yoderized

How many calls to customer service and tech support does it take to get an answer to a question? Apparently 7 times.

Well it all started when I finally got a cell phone. Now that I’m going to college, my parents finally said I could get one, whereas previously I wasn’t allowed because it wasn’t necessary. So I got added onto the family plan. I expressed the need to have a text messaging plan. They said it was okay, but that I had to pay for that myself. I got the $10 monthly unlimited IN txt pix flix messaging (to Verizon customers) and 500 additional messages to people with other carriers.

I had sent and received a bunch of picture and video messages before I finally read documentation that said that there was an airtime charge to send and receive pictures or videos. This fine print was still very vague on exactly the charges and when they apply. After I had sent and received a bunch I checked airtime usage on my account. It didn’t show up. Immediately I was completely confused and called *611 for help.

The guy I talked to told me that there is a KB charge for data sent over the network - 1.5 cents per KB. He said this was for both a PDA and a standard voice phone. I about flipped. I didn’t like the answer he gave me, so I called again.

The next guy I talked to told me that there is absolutely no charge of data or airtime at all since I have a messaging plan. I liked that answer much better, but it was too hard to believe. I called back again.

The girl I talked to told me that there is an airtime charge to send and receive and that it deducts from my plan even on a night or a weekend. Didn’t like that answer either.

I was frustrated so I didn’t call back again until the next day. I was told that there is an airtime charge only during peak hours. When I told the guy that nothing has showed up on my usage, he couldn’t figure out why not. He preceded to tell me that they must have changed it and that there is no more airtime charge.

I thought this was completely ridiculous. I just wanted an answer that was right. I called a couple more times and got another 1.5 cents a KB data answer and I got another airtime answer. The difference is that this airtime answer said airtime didn’t apply to IN messages.

Well I’m glad to say that on my last call I finally got a competent employee who actually knew her stuff. She told me that there was an airtime charge to send and receive picture and video. During nights and weekends airtime applies to night and weekend times. I said that I wasn’t getting charged airtime and she quickly found the reason. I have a service called VPak which I got free for a month. It is normally a $15 a month. VPak gets me V CAST Video, V CAST Music, and Mobile Web. The best part of the VPak package is that I get access to those three things plus Get it Now all airtime free. I am able to browse the internet, browse get it now, and V CAST for however long I want and it is all airtime free as long as I have the VPak package. Well apparently I was unaware that as long as I have VPak that ALL data calls are airtime free including PIX and FLIX. So I finally got my answer.

Airtime charge for PIX and FLIX unless you have VPak. Nights and Weekends are free. They should just come out and say that instead of making confusing fine print that employees don’t even understand. End of rant. I still love Verizon.