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Computer Help Shop
December 14, 2008
Incompetence & Complete Lack of Customer Service
I have had advertising for my small local business in the Verizon Yellow Pages for several years. I thought that the service was poor under Verizon's management in several respects, such as (for example) the fact that they NEVER notified me that the deadline for renewing or changing my ad was approaching. Each year, I would have to contact them and ask when was the deadline for changing my ad -- frequently I found that the deadline was "last week" or "tomorrow, " which meant that I was unable to change my ad, or would have to cancel all my other business and spend the entire next day or two trying to get an ad prepared and worked up by their art department - usually to no avail because there was too little time to accomplish the back-and-forth process of them preparing a rendering, me marking it up, them trying again, etc. -- so I always ended up with an ad which was not quite what I wanted.
Eventually, I started doing all of the layout and artwork myself in an attempt to get something closer to what I wanted. It was very difficult to obtain information about the exact dimensions of the ad, the typefaces available, borders, margins, what format of graphics files they needed from me, etc., but with great effort I eventually got most of that information and was able to submit exactly what I wanted, which resulted in ads that were closer to, though not exactly, what I wanted.
Also, each year I would find that somebody new was in charge of my account, so there was no continuity. The new sales rep would be unfamiliar with my previous ads, and with the problems experienced previously, therefore very likely to repeat the same mistakes.
I have also run a yellow pages ad in the phone book of a nearby town, whose phone company is BellSouth, for the past several years, so I do have something against which to compare Verizon's service. While my experience with BellSouth advertising has not been exactly perfect (they, too, change my sales rep each year, and fail to notify me of upcoming deadlines, etc.), I can say with certainty that my experience with Verizon were much worse.
So I thought that Verizon's Yellow Pages Advertising department left a lot to be desired -- that is, until a couple of years ago, when Verizon spun-off or subcontracted their directory advertising to another company - Idearc Media. Little did I know how much worse it could be, but I soon began to learn.
The most recent renewal cycle, in June 2008, was the worst ever. I found it impossible to communicate with my new sales rep, a Mr. Donald R. Howell.
May 24-May 28: Once again, I had to initiate contact with them -- I tried to phone and also to send email to my sales rep from the previous year, but there was no reply. So, I wrote to Verizon on May 24, asking who was my Idearc sales rep, and how to contact them, and when was the deadline. The new rep contacted me on May 28, and informed me that the deadline was two days ago.
May 29-June 2: I insisted that they needed to hold the presses and allow me to change my ad, since I had been trying unsuccessfully to do so for the previous two years. He agreed to extend my deadline so as to allow me to change my ad, and we decided upon an ad size and the cost, whereupon I (once again) cancelled all my scheduled appointments and spent the next two days designing my new ad -- carefully laying everything out according to their restrictions on margins, typefaces, borders, colors, etc. -- and delivered my finished perfect layout on Monday June 2.
June 6-June 9: I then had to work out of town for the next few days, but I sent email to Mr. Howell starting on June 6, asking whether everything was okay with my ad, and asking him to please send me a "proof" of what their art department did with my ad layout -- i.e., exactly what they would be printing.
Instead of an answer to my question, I got email replies back from Mr. Howell asking me to call him -- which I could not do during business hours, since I was working at a remote new construction site (rural Appalachian mountains, where there was no telephone and no cellular signal. So each night I sent a new email to Mr. Howell, asking again to please send me the proof.
This went on for a few days. Each day, I'm sending messages, repeating my request for a proof (a copy) of the ad.
June 10: I received the following email message from Mr. Howell [this is exactly verbatim what he wrote -- no punctuation, no grammar, multiple misspellings, etc.]:
"Hi your adds ready to go to graphix I need aut I fax you a contract please call me so we can get it in
the book todays the last day"
Until this, I had not had any idea that Mr. Howell was illiterate. That, of course, adds to the difficulty of getting what I wanted.
June 11: Next day, a new email from Mr. Howell:
"Hi all I need is autherization I fax you your contract or call me"
June 12: I wrote: "As I have told you, I am working this week out where there is no phone service. SEND ME A COPY OF THE AD!!! Obviously, I have to see what you are printing before I can approve it, but I have not seen it. Instead of sending 8 messages asking me to call you during the day, when, as I've explained, I'm unable to telephone from my job site, why did you not just send me the ad, as I've requested multiple times?"
His reply:
"Sorry jon ad is prepared to go to graphix if you like we can keep your ad the same, only autherized adds are sent to graphixs. thanks"
"Graphixs" ?? "Autherized" ?? and, worse -- "adds".
