Whatever happened to the customer is always right?

[starwood]

I keep getting bills from verizon wireless with data charges (usually only $1.99). I have the web blocked on my phone and I know I never go to get it now (ever since they started charging data charges for it). I get another bill with $1.99 get it now download. I called and told them in no way did I go to get it now and if I did (by accident) I certainly wouldn't have downloaded an IM application. He kept telling me I did. He said he could reverse the charge but would have to block media center and picture sending and couldn't reverse the charge without doing that. I said that wasn't acceptable that I wanted to keep picture sending. I said I wanted to talk to a supervisor. He said it would be a long wait and I said I would wait. He kept telling me that was the only thing that could be done. After a while he came back on and said he would block everything except picture messaging.

He made me feel like he was calling me a liar and that I had downloaded the app. I told him when my contact came up I would be looking at going to AT&T (I'd love an iphone). He really didn't care. I've been a verizon wireless customer for over 15 years.

Has anyone else had problems with data charges they didn't make? I've also had problems with them suddenly dropping my son's texting plan and trying to charge us for all of his texts.

Thanks for letting me vent.

 

[MariDisney]

I hate situations like this. I'd say go to AT&T. I have had them forever and have always had excellent customer service.

 

[starwood]

Unfortunately our contract doesn't end until 11/11/10 for my son, 12/10/10 for me and 4/1/11 for DH. What they are trying to do is push the unlimited data package. I don't want it and I don't need it.

 

[kydisneyfans]

Sprint is even worse for the data charges for data not used on a phone.

 

[FLAngie]

I keep getting the $1.99 charge on my bill too. We call every month to have it removed. The funny thing is that my phone (freebie) does not even do anything except call and I rarely use it for that!

 

[bicker]

Whatever happened to the customer is always right?

It was never the adage. Rather, the adage was always more along the lines of make the customer feel like s/he's always right. Beyond that, consumers, in general, have changed. There used to be more of a consistently paramount concern about quality over price; now price seems to be the dominant consideration for too many consumers. That has eroded any incentive to incur any cost in making the customer feel like they're right.

 

[maelstrom]

"The customer is always right" does not apply to cell phone companies, satellite companies, or cable companies.

My cell phone and my mom's cell phone (same phone, the Pantech Matrix) goes on the internet all by itself. You don't even have to touch it. And then, of course, we incur data charges. And my mom has to call and complain, and AT&T basically doesn't want to hear it, and we never get the charges credited. It got to the point where my mom went and put her SIM card back in her old Nokia flip phone, and my dad ended up doing it as well. So now we have two practically brand new Pantech Matrix cell phones sitting here unused. Mine does go on the internet by itself sometimes, but not nearly as often as my mom's did, and I can't go without a QWERTY keypad now (I've been spoiled), so I'll be keeping my Pantech Matrix.

 

[JoiseyMom]

We had this happen on DD phone and I called up, they said what it was and that she probably just hit a button. They gave my account a credit and blocked that feature on the phone. They were very very nice about it.

 

[Jenvenza]

I worked in retail for a LOOONG time and I can tell you, the customer is most definitely not always right. But this seems like a different circumstance. Cell phone companies are the devil.

 

[dalt01]

I worked in retail for a LOOONG time and I can tell you, the customer is most definitely not always right.

right on sista.............im a lifer and when i train new people i ask them "do you like people"? they all raise their eager lilttle paws. my answer to that is "you'll get over it!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

[NotUrsula]

If it keeps happening, it is probably an automatic update thing that calls the phone, rather than the other way 'round. Some of these auto-update calls don't cause the phone to ring -- it just answers and accepts the download. (Doesn't have to be Internet, btw; downloads can be sent via regular calls.)

