a human then go into a store. That is why there is thousands of stores all around so you can speak to someone face to face. Sure Verizons prices are more costly, but you get what you pay for. It doesn't matter to me what you do, where you go, who you give your business to, or anything. All I know, if from the sounds of it, I wouldn't want to speak with you either on the phone. Anyway, enjoy your 1X data speeds for $45 a month.

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Re: Horrifically bad customer service
Wootings
Enthusiast - Level 2

Yes...but if you're not a in a good T-Mo or AT&T location, that doesn't help.

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Re: Horrifically bad customer service
Wootings
Enthusiast - Level 2

You clearly have no idea what you're talking about.  When you put a Verizon phone on Straight Talk, it runs on the Verizon network.  There is no difference in the service, the speed, the phone, the network...anything.  It's still Verizon.

And you categorically *do not* "get what you pay for."  I can pay ST $45 a month for 2.5Gb of data at full speed, and then unlimited at reduced speed...or I can pay Verizon $45 a month for 500Mb of data, and then get cut off...or pay them more money.  Talk and text unlimited on either one.

And when I call ST, I talk to a human...right away.  With Verizon, as noted, it's all but impossible to actually find a human being.

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Re: Horrifically bad customer service
xchambers
Contributor - Level 2

Okay, Verizon does not cut you off after your data allowance. You are also not going to be pulling service just off of Verizon towers. Straight Talk pulls service from everybodies towers, including T-Mobile, Sprint, AT&T, etc. Verizon has the fastest 4G LTE data network and gives it to their actual customers first then lets customers with other service pull from their towers. Verizon has been launching the Advanced Wireless Spectrum made souley for Verizon customers to run the fastest data and connect on the 2100 MHz frequency. That is something you won't be able to experience through ST.

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Re: Re: Horrifically bad customer service
Wootings
Enthusiast - Level 2

"Okay, Verizon does not cut you off after your data allowance."

Yes, yes they do.  I have verified this with Verizon directly.  When using the Moto G on their prepaid plan, once you use your ridiculously tiny 500Mb of data in a given month, if you don't buy "bridge data" you will simply not get any more data that month.  Period.

"You are also not going to be pulling service just off of Verizon towers. Straight Talk pulls service from everybodies towers, including T-Mobile, Sprint, AT&T, etc."

Really?  So if I take a Verizon CDMA phone to ST I can get service from an AT&T GSM tower?  Wow, I didn't realize ST was magic!  So no...you're wrong.  You will only receive service from the corresponding network with the phone you're actually using with ST.  If you're using a Verizon phone on ST, you'll only get service from Verizon towers - not T-Mo, AT&T, or anybody else.  Your line about "gives it to their actual customers first then lets customers with other service pull from their towers" is pure nonsense - there's no way to actually do that in the real world.

"Verizon has been launching the Advanced Wireless Spectrum made souley for Verizon customers to run the fastest data and connect on the 2100 MHz frequency. That is something you won't be able to experience through ST."

<<Edited>>  That means less than nothing to me.  And it's not worth a single penny of my money above and beyond what I can get on a Moto G on a 3G connection.

Edited by: Verizon Moderator

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Re: Horrifically bad customer service
clenarz
Newbie

Why should I have to go to a store.  They should be able to answer the phone.

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