Today I received a call from Verizon. They wanted to help me save money. Since saving money is always a good deal, I decided I'd talk to them (even though I figured they really wanted to sell me something).
So they proceeded to look at my service records and offer me the Freedom Essentials plan for only $49.99. This sounded like a good deal to me, so I asked how much I was currently paying. Turns out Mr. Victor Allen couldn't tell me that, he didn't have access to that information. All he could see was that I have a different vendor for my regional long distance and a third vendor for my out of state long distance.
True, I told him, the reason was that Verizon didn't offer a regional long distance so I used my cell phone for all long distance.
Realizing that he was quickly losing a sale, Mr. Allen asked if I had a computer. Yes, I said and he quickly offered me DSL service for only $19.99. I asked if they really had DSL service in my area, because they hadn't had it in the past. After checking, Mr. Allen was disappointed to find out that it was not an option.
So, if you're going to call me to sell me something, I have two suggestions: 1) Know what service you're giving me today and what it costs {especially if you claim to save me money} and 2) Know what services actually are available BEFORE you offer them to me.
7 comments:
Wow. Talk about putting the cart before the horse. Poor guy.
I am ashamed to say I worked as a telemarketer for a couple weeks in college. Now, I worked for a company that was specifically a telemarketing company, selling products such as cable and credit cards for other companies. So, I barely knew what I was selling; they told us about 5 minutes before, and I just went off the script. My point being, I'm not surprised the guy had no idea what was going on.
Chance, you make a good point. I should have said that I don't fault the salesperson. He had his 5 minutes of training and he's doing a job, (hopefully) paying his taxes and supporting his family.
In this case, Verizon marketing needs to take another look at their business model. And Mr. Allen needs to find a job with a future...
I found this blog searching "Freedom Essentials"... I switched to digital phone service through my cable company several months ago... but I still have a fax line through Verizon... It's a very strange deal. Ever since I made the switch I still get a monthly bill from Verizon for my fax number... I get the "Freedom Essentials Credit ($15) and a "Freedom Value Credit" ($20)... I have no idea why I get these credits... but since my monthly bill including taxes only adds up to $30.98 and they give me the credit of $35 each month I have a negative balance of just over $4... every month. My credit balance is now up to $70.56... (A better return than my IRA)... and according to the bill I will be getting the "Freedom Essentials Credit" and "Freedom Value Credit" until Sept. 13, 2011.
Johnny Dollar,
I am in a very similar situation.
I have local phone service for $20/month and 1 Mbps DSL for an additional $20/month, but then they give me two credits of $10 each for "Freedom Essentials" making my total about $30 after taxes.
I want to upgrade to 3 Mbps DSL, but I'm afraid to lose my credit and I don't want to ask a rep about it. I've been getting this credit for a while now and according to the bill, I'll keep getting it well into 2013.
This Verizon Freedom Essentials is a joke.Verizon loves ripping people off big time.I'm from Pa and they are charging me $73.26 for my service I was paying $84.00 so I told them that I can't afford this big bill every month that I need to drop down to just a normal kind of service with long distance and caller I'd and they told me no that I can't do that.My poor dad is 83 and they are charging him even more than me,this is highway robbery if you ask me.We have to pay all this money just to have a house phone with no internet or cable with it??? if I had the extra money I would sue the pants off of this crooked company if I could.How can everybody be paying different prices for the same service?? Me and my dad are ready to shut our home phones off and just use our cell phones,hell we would be saving almost $80.00 a month each...
Darla, I'm glad you found my blog and commented. I hope you get your Verizon problems resolved. You might try posting on Facebook and include a hashtag #verizon on #verizonfail. I've found comments like that get attention. Good luck
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