Why no Int'l service on iphone 4s after asking Ver'z to turn it on!!!!
marceff
Enthusiast - Level 2

Sitting in Madrid at beginning week-long trip to Europe and India.  Called Verizon customer service last Friday to get Int'l dialing turned on for my new iPhone 4S.  Arrived this morning and NO SERVICE. And, of course, without 24 hour cust. service, I now have to wait 5 hours to find anything out! 

Cust. rep. assured me that my phone would work here!!!!!

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Re: Why no Int'l service on iphone 4s after asking Ver'z to turn it on!!!!
marceff
Enthusiast - Level 2

It took five separate calls to get this handled.  Verizon reps, here's what it took:

1st Call: Called on a Friday to get Intl service turned on for the next Monday.  Was told I could purchase various different access plans, and I selected the best ones.

2nd Call:  Verizon rep called me later in the day to say she had made a mistake.  Since I became a Verizon customer within the last 90 days, I couldn't yet sign up for the discounted access packages.  I asked her specifically, "Will I still be able to use my phone when I arrive?"  She answered, "Yes, you will. You will be able to dial at our standard rates."

3rd Call:  In Madrid the next Monday with no service.  Speak to a rep who explained that nothing had been set up on my account.  She helpfully explained that I would need credit approval and a SIM card turned on to make Intl service work.  She explained that while the credit dept wasn't open yet, she would contact them as soon as they opened and get things set up.

4th Call:  3 hours later on Monday.  Called and explained the problem again.  Rep said that she saw the notations in the acct but that noting had been done yet.  She said she would handle and then call me back at my hotel to confirm that it was all set. 

5th Call: 3 hours after the 4th call on Monday:  Spoke to another rep.  Said that request had been sent to credit approval and was fine but that something needed to be done with my SIM card and that he would handle it.  He said that it should work within 5 minutes and that he would call me on my phone in ten minutes to confirm.  After a few restarts, the service appeared. The rep called me back and confirmed.

Verizon -- I switched my business acct to you because ATT had poor cell service at my home and office in Manhattan. I now have very good coverage but little confidence in your ability to handle fundamental requests.   I spent 2 hours of my time dealing with your mistakes (not to mention the time I wasn't able to communicate with my clients). At my consulting rates, that's a significant amount of money (let's just say well more than $1,000).  You need to understand that those requesting intl service will often be businesspeople who need this service to do their work.  Errors like this will cause them to switch carriers and you know the profitability of business accts vs. personal accts.  You might want to consider having requests for int' service routed to a more senior level CSR and having a validation process that confirms (to VZ and to the customer) that the service has been switched and is working.

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Re: Why no Int'l service on iphone 4s after asking Ver'z to turn it on!!!!
Ann154
Community Leader
Community Leader

Did you update your roaming capibilities before you left the states? Dialed *228, option 2 and reboot the phone?

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: Why no Int'l service on iphone 4s after asking Ver'z to turn it on!!!!
marceff
Enthusiast - Level 2

Called CS this morning and was told the rep. last week hadn't set the phone up properly (gotten credit approval for int'l, etc.).  They're working on it now.

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Re: Why no Int'l service on iphone 4s after asking Ver'z to turn it on!!!!
DionM_VZW
Verizon Employee

Hello marceff! I'm sorry to see that your service wasn't properly set up for your trip abroad. I see that you've contacted Customer Care about this matter and that we were working on it. If this has not yet been resolved, please let me know. I'm happy to help! And a very special thanks to my friend Ann154 for yet again coming to the aid of another community member!

DionM

Follow Us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/vzwsupport

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Re: Why no Int'l service on iphone 4s after asking Ver'z to turn it on!!!!
booboo79
Newbie

Looks like I'm in the same boat. I Turned on international service several weeks in advance of a trip to Europe that started today. Now in Amsterdam - no service. I was explicitly told by the Verizon rep who turned on international for me that I did not have to do anything prior to departure. Am I now completely screwed? Or can my wife do something about this from home in the States?

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Re: Why no Int'l service on iphone 4s after asking Ver'z to turn it on!!!!
booboo79
Newbie

Problem diagnosed and solved - when I had international support turned on, only US-to-Europe was enabled. I did ASK for bi-directional at the time. Now it works both ways.

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Re: Why no Int'l service on iphone 4s after asking Ver'z to turn it on!!!!
nigel
Newbie

I have the same problem. I told the customer service specifically that the only reason that I wanted this phone was for calling back to the US. He promised that it was all set up. I arrived in France, and . . . .nothing!   I have not had the promised response within 24 hours. Clearly Verizon has some major problems with International service.

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Re: Why no Int'l service on iphone 4s after asking Ver'z to turn it on!!!!
marceff
Enthusiast - Level 2

It took five separate calls to get this handled.  Verizon reps, here's what it took:

1st Call: Called on a Friday to get Intl service turned on for the next Monday.  Was told I could purchase various different access plans, and I selected the best ones.

2nd Call:  Verizon rep called me later in the day to say she had made a mistake.  Since I became a Verizon customer within the last 90 days, I couldn't yet sign up for the discounted access packages.  I asked her specifically, "Will I still be able to use my phone when I arrive?"  She answered, "Yes, you will. You will be able to dial at our standard rates."

3rd Call:  In Madrid the next Monday with no service.  Speak to a rep who explained that nothing had been set up on my account.  She helpfully explained that I would need credit approval and a SIM card turned on to make Intl service work.  She explained that while the credit dept wasn't open yet, she would contact them as soon as they opened and get things set up.

4th Call:  3 hours later on Monday.  Called and explained the problem again.  Rep said that she saw the notations in the acct but that noting had been done yet.  She said she would handle and then call me back at my hotel to confirm that it was all set. 

5th Call: 3 hours after the 4th call on Monday:  Spoke to another rep.  Said that request had been sent to credit approval and was fine but that something needed to be done with my SIM card and that he would handle it.  He said that it should work within 5 minutes and that he would call me on my phone in ten minutes to confirm.  After a few restarts, the service appeared. The rep called me back and confirmed.

Verizon -- I switched my business acct to you because ATT had poor cell service at my home and office in Manhattan. I now have very good coverage but little confidence in your ability to handle fundamental requests.   I spent 2 hours of my time dealing with your mistakes (not to mention the time I wasn't able to communicate with my clients). At my consulting rates, that's a significant amount of money (let's just say well more than $1,000).  You need to understand that those requesting intl service will often be businesspeople who need this service to do their work.  Errors like this will cause them to switch carriers and you know the profitability of business accts vs. personal accts.  You might want to consider having requests for int' service routed to a more senior level CSR and having a validation process that confirms (to VZ and to the customer) that the service has been switched and is working.

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Re: Why no Int'l service on iphone 4s after asking Ver'z to turn it on!!!!
nigel
Newbie

Two days, three e-mails and absolutely no repsonse from Verizon. Does anyone in Verizon care at all about any of their customers?

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Re: Why no Int'l service on iphone 4s after asking Ver'z to turn it on!!!!
Ann154
Community Leader
Community Leader

The last two days included the weekend. Perhaps the area where you have been emailing is closed for the weekend. The reps that usually frequent this community are mostly here during the workweek.

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

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