For today, this 14th day of April in the year 2006 of the Common Era, Verizon Wireless has finally given me my goddamn deposit back. (I was young, my credit was new [not bad, dammit!], I foolishly thought I'd get it back promptly.)
It took three years of calling, faxing, emailing, and leashing a massive, unredirectable rage, BUT I DID IT. After biting my tongue in an effort at civility that became more difficult every time I called--because, of course, I could never speak to the same person twice, and any new rep with whom I was speaking could not justly be punished for the indifference/rudeness/incompetence of his or her predecessor--I finally managed to find a customer service rep who actually
a. Gives his real name and extension
b. Wants to solve problems
c. Follows up with others in his company
d. Calls back to update customers on his progress
It was a revelation. I do not know this man. I have never seen his face. We will never meet. And the only things we talked about were proofs of payment and cell phones. But all the same, I WILL LOVE HIM UNTIL MY DYING DAY.
By way of contrast:
Another rep told me to fax something to her attention and to expect a call from her the following Monday. The following Wednesday, I called her to ask what was going on, and could not be connected with her. When I asked if my fax had been received, this new person told me that unless my intended recipient was within yelling distance at the exact moment the fax was received, it would probably be tossed--that the volume of incoming faxes was so high that faxes weren't, say, put into people's inboxes or otherwise retained. Either this is true and they have the worst customer service system on earth, or it isn't true, and their reps lie, and they have the worst customer service system on earth. I wish I were making this shit up.
Anyway. Yes. Three years of frustration like that, of starting from scratch every time I called, of feeling angry every time I saw the Verizon logo--which was, you know, every time I used my phone, not to mention every time I went over the Manhattan Bridge on the train or turned on my TV. It was a lot of work to control the rage, but I did it; I was firm and tenacious but I was not rude to anyone. I'm proud of that. And now I'm finally free of it altogether. It's a great relief.
ADAIR: 1
The Man: 0