Why all the hate for Verizon? Potentially switching. Not a flame post.

mg83 · Jul 1, 2012

I'm just curious as to why all the hate? I'm on Sprint right now, and if they had tiered plans like everyone else, no way in hell would I be with them. I'm constantly getting dropped calls, and I'm pretty sure my 56k modem back in the day with AOL 2.0 was faster than their 3G. They gave me an Airave that did nothing but annoy me with beeps before my calls.

My parents have Verizon and live down the road, and they always have great reception. Hell when I'm at their house I usually use their phones to dial out instead of mine, and I'm in a dark green area with Sprint. It was fine for the first few months, but it's so bad now Sprint wants to send a tech out to my house and test for dead signals.

Anyways I've got Verizon FiOS and I've never had an issue with billing, and their CS has been great. But that's because I visit their store down the road rather than dealing with them over the phone.

I realize they tend to nickel and dime, is that part of the hatred? But that's the trend now in this country, I'm used to it. My work place offers like a 15% discount on VZW and the rep at the store said she could bundle my cell phone instead of a land line (if I switched) with my TV and internet and get 10% off or something like that.

I'm always on Wi-Fi when I can, and according to Sprint I've only gone over 3GB on their 3G twice since the EVO launched. So I think I can safely operate within their 4GB (if I choose it.)

Are the people that say Verizon is terrible in rural areas where they're forced to use 4G as a main internet connection? Or is it just bad business practices where they're the Bank of America of cell phone companies?

I don't mind paying more if I get a better service. I just don't want to shoot my self in the foot. Unlimited data is nice, but not when I can't take full advantage of it. I know Sprint is rolling out LTE, but they're just so far behind it seems.

Anyone jump ship from Sprint have experience, or vice versa?

noah way · Jul 1, 2012

VZ is a tax dodger,

Study: Verizon Hasn't Paid a Cent in Taxes in 3 Years - Verizon, Comcast, AT&T Huge Beneficiaries of Loopholes, Subsidies | DSLReports.com, ISP Information

despite making a fortune ...

Verizon's vitals: quarterly revenue up five percent to $28 billion, earnings of $1.7 billion -- Engadget

while treating employees poorly

As Verizon Demands Huge Cuts To Worker Benefits, Its Profits Soar And Its CEO Gets $18 Million In Compensation | ThinkProgress

and playing a horde of lobbyists for special treatment.

Exxon Mobil, Verizon and Other Companies That Spent Most on Lobbying Had Lower Tax Rates - ABC News

In a nutshell, VZ is emblematic of the kind of greed and corruption that is now the accepted norm for "business" in ~~democratic~~ capitalist society.

euph_22 · Jul 1, 2012

Also their shared data plan is pretty crappy for most users on here (although if you use alot of minutes with 2 or more smartphones it's actually pretty good).

Doit2it · Jul 1, 2012

I don't think there is hatred for Verizon, maybe frustration. They have made dramatic changes to their plans and policies as of late, but they haven't directly forced anyone to change from their current plan to the new plans. They have made it economically difficult to stay under the old plans over time though. Thus the frustration.

If you've got a smartphone on Verizon you are paying anywhere from $100 to $300 per month for individual and family plans. Paying that much every month, people have high expectations from a provider. One of those is expectations is not to be fudged with, and many people believe we have been with these changes.

Their coverage is arguably the best in the US. I have never had issues with dropped calls or lack of service. I don't travel much, but the only place I found I didn't have service was when I spend the night in the lake area of Yellowstone National Park. And the fact that I had full service everywhere else in the park was amazing to me.

Verizon provides an excellent product with their service, and has a good selection of phones, thou not as good as other carriers. But would you rather have a good phone selection with great service, or a great phone selection with poor service? I'm staying with Verizon.

mg83 · Jul 1, 2012

At this point I'd rather have good selection and great service. For me it's phone first and convenience second. Between a desktop, laptop, and tablet, I know what my phone is - a phone. If I'm going to pay $100 a month, I want to make sure all aspects of the phone can be used. If the GPS looses signal, no bars, dropped calls, slower internet, and choppy voice then having best phone on the market for the next year doesn't really help me.

