i went corporate on their butts

reader beware. this is a long post!

i'm going to share a story, or rather an email, with you today here on my blog.

first, here is a little background information that is good to know before you read my story - for the last four months, i've been dealing with various verizon wireless representatives over the phone trying to get a $100 gift card for a phone i traded in as participation in their trade-in program. now, four months is too long - don't you think? especially when it was only supposed to take 3 weeks. so this week i had enough!

i was going corporate!

after a quick search online, where i googled "verizon wireless corporate email", i found a nice list of about 15-20 names to various people in charge of different departments at verizon. score! I chose the ones that sounded most pertinent to my situation... it went out to 6 corporate headies.

the email subject line read "one small crack can take down an entire empire..." a little dramatic, but i was upset and now i was about to get the job done! bitches be crazy!

.............................begin email.............................

Dear Verizon Wireless Corporate Employees,

My name is Jessica Krumenacker. And up until about a few months ago, I loved everything about Verizon Wireless. Let me tell you my story... It's long, but please read this.

A few months ago, more like 4 months ago, I participated in the Trade-In program. I traded in my LG Dare and bought a new iPhone. I received an email on September 16th stating that my phone had appraised for the $100 and that I should receive my gift card in the mail within 3 weeks.

3 weeks passed and I had not received my gift card. Eventually, on October 25th, I called about it. The representative with whom I spoke to had the gift card reissued. Another 3+ weeks goes by and I still had not received anything from Verizon resembling a $100 gift card - Nothing. So, on November 29th, I called again. I was told to wait till the end of the week to see if it would arrive, but it didn't. So, on December 7th, I called again. This time the nice woman on the phone tapped us in to Customer Care. The result of that conversation was that my case would be escalated in request for a credit to my account for the $100. I was told that I would get a text/contact from the authorities that be at Verizon within 24-48 hours on whether or not the credit would be approved. 24-48 hours had passed and I had heard nothing from Verizon, so I called again. I was told that the credit request was denied and that the ONLY THING THEY COULD DO was try to resend the gift card a third (and final) time. I asked what would happen if I still did not receive the card, since this is the FINAL try... The representative said that at that point someone higher up would have to step in and handle it - like - whether or not they would bother sending another one. At this point, I gave them a different address (my work address) to try. Just in the case that something was goofy with my home residence. I sort of felt a bit a faith that this time I would get the card... But no. I still have not received the gift card...

I called last week on January 11th. The person said that my card was sent to the shipping facilities on the December 20th and was shipped from there on January 9th to me and that it should arrive on the 17th. I'm not sure where all of these cards are going, but I certainly have not received it. So of course, I called again yesterday. I wanted to speak to a supervisor. I was told there were none available and that all that could be done was to have my case escalated and that someone would contact me within 24-48 hours. I've been there, done that. No one called me. I called back a little later to see if I could speak to a supervisor. The gentleman on the phone said that he was the highest authority available and that all he could do was escalate my case. No thank you. I asked when a supervisor would be available to talk to. He gave me the run around and eventually told me that they cannot just let everyone and anyone speak to a supervisor when they want. If they did that then it would be overwhelming for the supervisors...

I'm sorry. At this point, I am not just anyone, and I certainly hope that I am not an example of everyone, unless it is common for your customers to be waiting for over 4 months for something that should have arrived in 3 weeks. If I am, that means that there is a serious problem with your Trade-In Program. I did manage to find some posts in the Verizon Community where people are going through the exact situation as me. You can read them yourselves here:

https://community.verizonwireless.com/thread/766487
https://community.verizonwireless.com/thread/751960
https://community.verizonwireless.com/thread/767040

If I would have known there were going to be such issues attaining this gift card, I would have just held on to my old phone to keep as a spare. I am very sorry to have to search out, and use corporate emails of people who are surely busy with other company happenings, but this appears to be an issue and I am not alone. I am one person, of however many more out there, struggling to continue to enjoy being a Verizon Wireless customer. I really just want to be able to speak to someone who can and will help.

JESSICA F. KRUMENACKER
Designer by Day • Artist at Heart

[e] jfkrumenacker@gmail.com
[w] www.jessicakrumenacker.com

.............................end email.............................

i sent this email yesterday. and today, i got a phone call. the guy's name was tad johnson or somthing or other... i can't remember. i know he wasn't one of the headies i emailed. but he was from verizon corporate and he somehow had the privilege of reading my email.

he took care of the problem by crediting my account $100. whoo hoo! mission accomplished! i feel good now! now get this - he then proceeded to tell me that, when the $100 gift card i am waiting for actually does arrive, to go ahead and use it. like - in addition to my fabulously instant credit he just gave me. excuse me for a moment...

hahahahahahhahahahahahahha! i doubt that thing will ever arrive anywhere near my mailbox. wait. let me laugh some more.

hahahahahahahahahahahhaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

for some reason they all have this illusion over there and that these gift cards i've been calling about are going to actually arrive in my mailbox. it's been 4 months and i have not received any of them! not one. i would have like 3-4 by now if they ever did arrive. silly verizon people. i would put money on it that they never do arrive - ever. but if they do, i now have the go-ahead to use the last one issued. great. thanks. but not going to happen.

.................jfk................