Today's challenge (long)

[petitepedal ★]

I may have mentioned Fred before. Last week he came down to my office for help. He is legally blind, 92 years old and he was having issues with Verizon. I had him sit in the chair by my desk..and we went to work setting up auto pay ( which he though he and his daughter had done a couple months before...new card..new number) So we spent about an hour on line talking to asses and then being transferred to the automated sign up. Jumped through all the hoops auto pay was set to take his $$$ on May 4 including the past due money

Today..he came down..no mask and no sling ( he has fallen 3 or 4 times in the last 3 months...broke his arm)...He was all upset..he was trying to place an order for frozen food from Schwan's..and his phone had been shut off for non payment.Said he was so upset he was about to have a heart attack  So I got on the phone at least twice..got disconnected...and I figured my blood pressure was as high as Fred's. Decided to call the Verizon store a few miles away..and thank you Clayton!!  He was very willing to help..he made the same call and found customer service just as helpful as I had  In the end..he set up an online account for Fred, got the bill paid, made sure auto pay was set up. AND tweaked his account and reduced his monthly bill. 

Fred said if he was starting a business..he would hire me in a heartbeat (he had a couple of companies in his day)...He also said if restaurants were open he would take me to dinner...We both laughed that he was getting off easy with the quarantine  ..I left work..late..but managed to get to the Verizon store just before Clayton left for the day..he even unlocked the door to let me in to say thank you.

a good end to my day.

[Zephyr]

I think that you stopped by to thank Clayton in person speaks volumes about you as a person. 

Nice touch, Petite

 

 

[Razors Edge ★]

12 hours ago, Zephyr said:

I think that you stopped by to thank Clayton in person speaks volumes about you as a person. 

Nice touch, Petite

Yep - pretty awesome.

[maddmaxx ★]

IMO Verizon and Comcast/Xfinity are basically good companies with the absolute worst business model for customer service that it's possible for any company to have and still be in business.

[smudge ★]

Good on ya @petitepedal! Glad you took the time to help out Fred, had the great idea to call locally, and took the time to stop by to thank Clayton in person.

THAT is going above and beyond.  

Not that it surprises us that you did all that.

[Razors Edge ★]

15 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

IMO Verizon and Comcast/Xfinity are basically good companies with the absolute worst business model for customer service that it's possible for any company to have and still be in business.

It's a total crap shoot. Sometimes you get the person who "knows their shit" and other times you get the person who "doesn't know shit".  I find Comcast a bit better than Verizon, but they both are relatively poor overall.  I chalk it up mainly to the massive volume of customer service they must have per day.  Mind-boggling, actually.  I wonder what businesses have more customer service calls than those two??? I can't think of any.

[maddmaxx ★]

6 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

It's a total crap shoot. Sometimes you get the person who "knows their shit" and other times you get the person who "doesn't know shit".  I find Comcast a bit better than Verizon, but they both are relatively poor overall.  I chalk it up mainly to the massive volume of customer service they must have per day.  Mind-boggling, actually.  I wonder what businesses have more customer service calls than those two??? I can't think of any.

I have Comcast and I chalk it up to an untrained call center staff in Texas working through a decision tree in the big blue book in front of themselves while reading and speaking in English is not their first choice.

[MickinMD ★]

Great story!

When I was having trouble with Verizon setting up my Fios triple-option in my apartment, I got nowhere on the phone. I drove to the Verizon store a few miles away three times and THEY got it set up for a technician to come out the next day.  He identified that what looked like a phone outlet in my living room had been converted to a phone-connecter-shaped ethernet plug and soon had me fixed.  He left me with the REAL phone number to get technical help if something came up.