WA_Bob · Jul 1, 2012

As has been said, you're probably not going to see better coverage (especially for 4G LTE) for another year or so and their customer service is very good. If you're comfortable paying for their service at their new prices then enjoy all they have and don't worry about anyone else "hating" on Verizon. It's your phone and service and you're the only one who has to be pleased with it.

euph_22 · Jul 1, 2012

WA_Bob said:
As has been said, you're probably not going to see better coverage (especially for 4G LTE) for another year or so and their customer service is very good. If you're comfortable paying for their service at their new prices then enjoy all they have and don't worry about anyone else "hating" on Verizon. It's your phone and service and you're the only one who has to be pleased with it.

Agreed.

dautley · Jul 1, 2012

As I've said before, Verizon and to a lesser extent AT&T use to compete and focus on outdoing each other on how much value they could bring to the customer, and now as with almost all companies they're focused on how much they can take them for.

dirkbonn · Jul 1, 2012

Verizon is doing what I did when I had my own business for over 25 years. I always tried to make the most profit that I could. I wanted to send my kids to the best schools, take nice vacations, have a nice home, and at the same time putting money away for our retirement. I couldn't do this by giving my product away. Now I couldn't raise my prices sky high, (my competition saw to that) but as long as I was giving my customers better service and a better product, I could charge slightly more and my customers continued to give me thier business and more importantly, thier repeat business.

If you overcharge your customers consistantly, you will eventually chase your clientel to your competitors. If a company does this, thier customers will leave and soon you're out of business. There is a fine line between overcharging and charging what your product or service is worth, and all successful businesses walk this line at all times. I think Verizon is doing this right now. Of course there will always be people who think the "grass is greener" or will switch carriers to save $2, but with 100 million customers, this is bound to happen.

Before anyone calls me a fanboy or an employee of Verizon, I'll say this, I have never worked for and neither has anyone in my family worked for Verizon. I really did have my own business here in Hawaii for 25+ years and it had no connection whatsoever with the wireless business.

Now I always want to get a much value as I can for every dollar I spend, just like the next guy, but I don't begrudge any business for trying to make as much profit as they can. Heck, that's what I did. I think the government sometimes tries to make it look like making a profit is a bad thing. Remember, profitable companies hire employees because they ARE making a profit and want to make more. Unprofitable companies don't hire (they layoff) and eventually go out of business.

Also remember, Verizon can't take your money, you have to give it to them. If you don't want to give it to them, you can give it to another carrier. It's still a free country. (at least for the time being, but I do worry about the future)

Anyway, best of luck to all of us in everything we do!

Whew, that went longer than I anticipated, haha!

Optid · Jul 1, 2012

mg83 said:
I'm just curious as to why all the hate? I'm on Sprint right now, and if they had tiered plans like everyone else, no way in hell would I be with them. I'm constantly getting dropped calls, and I'm pretty sure my 56k modem back in the day with AOL 2.0 was faster than their 3G. They gave me an Airave that did nothing but annoy me with beeps before my calls.

My parents have Verizon and live down the road, and they always have great reception. Hell when I'm at their house I usually use their phones to dial out instead of mine, and I'm in a dark green area with Sprint. It was fine for the first few months, but it's so bad now Sprint wants to send a tech out to my house and test for dead signals.

Anyways I've got Verizon FiOS and I've never had an issue with billing, and their CS has been great. But that's because I visit their store down the road rather than dealing with them over the phone.

I realize they tend to nickel and dime, is that part of the hatred? But that's the trend now in this country, I'm used to it. My work place offers like a 15% discount on VZW and the rep at the store said she could bundle my cell phone instead of a land line (if I switched) with my TV and internet and get 10% off or something like that.

I'm always on Wi-Fi when I can, and according to Sprint I've only gone over 3GB on their 3G twice since the EVO launched. So I think I can safely operate within their 4GB (if I choose it.)

Are the people that say Verizon is terrible in rural areas where they're forced to use 4G as a main internet connection? Or is it just bad business practices where they're the Bank of America of cell phone companies?

I don't mind paying more if I get a better service. I just don't want to shoot my self in the foot. Unlimited data is nice, but not when I can't take full advantage of it. I know Sprint is rolling out LTE, but they're just so far behind it seems.

Anyone jump ship from Sprint have experience, or vice versa?

I love Verizon, I've had them for 3 years now. I made the switch because Verizon has the best coverage out of all other cell phone companies. I literally get service everywhere. Verizon is a little pricey, but their service and customer support are worth it.

dirkbonn · Jul 1, 2012

Optid said:
I love Verizon, I've had them for 3 years now. I made the switch because Verizon has the best coverage out of all other cell phone companies. I literally get service everywhere. Verizon is a little pricey, but their service and customer support are worth it.

