Pitter Patter of Pink Piddy Paws!

On the 1st day, Cinnkitty got her new phone, spoke to your customer service rep and downloaded ringtones and life was good.

On the 2nd day, Cinnkitty was totally in love with her new Motorola KRAZR K1m Fire and it was good.

On the 3rd day, Cinnkitty wrote to your billing department to ensure her credit was processed for downloading the ring tones and it was good.

On the 4th day, Cinnkitty got an email from your CSR and it was *not* good.
On the 4th day, Cinnkitty replied to your CSR and explained the situation because she knows that Verizon rocks, and it was good.
On the 4th day, Cinnkitty got an email from a *new* CSR who said “So sorry, oh well” and it was *NOT* good.

On the 5th day, Cinnkitty blogged her story for the world to see and wrote to the Executive Appeals -Customer Advocacy, and it was still *NOT* good, but she did feel better for writing it all down.

On the 6th day, having heard nothing from the EA-CA after 24 hours (not even a “hey we got your email” response), Cinnkitty wrote an email and sent it to the 14 HEAD HONCHO’S of Verizon Wireless in their Coporate Headquarters. (thanx to JuanGrande for getting me that info ….I could have found it but DUDE you saved me lots of time!)

And here’s how it went down: NOTE THE SENT TIME of 2:38 PM

From: Cinnkitty - angry, wrathful customer filled with righteous indignation

Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 2:38 PM
To: ‘robert.barish@verizon.com’; ‘william.barr@verizon.com’; ‘william.barr@verizon.com’; ‘maura.c.breen@verizon.com’; ’suleiman.hessami@verizonbusiness.com’; ‘john.p.hoey@verizon.com’; ‘jerry.holland@verizon.com’; ‘robert.e.ingalls.jr@verizon.com’; ‘virginia.p.ruesterholz@verizon.com’; ‘joseph.j.russo@verizon.com’; ‘thomas.j.tauke@verizon.com’; ‘doreen.a.toben@verizon.com’
Subject: Verizon Wirelss Customer Service Issues

<br>
Ladies and Gentlemen: My name is Angry Kitty of BFE state in the South. I have been a loyal Verizon Wireless customer for many, many years and have never failed to promote your company to all of my friends as the best!

Which is why I am so unhappy to find myself forced to email you with my issue and ask for *your* help to right the wrong that your customer service department has done to me.

The gist of my story – One of your customer service representatives gave me information, which later turned out to be incorrect. When I acted on said information, believing her to be telling me truly, I learned that she had been wrong. The two new service reps I tried to deal with informed me “Sorry you were told incorrectly but you still have to pay for the charges.”

This is completely unacceptable to me.

Verizon has always been proud of it’s #1 customer service rating and Verizon should hold itself accountable for the actions of it’s employees – right or wrong.

I hope you will take a moment to read through this information and see for yourself that my situation has been handled in an extremely poor manner.

I am a long time customer, with online bill pay set up that allows you to automatically charge my checking account each month for my payments!

I’m not some slacker who doesn’t pay her bills, calls your customer service and bugs them constantly or requires a lot of attention from your people. I’m normally very low maintenance and happy to simply go along using my phone and letting you withdraw money from my account!
Which is why this situation has me so frustrated. I look forward to hearing from you and having this issue resolved in a manner that not only satisfies both myself as your customer, but you as my provider, and has me singing the praises of Verizon Wireless once more.

Because right now….Verizon is not holding up it’s end of the “#1 customer service” bargain. I have shared my problem with the world via my website.
You can find my full story here.

Ladies and gentlemen, I receive no less than 250 hits per day on my site and since posting my Verizon story, that number has increased drastically.
I would like to be able to tell the world that you have resolved my problem with speed and accuracy.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
Angry Kitty

****Included in this email was a copy of *ALL* the emails I had received, which you can see at the Post: Dear Verizon, why must you lie to me?***

Not long after sending that email (1 hour and 14 minutes to be exact)…I got a response:

From: nelson.g.cohen@verizon.com [mailto:nelson.g.cohen@verizon.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 3:52 PM
To: Angry Kitty
Subject: Wireless issues

Good afternoon Ms. Angry Kitty,

Thank you for your recent email to our Executive Officer’s. I have been asked to respond on their behalf.

I have already sent your complaint to my wireless team with the account number you listed. Please provide me with the wireless telephone number involved and a daytime reach number as well. Although my wireless team should be able to track your wireless account with just the account number, I am not able to access wireless accounts from here. Once you provide me with this information I will ensure that your issues are addressed.

Regards,

Nelson Cohen
Executive Customer Relations
140 West Street
New York, N.Y. 10007
212-321-8463 Voice
212-321 1047 Fax
nelson.g.cohen@verizon.com

Noooo problem Nelson. I sent him my info and in 15 minutes I got a phone call AT MY OFFICE!!!!

Enter - Mr. Pat Loverde.

Mr. Loverde was extremely kind and told me that he was actually located in the Atlanta based Wireless office and while this was *not* his normal job description, he had been asked to handle the situation personally.

