[Saruman]

I dropped my cellphone in water. Since this was my only phone and I had paid a monthly "insurance fee," I went to the Verizon store I had purchased the phone from and sought a replacement.

Mind you, one year ago when I bought my very first cell phone, the salesperson had told me that if it "was lost or stolen I could come get a replacement" if I paid $3.95 a month for insurance.

The guy at the store toady said this:

Me> Hello, I've lst my phone and I need to replace it as soon as possible.

Guy> OK Sir, can I have your name and the phone's number.
(He types it in and pulls up my payment history, which shows him that I have never exceeded my minutes, or paid late, and they have not made any money off me because of these reasons.)

OK Sir, you are going to have to make a claim through your homeowners insurance for this and file a police report. Unless you want to do an early upgrade, but that will cost more per month.


Me> I have been paying for insurance against loss or damage, and was told that I could come in and get a replacement.

Guy> I am sorry, didn't you get this?
(He pulls out a pamphlet in micro-printing listing a third party agreement for replacement that requires sending away for forms, returning forms, and waiting three days for a refurbished phone similar to the one I had.)

Me> No I have never seen this, and your manager a year ago did not represent this insurance this way to me. Her name was ________.

Guy> Oh she is at another store now. You need to call this number and get your replacement through these people.

Me> Can I use your phone to call, since I nowe have no phone?

Guy> Sure.
(I call the number and get a recording saying they can only be reached M-F 9-5. It is Sunday)

Me> Do you have any bluetooth capable phones that will work with Toyota's Prius?

Guy> Pri what?

Me> Its a car that has an integrated phone.

Guy> What is bluetooth?

Me> A wireless connection protocol.

Guy> I will have to check on this.
(After 30 minute wait and no response, I leave)

I hate phone companies. period.

 

[Richard]

I think I'm the last person I know who doesn't have a cell phone. People always assume I do and ask for my number or ask to borrow it, and they are invariably shocked when I tell them I neither have nor need one. Just get better planning skills and you won't need one either. Of course, then you'll have to get even better planning skills to compensate for others' bad planning too.

 

[melgish]

Hey Saruman,

If you're still in a bind, I haven't thrown away either of our Nokia 5185i's we had with Verizon. I can priority mail them to you for the cost of shipping plus twelve cents, because it'd be Un-American not to make a profit.

BTW, if you plan on dropping Verizon, note that they will cut you off immediatly and pro-rate your minutes. We got a $150 bill (nearly twice normal) because we were over our minutes, and then they cut our time in half when we canceled.

 

[KURT]

Verizon

You talked to the wrong person at Verizon. Talk with someone else.

The insurance thing is not worth it but you don't need to file police reports etc. That person is wrong. (I've gone through it before with them). What is suppose to happen is they will get you a refurbished phone. One that another person dropped into the toilet, was retrieved and Verizon refurbished it.

Just don't get the Motorola V710 from Verizon. They tell me that right now, that's the only Blue Tooth phone available. That phone is no good. $410.00 plus accessories, you will miss calls AND it does not have the capability to transfer the phone book into the car.

 

[Saruman]

UPDATE:
My phone started working after I dried it out in my hot car (Prius) for a day and charged the battery fully. I had to whack it a few times against my palm to ge the sound to play again... but so far so good.

I am cancelling my Verizon account as soon as I complete the contract period and can find a good bluetooth phone that has a positive consensus. I guess I'll wait on that.

BTW: This phone is my only phone - I dropped the land line after hurricane Isabel ripped it off my house and I found out the hard way that cable-modem phone (Comcast) goes out when you lose electricity.

I pay $40 a month total for phone... not too bad.

 

[melgish]

Re: Verizon

You talked to the wrong person at Verizon. Talk with someone else.

I talked to three different people (hopfully within some kind of chain of command) and got the same answer. Our numbers were transferred to AT&T with one week left in the billing cycle, so we only got 320 minutes instead of 400. Unfortunatly for us, we already had 500 minutes, and this meant paying the $.45 per minute for an additional 80 minutes.

Before we canceled, I'd spoken with my niece--who works for Verizon--and she indicated that there will probably be more bluetooth support in the future, and unofficially admited that the V710 is crap.

 

[alanlpa]

New owner

I have had my Prius for 1 month now (love it) , Purchased a Sony Ericsson T637 day after I got the car. Had no trouble connecting or trasnfering numbers to car. Easy instructions. Every time I enter the car, and the phone is on, my connection come on in about 1 minute and works very well all the time I am in the car. I use cingular for my connection they are probably no better than any other co. but everything does work well foe me.

 

[melgish]

While evacuated at my in-laws, I went out to the car to get the gps coordinates. As I turned it on i got "bluetooth connection successful" ...

My T637 was still in the house

 

[AgentElrond]

Of course, then you'll have to get even better planning skills to compensate for others' bad planning too.

That's an easy one... the word "no". 8)

 

[Jonnycat26]

.
I am cancelling my Verizon account as soon as I complete the contract period and can find a good bluetooth phone that has a positive consensus. I guess I'll wait on that.

Don't worry about your contract. There are ways out of it if you want to exit your verizon contract early. I did the same thing. Let me know if you want more details, I'll type up exactly what I did and how I did it.

 

[teoulmoon]

Cancell contract??

Could you please tell me how you got out of your contract Thanks. Is this specific to your state?

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

did you take your old phone to the store with you??

if so, the police reports, etc are uneccessary. that is if you are reporting the phone as being stolen. the police reports are used to verify that you have reported it as such.

i would call CS and explain what happened. tell them you broke it and still have the original phone