That's kinda what I said, but you posted the condensed version. Thanks,

Optid · Jul 1, 2012

dirkbonn said:
That's kinda what I said, but you posted the condensed version. Thanks,

Lol. I'm just expressing my opinion of Verizon.

TadeoNYC · Jul 1, 2012

dirkbonn said:
Verizon is doing what I did when I had my own business for over 25 years. I always tried to make the most profit that I could. I wanted to send my kids to the best schools, take nice vacations, have a nice home, and at the same time putting money away for our retirement. I couldn't do this by giving my product away. Now I couldn't raise my prices sky high, (my competition saw to that) but as long as I was giving my customers better service and a better product, I could charge slightly more and my customers continued to give me thier business and more importantly, thier repeat business.

If you overcharge your customers consistantly, you will eventually chase your clientel to your competitors. If a company does this, thier customers will leave and soon you're out of business. There is a fine line between overcharging and charging what your product or service is worth, and all successful businesses walk this line at all times. I think Verizon is doing this right now. Of course there will always be people who think the "grass is greener" or will switch carriers to save $2, but with 100 million customers, this is bound to happen.

Before anyone calls me a fanboy or an employee of Verizon, I'll say this, I have never worked for and neither has anyone in my family worked for Verizon. I really did have my own business here in Hawaii for 25+ years and it had no connection whatsoever with the wireless business.

Now I always want to get a much value as I can for every dollar I spend, just like the next guy, but I don't begrudge any business for trying to make as much profit as they can. Heck, that's what I did. I think the government sometimes tries to make it look like making a profit is a bad thing. Remember, profitable companies hire employees because they ARE making a profit and want to make more. Unprofitable companies don't hire (they layoff) and eventually go out of business.

Also remember, Verizon can't take your money, you have to give it to them. If you don't want to give it to them, you can give it to another carrier. It's still a free country. (at least for the time being, but I do worry about the future)

Anyway, best of luck to all of us in everything we do!

Whew, that went longer than I anticipated, haha!

I hope you didn't increase your profit margins by reducing benefits to your employees. Verizon is a corporate behemoth and gets away with a lot of things that a small business owner would never dream of attempting.

LoyalServant · Jul 1, 2012

I used to work for Bell Atlantic... which is modern day Verizon.
I can tell you that back before the GTE/BA merger things were horrid then.

We went on strike (CWA and IBEW IIRC?) and the only people that were screwed were the customers.

That said.. I dumped Verizon and they are still chasing me a month later with deals that are not in any way, shape, or form a "deal"....

Coverage? depends on where you are.
They like to throw orange paint at the map.
I can point out huge areas on that orange map that have no service, or at least up until a month and a half ago.

Tips to avoid unfortunate incidents with Verizon:

1. Avoid calling them with any complicated situation.
They will not handle it correctly and it will cost you.

2. If you return a device NEVER use their return label.
It's not insured but for $100 and if USPS or Fex EX damages or loses the contents they WILL make you pay for it.
Ship it yourself and insure it.
They will charge you more than the device was worth and actually make a tidy profit that way - since you are responsible for it.
Doesn't matter what it is, your getting dinged $500 for it.

3. Their customer service is polite and nice, but they DO NOT have any power to do anything but sell you stuff.
Need any form of adjustment? Not even the "supervisors" can do that.
The only people that can really do anything are the suits that you cannot get on the phone.

Some people call their customer service good but probably because they are nice to you.
They can't actually do anything for you but charge you more money.

That said, I hope your Verizon experiences go well.
You will not have a problem as long as your device does not break or your service area is bad.
Be wary of calling them and getting a person that has any authority.. those people do not exist.

As far as bad employee treatment.... Yeah.. I was one of those people that they treated badly.
I still know people working in wireline that get treated badly.
The company sucks, plain and simple.

timelord65 · Jul 2, 2012

I've never had a problem with Verizon customer support. That said, every forum has carrier threads about how lousy the customer support is. Sure other carriers may offer better plans/packages, but most can't offer the same quality network and coverage. So you can find a more affordable carrier, even go prepaid. But you always risk taking a hit in coverage. Nothing worse then finding out you don't get any coverage somewhere just when you need it most.

