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 Recognition and Sympathy Go a Long Way
Posted Wed July 15, 2009 12:00 pm, by Justin R. written to Verizon Wireless (Cell Phones)
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As a young professional in the IT field, I enjoy technology, and will always seek out the newest. Early adopters often get "burned" you might say, but we expect that when it's over that we still enjoy our devices for what they were despite their flaws or bugs. However, the Blackberry Storm does not fall into this category. My screen is unresponsive, it locks up when I receive a phone call, and I have had to resort to a myriad of battery pulls daily. The answer? Not have a Blackberry Storm. I'm fairly confident that Verizon and its employees are aware of the problems with this device, and I would expect some sympathizing with me when I go into a store or call tech support. But, nary have I received any.
I got the Storm on launch day and about 35 days later I started having issues with it. I went into the store and waited 25 minutes to have a gentleman tell me that I was outside of the 30 day return policy and there was nothing he could do. His manager said the same thing. To mollify me, they stated that there was an update coming out to fix the issues and it would be out soon. That gave me some assurance that it might be okay if I stuck it out. The phone has gotten progressively worse in its performance, all the while my co-workers tout their iPhones. So 5 months later an official update FINALLY comes out and does it fix the phones issues? Nope. Still buggy, screen still unresponsive, still frustrating, an increasingly difficult to use.
So I call Tech support and am told that I need to run through a whole battery of tests to check to see IF they will even replace it. After checking settings, battery pulls, hard reset, phone wipes, etc. the gentleman says he can replace my phone with another Storm. I ask if I could just get a different phone... I said I'd take one of the old 8703's or a pink pearl for that matter, just not a storm. "Sorry, sir. We are unable to do that." Again, I ask what his manager can do: same song and dance as before. So now I am stuck with another phone that I have so much disdain for that I want nothing to do with it. Once I receive it in two days, I think I'm just going to return it to Verizon, and activate an old LG Voyager... though it pains me such to do so at least IT was reliable.
I just wish that Verizon would sympathize with its customers who bought a buggy device. We were told "the issues will be fixed," and, to date, they have not. Offer a replacement Blackberry of a different model (the storm was $199 on a 2 year contract when it came out so it's not like you can trade "up"). A little recognition from Verizon Employees that we are in a tough situation, and an effort to help us out of it.
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by Justin R. Posted Tue July 21, 2009 @ 4:16 PM
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http://www.planetfeedback.com/verizon+wireless+(cell+phones)/customer+
service/still+looking+for+that+recognition+and+sympathy/319254
My situation has yet to be resolved after being contacted by Verizon
Executive Relations, and being deceived on the phone by a CS agent.
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Switch to T-Mobile. While their reception is not always the greatest,
their customer service is one of the best. Everytime I have ever had a
problem they are always willing to work with me to come up with a
solution.
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by Ben G. Posted Fri July 17, 2009 @ 1:08 AM
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Bell Atlantic Mobile in my area, and the one thing I learned was that
you NEVER buy the first generation of a model of one of their phones.
I made that mistake again with the first generation LG Voyager. It has
since been replaced 4 times under 2 years time. My friend has the 2nd
generation voyager in titanium, and has had it since its debut (a year
ago? close to that?).
Not one issue with it.
I was excited to see the touch screen Blackberry come out, but I now
know to wait for its second generation.
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by MA Cunningham Posted Thu July 16, 2009 @ 3:10 PM
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when RIM produces Smartphone models for every carrier, how it is that
this model could go so horribly wrong and there isn't this backlash
with Alltel, AT&T, Sprint or T-Mobile?
Is the problem RIM's phone or Verizon's service?
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"I love BlackBerrys. I own one. I adore it. I spend too much time with
it.
But that’s exactly why I’m so disappointed – no, I’m appalled – with
RIM’s latest offering, the Blackberry Storm. Using it for the past few
days, left me with feeling like how I do about Robert De Niro movies
these days. Why are you tarnishing your legacy with this shoddy
offering?
You see, for every good feature with the Storm, there’s an aching,
glaring, gigantic flaw that makes you want to bash open your head with
it. Where to begin?"
You buy a piece of technology on its first day of issue, you take your
chances. I just really think it's that simple. Most people wait. Those
who don't, those who think they have to be first and who are junkies
for new technology... well... this is what you get.
Doesn't this happen with anything truly "new"? Like a new model/make
of car? Why does anyone expect it to be any other way?
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Shouldn't this letter be sent to the makers of Blackberry products?
Or does Verizon make Blackberrys?
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Part of the problem with the Storm is that Verizon has little control
over the problems with it. As is typically the case, the contract
with RIM (the Blackberry people) says that Verizon is responsible for
providing support. But there is no guarantee that RIM will resolve
customer issues.
In other words, RIM's timetable for resolving issues with the Storm is
based on how much damage THEIR reputation takes and the impact. It's
not like they've told Verizon "go ahead and give your customers other
phones, and we'll pay for it, because this is our fault."
As someone that works in IT, you may be familiar with this. You may
have customers that are upset that a product that you've provided or
support doesn't work. For example, I can't tell you the number of
times one of my customers (when I was providing IT support) complained
about a bug in Windows or MS Word... and expected ME to fix it. I
wish I could, but it was simply not something I could do. And, no,
Microsoft never came in and took the heat and reimbursed us for our
cost of making these customers happy.
If Verizon is smart, they'll figure out a way to force RIM to
compensate these customers.
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by Tom S. Posted Wed July 15, 2009 @ 11:01 PM
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Actually, most VZW employees have, and love their Storms.
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