Verizon Customer Service Competence

[Annette]

It has been hit or miss with getting a knowledgeable Verizon rep on the
phone who could help with accessibility issues whether with the LG I once
had, or with my Q.  However, the reps in my local store have been willing to
look into things for me and to extend the trial period from 2 weeks to 30
days so that I could have time to test the phone with Mobile Speaks.  

I have no experience with braille anything from Verizon, but after much
effort on my part, I finally got a manual on disk for my LG.  

On a down side with Verizon, I am yet to get the form that I need to
complete to get free directory assistance as an accommodation for my visual
impairment.  I've attempted 4 times, and have been told each time that they
would put the form in the mail and then call me back in a week to ensure
that I got the form and to answer any additional questions I have.  I've
never gotten a form or a call back.

I am pleased with Verizon coverage as I live in the DC area and our metro
rail system has Verizon antennas integrated into the tunnel system, and my
new office building has the same.

Happy Holidays!
Annette


-----Original Message-----
From: blindphones-bounces at mosenexplosion.com
[mailto:blindphones-bounces at mosenexplosion.com] On Behalf Of Kane Brolin
Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2007 12:04 PM
To: The Accessible Phones Discussion List
Subject: Re: Verizon Customer Service Competence

Hi, guys.  I've changed the thread of this message so it's more relevant to
the topic at hand, since this has been a deep interest of mine as well.

I too am a Verizon customer, and I am finding that Verizon under the right
circumstances (especially through the use of a PDA) is accessible.  But I
did not realize this for years, until discovering MobileSpeak and this list.
I too find that Verizon customer service reps could use a lot more knowledge
when it comes to options for blind users; but they are better by far than
some other companies, especially T-mobile, in terms of practicing goodwill
and trying to solve a problem.
I found T-mobile representatives to be unmotivated and essentially powerless
to do anything to redress the customer.  At least Verizon reps try to act
sensitive to different circumstances.  But they need to be taught a lot more
about what accessible devices are, what they can do, and what we as blind
phone users would want.  The only things they seem to know about are those
few LG models that have limited speech output accessibility.  To my
knowledge, never has a Verizon rep or Verizon Web site ever mentioned that a
Treo, Motorola Q, or other PDA running Windows Mobile can also be made fully
accessible.

I have to say that AT&T (formerly Cingular) seems to have by far the most
knowledge of accessibility insofar as standard phones are concerned.  But
their fundamental phone coverage is so poor in my area that I never
seriously considered going with AT&T.

As for Braille hardware manuals, Noe, I don't know about those either.
 But Verizon will send Braille bills, and customer service reps have told me
about those.

-Kane

On 12/22/07, Noe Villeda <nvilled1 at tampabay.rr.com> wrote:
> Hi Kelly,
>
> I've found my service with Verizon Wireless to be less than satisfactory.
> Their customer service representatives are barely trained, let alone 
> when it comes to anything dealing with accessibility.
> When I mentioned needing a Braille manual, the person had no idea 
> where to even begin to find the answer, the number that's listed for 
> LG on their website is no longer a working number.
>
> Noe
>
>
> You received this message because you subscribed to the Accessible 
> Phones Discussion List.
>
> If you don't want to receive messages from this list anymore, just 
> send a blank e-mail to:
> blindphones-unsubscribe at mosenexplosion.com
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