As often said, most will find that Verizon has the best most reliable coverage of all.

tenceriker · Jul 3, 2012

I have been a Verizon customer for a while now and I am pretty meh about them. I get a ridiculous corporate discount that makes the 10-20% club look like they are paying for lambos each month. If I didn't have it I probably would switch to Sprint or ATT been a customer to each of them in GA for a while and never had any issues. I am mostly a city king so that might be why I never have any trouble. As for Verizon wireless they do overcharge for anyone who is a regular customer but as the saying goes a fool and his money are soon parted. If you want to switch OP go ahead but I have a feeling since Verizon/ATT can get away with price gouging they will and it will only get worse with time.

Aokusman · Jul 4, 2012

The problem is US carriers as whole. AT&T did away with all their text plan options and only left you with unlimited. So, if you only send 300 texts a month you are paying the same as someone who sends 3000 texts a month. How does that make sense. Now Verizon has done something similar by taking away minutes and text options. These companies all follow each others leads. I went to the UK and was surprised to find phones like the iPhone, and galaxy note etc free on contract. That never happens here. $50 for 1gb of data is beyond a joke. It's the biggest farce of the modern world.

dirkbonn · Jul 4, 2012

Aokusman said:
The problem is US carriers as whole. AT&T did away with all their text plan options and only left you with unlimited. So, if you only send 300 texts a month you are paying the same as someone who sends 3000 texts a month. How does that make sense. Now Verizon has done something similar by taking away minutes and text options. These companies all follow each others leads. I went to the UK and was surprised to find phones like the iPhone, and galaxy note etc free on contract. That never happens here. $50 for 1gb of data is beyond a joke. It's the biggest farce of the modern world.

It makes the same kind of sense that even though I was only using .5GB of data per month, I was paying the same $30 per month as the guy who was using 20GBs of data per month.

The pendulum swings both ways. Sometimes you win, sometimes you don't. Just wait awhile, it'll probably swing back sometime in the future. The only constant in all this is change.

trife · Jul 4, 2012

I'm never going to use them cause they made a promise to sign me up, then the next day when the promise wasn't fulfilled told me they'd charge me a disconnect fee of $170.

no 30 days, no 14 days, no making good on a promise to get a sale. Just games to keep my account open with stall tactics.

Most horrible company i've ever ran into.

I've been with sprint 5 years on mobile broadband and 3 with wireless phones.
Only issues i've had with them was no 4g (but they upgraded my 3g towers that get about 500kb more than verizons 3g) And i got a note on account that mobile hotspot is now limited at 5g a mo but it still says unlimited on my account and haven't received any overage charges.
a recent erratic speed issue due to a down tower for about 2 weeks it lasted.
Live in a rural area, work/drive to even more rural areas. I have service everywhere verizon does I just get dropped calls when in between two towers it seems cause the reception jumps back up to 2-5 bars after a drop.

These were hardly complaints to me I just sent in inquiry's about whats going on. never felt wronged.

Contrast that with 2 months of verizon costing $300 for no data service, and lying salesman, then a loyalty dept that wont cover the lie. Now you can see why people dont deal with them unless they're upper middle class.

I thought most of the verizon bashing was just grouchy people who think they deserve nothing but the best at all times. I'm a very passive guy on most things and dealing with them had me kinda shocked with their audacity and tactics.

Its good most have a good experience, but some of us posters really have these terrible experiences that leave us bitter.

dirkbonn · Jul 5, 2012

trife said:
Contrast that with 2 months of verizon costing $300 for no data service, and lying salesman, then a loyalty dept that wont cover the lie. Now you can see why people dont deal with them unless they're upper middle class.

QUOTE]

Good to know we finally officially made the jump from middle class to upper middle class. (I'll let my wife know when she comes home from work) :smokingsomb:

WA_Bob · Jul 5, 2012

dirkbonn said:
trife said:

Contrast that with 2 months of verizon costing $300 for no data service, and lying salesman, then a loyalty dept that wont cover the lie. Now you can see why people dont deal with them unless they're upper middle class.

QUOTE]

Good to know we finally officially made the jump from middle class to upper middle class. (I'll let my wife know when she comes home from work) :smokingsomb:

Click to expand...

LOL! It's a matter of your own priorities. I know some folks who want the best in phone service and aren't interested in cable TV or don't have a car w/ payments. Yes, Verizon is pricey but if it's what you want and can pay for then you can make it work on whatever your budget normally is. I personally switched to AT&T for my own set of reasons, but it wasn't because I couldn't afford Verizon service. If you believe the surveys, I'm supposed to be "upper middle" class and I could if I chose to.

Why all the hate for Verizon? Potentially switching. Not a flame post.

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