I have a prepaid from Virgin Mobile, and a few months ago I noticed that my money was disappearing awfully quickly. In checking my call list, I noticed that I was being charged for 3 minute calls nearly every night at around 3 am. Not only do I use my phone VERY seldom, but at 3 am every night it is sitting on the charger in a cabinet in my kitchen, because we lock up the phones at night to keep the cat from messing with them while they are charging. When I called to dispute it, the operator kept insisting that my child must be making the calls. I wanted to know how she was getting out of her crib to do that! It took a bit of argument, but I spoke with a supervisor, and the calls never showed up again.

 

[LaurenLC]

The customer is not always right... A lot of times the customer is very, very wrong.... I'm not necessarily talking about this particular situation, but just in general...... I do not get paid to be verbally abused because you can’t have what you want…. The customer is always right…..I despise that saying!

 

[starwood]

OK - poor choice of words. But the customer is usually given the benefit of the doubt. I said I didn't use the data usage and he basically said i was a liar.

I've spoken to several people today that say they also have data charges appearing on their bills when they have not used it. I really think this is a verizon scam. They are charging people figuring most people won't check their bills or won't question it because it's only $1.99. I really think their billing practices should be investigated.

 

[kelleigh1]

right on sista.............im a lifer and when i train new people i ask them "do you like people"? they all raise their eager lilttle paws. my answer to that is "you'll get over it!!!!!!!!!!!"

I work retail part-time and I couldn't agree with this more. The customer is not always right and that probably all changed when everyonetried to get something for nothing. If they can scam you, they will. But, we're still trained to always do what it takes to make the customer happy.

 

[kelleigh1]

BTW, I'm a verizon customer. Have been for 10+ years now. My bill is exactly the same every month and I have never received any $1.99 data charge. We've had issues in the past with text charges because someone we didn't know kept texting my husband. I think it was 2 or 3 months that I'd call and tell them that we didn't know this person and didn't even read the messages so we didn't think it was fair to be charged. They credited us back for all charges and then when I asked about shutting off the texting, they did that with no problem.

This did shut off my picture messaging too, but I now have a memory card in the my phone, so if I take pictures and want to keep them, I can just pop out the card and upload it to my computer.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

The customer is not always right... A lot of times the customer is very, very wrong.... I'm not necessarily talking about this particular situation, but just in general...... I do not get paid to be verbally abused because you can’t have what you want…. The customer is always right…..I despise that saying!

When I worked in customer service for a bank years ago, we had a motivational speaker who said, "The customer may not always be right, but the customer is ALWAYS the customer." In other words, they can be wrong, but must always be treated with respect.

 

[2girlsmom]

I'm not sure it is a Verizon scheme, though I agree it was lousy of him to basically call you a liar, not to mention having web services/data useage blocked has no bearing on texting, including picture and video texts, so he obviously wasn't being straight with you on that either. I have verizon now, and we had that charge the first month on the phone, so I called and asked them to block all data applications. A couple months ago I saw a "premium text" charge so I called on that too, turns out my husband had been on facebook and signed up for it to text him profile updates, etc. This does charge a premium charge to do, but Facebook doesn't tell you that when they are trying to get you to sign up. Also, fyi, Verizon and AT&T are the same company now, so not sure that will make a difference to switch...

 

[mikehn]

The customer is always right, even when they are wrong.

 

[bicker]

I really think this is a verizon scam.

I suspect that the suspicion you have toward Verizon is similar to the suspicion they have toward their customers, since their systems are most likely designed to be accurate, and reliably so, while, unlike you, many of their consumers are perhaps no so reliably accurate in their memory (or representations) of what services they have used.

I really think their billing practices should be investigated.

You should contact the Attorney General's office for assistance with that.

 

[LaurenLC]

When I worked in customer service for a bank years ago, we had a motivational speaker who said, "The customer may not always be right, but the customer is ALWAYS the customer." In other words, they can be wrong, but must always be treated with respect.

Wouldn't be surprised if your motivational speaker had never worked retail. I agree, customers should be treated with respect, but so should the person assisting them. And normally when people are dropping the line, "the customer is always right", that isn't happening.