If an advertising sales representative cannot even spell the word "ads, " how did he get this job, and how is he able to keep it?
My reply: "I have driven down to a spot where I can pick up somebody's wireless signal, in order to check my email. WHY WON'T YOU SEND ME A PROOF OF THE GRAPHIC?????????? SEND IT, DAMMIT! YOU ARE MAKING ME ANGRY NOW. I have been asking for one week about my ad, and you have not sent me the proof."
Mr. Howell: "Im sorry, graphics only takes adds when there autherised you never autherised call me it only takes a moment, i have your add prepared to go to graphics"
June 13: Email to Mr. Howell: "Donald, I need to get my ad renewed and it has proved to be impossible to communicate with you. I need to work with someone else. Send me the name & phone # of another agent. If you do not send me a name & phone #, I will find your supervisor and will raise hell about your lack of customer service.
No response from Mr. Howell.
I managed to find the name and extension of his supervisor. I left several messages for him, asking for an urgent call back.
No response from supervisor.
June 19:
8:33 AM Email to Mr. Howell: "Donald, I am sending these again -- my display ad design, in various formats (MS Publisher, .TIF, .JPG). I'm here only until 12:00 today, so please call if ANY problem.
11:30AM: Email to Mr. Howell: "Hi Donald, I will be leaving my office in an hour for the rest of the day. So could you please confirm that all is well with my ad before I leave? "
11:33AM: Email from Mr. Howell: Hi yes I received your add thanks
June 25:
11:33PM: Email to Mr. Howell: "Donald, So, can I now see a proof of what the graphics dept. did?"
NO REPLY
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July 28: I received the new Verizon phone book, and (of course) the ad that was printed was NOT AT ALL like what I had submitted. THIS POORLY DESIGNED AND INCORRECT AD IS GOING TO HARM MY BUSINESS FOR ONE YEAR.
I wrote to Mr. Howell.
NO REPLY
August 6: I wrote to Mr. Howell again, sending a copy of my email of July 28.
NO REPLY
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August 15: I called Idearc Customer Service and spoke at length with a Ms. Tara Marero about my problem. I explained to her that I would not make any payments to Idearc until this situation was resolved. She was agreeable to that, but asked me to send to her copies of the ad I had prepared and submitted multiple times to Mr. Howell, along with the ad that was actually printed in the Verizon Directory. She would review these, discuss the situation with Idearc management, and would contact me within 1 week.
I emailed to her the requested documents, within the hour.
NO CALL BACK FROM TARA MARERO WITHIN 1 WEEK, NOR 2 WEEKS, NOR 3 WEEKS.
Sept. 5: I sent email to Tara Marero, reminding her of her commitment to resolve this problem.
Oct 1: By this time, I am beginning to receive threatening letters from Idearc Billing, since I had stopped paying my monthly bill as of August.
I wrote to Idearc Customer Service, describing what had happened, and the failure of Ms. Marero to follow up and call me back as promised.
Oct. 8: Ms. Marero called me, and apologized, stating that she had become seriously ill shortly after our initial conversation, was out on sick leave for some time, and my case had just "slipped through the cracks." I accepted her apology, and resent to her the the side by side comparison of my ad with the ad that got printed, at her request since she stated she could no longer find the copies I had sent to her on Aug. 15. She assured me that she would call me back within 1-2 weeks with a proposed solution.
Oct. 22-Nov 1: Two weeks later -- still no callback from Ms. Marero. I went email & left phone messages.
I am now receiving freqent phone calls & letters from a collection agency, about my past due Idearc bills.
Nov 6: I left more telephone voicemail messages, and sent more email messages to Ms. Marero
NO REPLY.
Nov. 8: I spoke with a person from the collection agency when they called, at length, explaining the entire history, stating that this was why I have not paid my Idearc bills since August. She was very understanding, sympathetic, and promised that I would not receive further phone calls, that she would report the situation to Idearc, and that someone there would contact me to FINALLY resolve this situation.
Dec. 14 (Today): I continue to receive threatening letters from the collection agency (but fewer phone calls, thankfully).
I still have not received any call or message from Idearc.
This Idearc company should be placed before a firing squad and shot. Or sent to Guantanamo and tortured. They are doing more harm harm to America than most of the prisoners who are there.
Our country's GNP certainly does not need the enormous waste of time and effort, and lost business that I (and countless other small business) have incurred due to its gross incompetence and abuse.
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