Mr. Loverde explained to me that my email to the “Head Honcho’s” had garnered “Quite a Reaction” (his words…) and that even the CEO of Verizon Wireless Mr. Lowell McAdam had become involved (*HE* was not one of the people I emailed….soooo….that means I really *did* ruffle some feathers!). Mr. Loverde had been authorized to do whatever was necessary to ensure I was happy with Verizon Wireless once again.

All I wanted was the credit that I had been told I would get by the original cause of all this Hooplah - Deneisha (sp?). I told Mr. Loverde that I wasn’t trying to scam them or anything and all I thought I was entitled to was 6 credited ringtones.

He was completely apologetic on behalf of Verizon Wireless and he explained to me that there was *NO WAY* they wanted to lose a valuable customer like me, over such a small amount and that he would be happy to credit my account for ALL 9 ringtones!

He then went on to explain that Verizon “used” to allow ringtones to be credited when you upgraded your phone, but due to 3rd party download issues, they had recently changed their policy. He apologize profusely that I had been misinformed in the first place and apologized even more that when I tried to “escalate” the situation via the normal Tier 1 customer service level, I had again been “mis-handled”.

He went on to explain to me that Verizon has a policy called “Greater Empowerment” that allows some “leeway” for it’s employees to make decisions on a case by case basis (hence the 90 days up to 6 months comment from Deneisha) and that after emailing with Sherrlyn, my case should have immediately been handed up the chain to Management Level. The higher up the food chain you go..the higher the levels of discretion they have to make decisions.

Mr. Loverde went on to tell me that he would personally ensure that my account was credited and wanted to know if there was anything else he could do to make up for this experience.

But I was more that satisfied with his attention to my issue and wanted nothing else.

Today —- I checked my online account and saw this:

My Account

Welcome (xxx-xxx-xxxx). View Message Center My Profile

function openWindow(url,name,features) { var xWin = window.open(url,name,features); } Current Balance: $-26.91 Payment Due:07/27/07 l Auto Bill Pay scheduled 08/21/07

Yeppers….. 9 ringtones @ $2.99 each = $26.91

You DONE GOOD Verizon Wireless….. You DONE GOOD!!!

I will happily tell all my friends and family to choose the #1 Wireless Network in the U.S., once again.

And the moral of this story is — Don’t make the Kitty angry!! meow!!!

Now, here’s the thing for any readers out there having problems.
You too…can get your problems solved, but there are some key elements that you must remember.

#1.) Document, document, document!!! - When you speak on the phone with CSR’s always get their name and if possible their direct # or “id #” and keep this handy. Write down what time you talked to them and a brief description of what was discussed!

#2.) Try your best to use email submissions because then you will always be able to refer back to the emails and you will be able to provide them to anyone that you are having to deal with!!

#3.) Give the Level 1 tech support a chance. They aren’t the enemy, so be nice to them. It’s not usually their fault!  BE NICE!!!! (until it’s time to not be nice….)

#4.) Don’t have a history of pestering customer service for stuff. This will hurt your credibility when making any serious complaints.

#5.) DO have a good account history and up to date payments made. If you are not paying your bills or have a bad payment history, why should they work extra to help you when you’ve shown them you are “shaky” as a customer, to begin with.

#6.) BE POLITE - BUT BE FIRM!!! Don’t ask for the sun, moon and stars. Just ask for what you were supposed to get in the first place. In this case — I asked for just the 6 ringtones….and it was Mr. Loverde who gave me all 9. But I *never* asked for all 9!
In the case of Alienware…I only asked that they replace my keyboard..and they went one step further and sent the technician to my office to do it.

Always be polite, but be firm.

#7.) BE CLEAR - meaning, tell them what the issue is, and let them know that YOU want to resolve this so that you can continue to be a happy customer of theirs. Most companies don’t want to lose good customers (see # 4 & #5) so they will work with you to reach a mutually satisfying solution.

#8.) Use the power of the Internet!!! That’s right! Put your story out there for everyone to read and make sure that the company KNOWS that it is out there. But also let the company know that you will happily tell the world how great they are if they resolve your issue quickly and to your reasonable satisfaction. (reasonable people…reasonable!)

#9.) Be prepared to contact the Better Business Bureau and file a formal complaint. You’ll need your documentation for this.

#10.) Seriously..I can’t stress this enough…you have to have a VALID complaint. It can’t be “oh they are just charging me too much so they can make money” or anything like that. You *must* have a valid complaint against the company.

In both of my cases - I had been completely misinformed by customer service reps!

This is a very, very valid reason to “take it to the Mattress“.

If you’ve been given the run around by the lower level folks… it’s time to kick it up several notches.

Hence, I go straight to the top!

The “Powers that Be” at any company DO NOT want to get the kind of email that they got from me.

And when they do…….all HELL usually breaks loose because there has obviously been a serious breakdown in the lower levels of their service department for them to now be involved in one little customers issue!

NO Head Honcho wants to see that something in their company has gone so wrong that “they” are now involved.

Soooooo……there you go!

Once I went to DEF-CON #10…..my issue was resolved within 2 hours.

THAT is GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!!!!