Here we go again

[johnriii]

I just want to say that this post made my day. I personally think that most of the people on Android Central are more educated phone users, and so don't really apply to anything that I say in this post. As most of us are in some way nerds, I'm sure you will all be familiar with the infamous ID-10-T error?

While, yes, there are some phones that are legitimately bad (Storm 1?!?), but I hear people all the time that never had problems with them. I myself have only ever received one (1) warranty replacement with having Verizon smartphones for 8 years now, and have only been working for Verizon for 6 years.

Why is that, you ask? Because any time I get a new phone, I actually take time to learn about what I am doing on the phone. While most people have no need to get into the depth I do, it literally would take anyone a week or two to be proficient on the basic operation of a smartphone. How many smartphone users actually do that? Maybe 15%, and about 95% of that 15% are on sites like AC.

Now, here's the truth for all of you that pull the whole "Verizon gives free phones because they have good customer service" card: Good customer service would be taking the time to educate customer on proper phone usage before they walk out of the store with it. What actually happens? Most stores shove you out of the door as soon as the sale is done. Not that most store reps could really teach you anything, as they have only been taught how to SELL the phone, not how it works.

And now 85% of those smartphone owners will never know how to use their phone.

Then many of those people call in to Tech Support angry because this expensive new piece of hardware is not working because they did something bad. Now, who wants to be told they did something wrong? No one, and so they get more angry when the rare knowledgeable rep tells them the true root of the problem, and I can personally say I would hate to have to sit on the phone and be yelled at by some one upset because they feel their cell phone humiliated them, and thus, indirectly, Verizon. Many people working in call centers tend to want to avoid that confrontation, as would most people in general. Instead, Tech Support reps offer alternate warranty replacements and upgrades all the time because it shuts the customer up and makes them happy. Happy until the portion of still-uneducated customers manage to mess up the next phone, and the next phone. So, please, explain to me how taking the easy way out and giving the customer another phone just to shut them up, but not fix anything by educating *if* that is the actual cause, good for the customer or Verizon?

Bear in mind, this is not 100% of all problems encountered with smartphones. Probably about 40% of encountered problems are user error.

This is the most telling fact of all: I read the logistics reports ran by our CRW (central returns warehouse) at New Breed for potential emerging legitimate software issues, and 65% (SIXTY-FIVE!) of smartphone returns are reported as NTF (no trouble found). That's smartphones in general. Android-specific? Yeah, that's 80% reported NTF. While my department estimates New Breed has about a 3% "miss" rate (meaning they missed a legitimate problem that was there), you can still translate that to 63% and 77%, respectively.

Now, tell me how that almost 8 out of every 10 warranty returns of Android phones are actually NOT defective?

Now, mind you, I can not and will not blame the customer for that mess. It's two-fold:

1) A large portion of our staff is effective smartphone OS illiterate. While this is slowly improving, I still have the expectation that our agents should be AHEAD of the curve, not behind. Ask 5 reps why iOS runs smoother on lower-quality hardware than Android (iPhone 3GS versus LG Ally, for example), and ask them to be specific. You will get 5 different answers, and only one will be 100% informed.

2) Our call centers have bred a bipolar staff of apathetic, stressed out, underpaid, and under appreciated employees. It sickens me the lack of appreciation they get in the internal Verizon call centers, but even more so in the outsource centers. I do not know if you all knew this, but the outsource Verizon call center is paid only for calls lasting under a certain amount of time, are under-trained with high attrition rates, and so the employees are pressured into lowering their calls times with little knowledge of what they are doing. They are given tools to use, and told those tools solve everything. They don't.

Imagine you have never seen a car before. Now you are handed a crescent wrench and a single Chilton's manual (maybe for the right car, maybe not), to which you are informed will be everything you need to fix that car. That is the environment our call centers are breeding. I had to call Tech Support once to report a network outage while I was on vacation. I spent two hours talking to that agent and her entire team on speakerphone giving them in impromptu Android class because I felt so bad for them.

But, hey, some of you have gone years without paying for a phone. *claps* Good for us! That means we have good customer service! *sarcasm*

Very good points, going into my 5th month with my Tbolt, and still "learning" how to use it. my wife, on the other hand, relies on me to do things like set her alarm, change her themes (go launcher) and set up music on her Tbolt. I would say the huge majority of people haven't a clue how to do basic stuff with their phones, other than talk and update facebook. I watch at least 2-3 hours of netflix weekly on my phone, take oodles of pics and video, play multiple games, and use the GPS feature. I get PLENTY of good use out of my phone, and think it's a great, great investment. Verizon's customer service could be better, but what major company out there can't improve THAT dynamic of their company??? I work for UPS call center and work part time at walmart, two of the most profitable companies in the U.S. what ONE thing burns your butt at walmart 75% of the time? lack of people to help you when you need it.

i think Verizon is at least "average" in their customer service, (at least over the phones, lets not talk about in the stores....). I knew specs of four of the phones that 4 different Verizon reps didn't. I was amazed that I could know their own products better than they did. overall, I will stick with Verizon, cuz I hear and read about the CS of the other companies.

 

[Effenhimer]

Well the Glide was the only phone I've had to replace more than once, and that was due to the touch screen not responding twice, and the hinges of the slider disintegrating and the two pieces coming apart from each other once, and then one time before that one, my Moto Q had the usb port fall out of the phone once. The Moto Q they replaced as it was a common problem, no questions asked, and the Glide(s) after they brought the 3rd replacement in the back office to "repair", after about a minute they brought out an Env2 and said they recalled and discontinued the Glide, and that I had to take the Env2 or buy a new phone. Now my Droid1, and my Thunderbolt, rooted to the teeth in both cases, never had a problem... But I know other people who did and they weren't just "couldn't work the phone right" problems. I already know I keep better tabs on mobile tech than most mobile sales people, so other than buying the phone I've already been keeping up on, I never count on them other than to replace a defective handset without having to wait for the mail.