I had this whole, VERY LONG, “open letter to Verizon Wireless” started. It outlined five weeks of frustration and being talked down to and given bad information and …. well, I was pissed. It’s been under my skin for a while now, and I’ve been all ready to rip into them.
But why?
I wrote earlier tonight about how stressed I am. I need to admit that I do a lot of that to myself. Yes, I was insulted by the way I was treated, and irritated by the amount of effort I had to put into doing other people’s jobs for them (“yes, actually you can do that.” “No, that doesn’t apply here.” etc.,). And, I have to admit… there’s this part of me that feels like if I just let it go, doing so somehow devalues me even more. Someone should be standing up for me, right? And in the absence of anyone else doing it – I have to.
But, why?
The tension trickles down to affect almost everything I do… and with so much going these days, I don’t need to add to the stress. Not over my cell phone.
And you know what gets lost in it all? The problem was eventually fixed. Yes, I had to deal with a bunch of idiots, invest far more time and energey than I should have to, and hold my ground on several points, but so what? Really, I mean, what exactly did I have to “endure?” Besides, for all I “did” it was ultimately a Verizon Wireless employee who brought closure to the matter.
Joe Wynne, the umpteenth (ninth, actually) Verizon representative I talked with, took the time to listen to the whole sequence of events that had played out over the prior five weeks. When I was done explaining, he asked follow up questions to enhance his understanding of the situation, and without hesitation began trying to help me. Even though he encountered the same potential obstacles that suggested “I don’t think you can do that,” he patiently listened to why I believed we could press on, and he willingly tried the things I wanted to try. When my ideas worked, he was most gratious (“wow, you taught me something I didn’t know about our computer system”). At no point did he suggest I was being unreasonable in what I was asking; in fact, he made it clear that he understood my reasons for looking to make the changes I was.
I realize now that the only part of my “Verizon Wireless” story worth retelling is the part about how Joe Wynne provided me with excellent customer service. To focus on any other part of what happened would demonstrate just how badly my priorities are out of whack.
So I will be writing a letter to Verizon Wireless; however, it will be a summary of the helpfulness of Mr. Wynne sent to Joe’s supervisors to bring to their attention the positive way he represented their company.
Thank you, Joe, I really appreciated your attention to my concerns.
Contributed by: Scott Copperman (Guest Author)
Tags: By Scott Copperman