Verizon Wireless--Friends and Family. You'll be pleased...

C

chandu

New member
Kttmf, we have had a discussion about "locked devices" or devices that are restricted to using only Verizon's products and services.

Well, I emailed Verizon Wireless (a week ago) about how they have a very limited selection of devices that can do more than what they want them to. I listed everything wrong with their devices. I also pointed out that very very few devices have the EV-DO rev. A feature available. EV-DO rev. A is available nationwide, but the phones rarely support it.

Here is the response I got about a week later (today):
 
My complaint is that I am on the Nationwide family plan and paying $99.99. If I go to the 1400 minute select plan it will cost me $114.99/month. I need the unlimited text messaging for my daughter. I am a single Dad and I can't afford to keep paying more. T-mobile starts their My Faves family plans at 400 minutes. In other words, I would be paying for the Friends and Family with Verizon. If I din't have to have unlimited text messaging, I would switch to the basic 1400 plan. If I add unlimited text messaging to the 1400 select plan I would be at the $114.99/month. I am saying that the people paying $99.99 for their family plan should be able to get the Friends and Family.
 
Keep in mind that as Alltel customers begin to merge and get upset with the Verizon offering, Verizon will begin to reconsider. As it changing, maybe maybe not.
 
This just doesnt do anything for me. The extra mins I would have to purchase to be able to get the 10 peeps added would not add any value to the plan for the money, considering what I have now.
 
Well, I recently e-mailed Verizon through their website. Here is the e-mail I sent to them:

Secondary Subject: Family Share Calling Plans

Message Body: I have been a Verizon customer for 10 years. Recently you came out with the Friends & Family plans. You first had that you needed to spend $89.99/month to qualify for the plan. I spend $99.99/month and I am not able to get the plan because I don't have enough minutes. To me, this is ridiculous! I am spending $10.00 a month more and can't get Family & Friends because you want me to spend more money with you and get the 1400 minute plan. I need the unlimited text messaging, which is over priced itself by $10.00/month. I have 10 friends that looked at Verizon and went elsewhere because of the fact that your unlimited text messaging is $10.00/month more. Your customer service people say that Verizon tries to stay competitive in pricing. That is about as far from the truth as anything could be. If you were being competitive, you would start offering the Family & Friends plans to the 700 minute people. Competitive means you look at T-Mobile and see that they start their My Faves Family plans at 400 minutes. Your CS people peole are making me sick with the phrase,"you know we have the best network around". Have you seen the shape of the economy. More now than ever, people are shopping price over quality. I am a single Dad and can't afford to pay more. I just renewed my plan with you and at the time I felt like you cared more about new customers than the ones that had been with you for a long time and still feel that way today. New people can get phones a lot cheaper than us. T-mobile offers discounts to customers who have been with them more than 5 years and have always had the best pricing around. All you need to do is look at T-mobile pricing and see that you are not even close to being competitive. I always come up short on any of the promotions you have because I don't spend enough money with you. I spend $2700 every 2 years with you and you still say I don't spend enough. PLEASE CALL ME. I WOULD RATHER TALK TO YOU ABOUT THIS OVER THE PHONE.
Now here is the response from Verizon:

Dear Brad,

Good afternoon, my name is ******. Thanks for taking the time to speak to me and I understand your concerns about the costs of the plan.



I will definitely pass along your concerns and suggestions for the marketing team about our business practices and pricing points. Also your plan and features are the best for your usage without causing excess overage.



We appreciate your business and thank you for using Verizon Wireless products and services. Should you have additional questions or concerns, please reply to this e-mail.



Sincerely,



*********

Verizon Wireless

Customer Service

I was very surprised to also get a phone call from Verizon today on my lunch hour. ***** was the one that called. She wanted me to go over all the points in my e-mail to them. She responded to each one. I explained that I was on this site and many people are not happy with how much we are getting charged for certain things and her response to most things was that "You know, we have the best network around". I told her that was the very phrase I was very tired of. She told me because of their network, text messaging was better than other networks and that is the reason for the price. I explained to her that it had more to do with the cell phone more than the network and I could prove it. I told her my daughter had a Razr V3m before her phone now which is a LG env2. I explained that with the Razr she had many problems sending and receiving text messages. We called CS on many occasions and did upgrades when available. Nothing worked. We finally got the LG phones and have never had a problem yet. She was silent for a minute. I told her I was not there to cause problems. She understood. She said she would take my concerns to the marketing department. I was not convinced that she would. I hope I am surprised again. More of you need to send e-mails via their website and also ask that they call you. A lot of times you can get your message across a lot better by talking on the phone. I think that the more of you that do this, things just might change. Good luck.
 
I am very pleased by how you have taken this to Verizon Wireless...GREAT!

As a hint, if you just enter a "daytime telephone number" in the field they provide on the form to send them a message, they will always call you back soon.

I have received multiple calls from them about my emails, and I get the same generic response. I am certain that your views get forwarded. They do take customer's opinions seriously, they just don't act on them like they should.

Keep the emails flowing, it's sure to work out in the end (I hope :flamemad:)
 
Im not sure about the "text messaging was better than other networks and that is the reason for the price", how is it better on this network than others. They all use the same method to send text, how can verizon be better?
 
Speed of received and delivered as well as the network available to send it.

Verizon Wireless has proven they have a bigger and better network. Everyone knows it...so they always will use it as an excuse to charge more.

The speed of messaging is actually determined by the fact they use CDMA technology. CDMA is a faster network when it comes to texting. This also means Sprint PCS has the same texting speeds (depending on available coverage). GSM carriers, like AT&T, struggle in this department.
 
And so does Alltel. I can send a text message to someone standing next to me and they receive it instantly. I also receive numerous texts from MySpace and Facebook which also arrive instantly from the time they are sent (I know this because I also receive the notification emails the same instant as I receive the texts). It's unbelievable to me how fast texting is with Alltel.

It just drives me nuts when a company (Verizon) claims their texting service is better than everyone else's hoping the person they say that to has no clue how cell phone service works.

The more I read about Verizon and all their high prices, the more I wish I had a choice other than Sprint (been there, done that and will never go back to them) as far as good coverage around here. If AT&T were an option (no coverage here yet), I'd go for that in a heartbeat.
 
First, let me say I am in complete agreement that VZW is overpriced.
That said, what is overpriced?
Companies price according to what the market will bear and VZW has been very successful with there existing pricing strategy.
It may have some impact if there is a huge response of discontent from existing users, but until they see real customer loss and reduced rates of new customers signing, they have no real incentive to cut prices.
I'm a customer because I've already tried several others and now I don't get dropped calls all over the place. The bigger network does cost more money, maybe not enough to truly justify the prices, but enough people can afford to pay for that value to keep them in business I guess.
I have 5 phones on the Family plan and cannot afford to add unlimited texting. Is it annoyong, you bet. But it is a balance of cost vs. service provided and it still works best for me.
There is no perfect plan and never will be, because that would require free phones with unlimited minutes/messaging/internet and a consistent quality connection at $0.00 per month.
Our job as consumers is to get as close to that as possible.

p.s. Apple does the same thing and the death of Apple has been predicted more times and for longer than any other existing company.
 
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