Verizon reps are fighting their own AI and your bill might be caught in the crossfire
The company's Personal Shopper tool is slipping in extra add-ons and reps say they are struggling to stop it.
AI is showing up everywhere these days and Verizon is no exception. But while the tech is supposed to make things easier, many Verizon reps are saying it's doing the opposite. Just recently, we covered how employees aren't too happy with the company's AI tools.
Now, even more are speaking out, especially about one tool in particular: Personal Shopper. It's supposed to save time, but instead, it's adding stuff customers didn't ask for – which, of course, means higher bills.
The worst part? Even when reps try to fix it, the system won't let them remove those add-ons – at least not until the billing cycle ends. And this issue isn't isolated. Personal Shopper recently rolled out to Verizon's indirect reps and that is when more of these problems started surfacing.
Now, here is the irony: when Verizon first introduced Personal Shopper and its sibling AI, Problem Solver, the company said it helped cut down transaction times by three minutes. In real-world use, though? Doesn't seem to be holding up.
Honestly, none of this is surprising if you have been following the fast-paced rise of AI. These tools often don't live up to the hype and they are almost always met with pushback – partly because they can't truly replicate humans and partly because they usually mean fewer jobs.
As more employees file support tickets and flag the tool's problems, hopefully Verizon starts paying attention. Because a rushed rep trying to dodge AI errors definitely isn't a win for the customer. So next time you are working with a Verizon rep, maybe give them a little extra time – they might be dealing with more tech than they'd like.
Right now, Verizon employees are basically stuck with the system. Some have found small workarounds, but it is far from ideal. And as AI continues creeping into every corner of daily life, we are probably going to hear even more stories like this – not just from Verizon, but from other carriers too.
T-Mobile, for example, uses AI as well. Its PromoGenius app helps customer service reps quickly find info on deals, discounts, and trade-ins. And with plans to expand AI across more of its operations, don't be surprised if similar complaints start popping up from T-Mobile reps, too.
Now, even more are speaking out, especially about one tool in particular: Personal Shopper. It's supposed to save time, but instead, it's adding stuff customers didn't ask for – which, of course, means higher bills.
PSA for Customers. Verizon announced this new thing called "Personal Shopper" its a AI that forces garbage down your throat, including Perks, Plan Changes, Device Protection, Home Device Protection.Basically if a rep isnt paying mad attention to their device (going fast like they encourage us to) you could end up with random stuff you didnt want….Today, I did a trade in , just a plane trade in (just taking the device from my customer and this personal shopper decided my customer needed Disney, Netflix and Apple One magically added into my quote (without telling me). The best part is it straight up lies and says in the remarks that I did it. When I know for certain I didnt. So what did I do, I offered to make it right and remove it, oh guess what! It wont let me remove it until the end of the Mf bill cycle, so I had to make a phone call to CS and fight to get a credit.
– btaginc, Reddit, May 2025
Now, here is the irony: when Verizon first introduced Personal Shopper and its sibling AI, Problem Solver, the company said it helped cut down transaction times by three minutes. In real-world use, though? Doesn't seem to be holding up.
Corpo here. While Personal Shopper has been a thing for a while, it wasn't forced into every transaction, even a simple sim swap, until a month or so ago. Now anytime you hit shop PS comes up.
– Particular-Crow6525, Reddit, May 2025
I give it maybe a few months before they backtrack on this unnecessary flow. There are better ways to include AI without forcing it into every transaction like there aren't transactions that actually aren't looking to buy something. Sure you can make it into one sometimes but that depends on the humans involved and is explicitly a human endeavor that AI will never understand.
– FragRaptor, Reddit, May 2025
it's honestly disrespectful as fuck that they don't even trust the reps enough to sell and have AI do it for them at this point, and then punish and shit on leadership (sr manager, corporate store) in 75 emails a day about personal shopper, but i get it in a sense. some bad apples (people who can't sell) ruin for the people who can sell. speaking for myself at least all my reps have been working here longer than i've been alive and are great, which is lucky. great tool once you get the hang of it, but my god it's obnoxious.
– warmmillerlight, Reddit, May 2025
What's sad is they spent all this time and money to train people on sales processes, and then this ai just adds everything that you were told they didnt want during discovery.
– darhews, Reddit, May 2025
As more employees file support tickets and flag the tool's problems, hopefully Verizon starts paying attention. Because a rushed rep trying to dodge AI errors definitely isn't a win for the customer. So next time you are working with a Verizon rep, maybe give them a little extra time – they might be dealing with more tech than they'd like.
T-Mobile, for example, uses AI as well. Its PromoGenius app helps customer service reps quickly find info on deals, discounts, and trade-ins. And with plans to expand AI across more of its operations, don't be surprised if similar complaints start popping up from T-Mobile reps, too.
We've reached out to Verizon for a comment and will update the story when we have a response.
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