The sorry state of Verizon today
A Verizon rep admits to a customer that his manager forces him to pad price quotes with unrequested items.
Verizon is in disrepair | Image by PhoneArena
At one time, Verizon was considered the gold standard of the "Big 4" U.S. carriers (at the time, Sprint was still around). Its signals covered more ground than the competition, and it offered the fastest data speeds. Verizon also was the most expensive carrier by far, but many consumers didn't care about paying up for the peace-of-mind of knowing that calls to and from family could always get through.
Based on the number of wireless connections, Verizon's lead over T-Mobile is paper-thin
Eventually, T-Mobile, under former CEO John Legere, became the Un-carrier and just about matched Verizon's reach, reliability, and speed. T-Mobile even made an ad about this that showed a rugged guy getting out of his truck to say, "For years, everyone thought that Verizon had the best network because they did. But now, the best mobile network in the US is T-Mobile."
The carrier's executives had a high-level meeting following the release of a story PhoneArena broke first
Verizon is still the nation's largest carrier, but its lead over T-Mobile has dropped to a paper-thin 4.4 million wireless connections. Verizon recently had to deal with bad publicity thanks to a story that PhoneArena covered first on May 31. A Verizon rep took to social media to reveal that reps are being told to push every item to every customer who enters a Verizon store, regardless of why they came through the doors.
What should Verizon do first to fix itself?
Even if someone walked into a Verizon store to pay a bill, a rep is supposed to show him a multitude of products including a new line, tablet or watch, home internet, four perks, and insurance on everything. Reps that fail to do this could be written up.
After The Street.com, a Wall Street-oriented blog, covered the same story a few days later on June 3, Verizon executives reportedly held a high-level meeting discussing whether the company should continue to force its sales team to meet certain performance goals called metrics. By reducing or dropping the metrics, Verizon hopes to improve employee morale and end the long waits inside Verizon stores.
Metrics, not money, are the root of all evil
We've been advocating for the end of metrics throughout the entire industry since they place too much pressure on reps. Since their jobs are in jeopardy if they don't meet the performance goals, reps have an incentive to rip off customers by adding unrequested items onto their invoices without consent. This issue, known as "cramming," is an epidemic affecting customers of the "Big 3" and would probably be less of a problem if these companies would drop the metrics and find other ways to measure the performance of their sales reps.
You can't blame wireless customers for wondering what booby trap they will face the next time they enter a retail location belonging to their wireless provider. For example, a man and his wife visited a Verizon corporate store (avoiding the reseller stores on purpose because of their lousy reputations). He told the rep he is assigned to that he wanted to switch his three lines from AT&T to Verizon.
The rep put together a quote that included a number of extras that the customer didn't ask for including a protection plan, Netflix, and other items that added $120 per month to the bill. The customer made it clear to the Verizon salesman that all he wanted were the phones and the lines. The rep's response sums up what is wrong with the carriers today.
Verizon rep admits that his manager makes him add unrequested items to customers' quotes
The Verizon rep told the customer that his manager forces him to add those unwanted items to these quotes and that as a result, he was not allowed to offer the customer any other option. So once again, the customer explained that he wants the new phones, the lines, and nothing else.
It's standard in our territory for all reps to do this. Even if they can't find something that makes sense. Attachment rates must be maintained or else the whips come out. There is a lot more pressure from the top this year than any other year.
You should have told them you would only do it if you received some kind of bonus like a closing credit or activation fee waiver. Then just remove the extras yourself when you get to the car. It takes about a minute to remove them.
You should have told them you would only do it if you received some kind of bonus like a closing credit or activation fee waiver. Then just remove the extras yourself when you get to the car. It takes about a minute to remove them.
No-Complex-, Reddit subscriber and Verizon rep
The rep gets the manager involved who tells the customer that the salesman was incorrect, and the price can be lowered. But as they proceed to sit down at a table and go over everything, the rep is on his phone, swiping on Instagram, not a care in the world.
The customer, exasperated by the entire incident, states that he is no longer interested and walks out of the store.
Will new CEO Schulman ever deliver the "delight" he said he would give Verizon customers?
This is how things are done today in the wireless industry. Metrics and greed drive the bad behavior that takes place and customers no longer trust a company like Verizon. CEO Dan Schulman said when he took over the top executive spot that he would transform Verizon to delight customers and give them end-to-end service that would be hard for competitors to imitate.
Verizon CEO Dan Schulman said he intended to delight customers. | Image by Verizon
Stories like this make me wonder when Schulman intends to start delighting customers. Besides hearing about incidents like this, as a 20-year Verizon subscriber, I personally have seen nothing that has delighted me since Schulman took over last October.
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