How to call a My Verizon Wireless Customer Service Center and receive the best service for your family

Anyone who has ever called Verizon Wireless customer service and been consistently transferred, lied to, and treated with disrespect.

Be kind to every customer service representative. Three seconds before you made contact with the VZW rep, they were getting yelled at by some other jerk who treated the rep like garbage because their phone stopped working when it fell in the toilet. Verizon employees are required to treat each person with respect and conform to a system that encourages "first call resolve." The employee is required to make sure you are in love with Verizon Wireless when you hang up your phone. However, rude customers are labeled as hostile units and are removed from employee monitoring survey reports. If you act disrespectful to someone who is trying to help you, your account is forever flagged as hostile and you will never receive proper service again.

Know the extent to which your representative can help you. You need to push to get the secret benefits, however, push too hard and you will be labeled a problem...

1. Activate a new phone on your existing line (Device ID Change), for step by step instructions click here

- *228, Option 1

- If you are activating a new 4G device you will also need a blank 4G SIM Card

2. Explain the charges on your bill

Most commonly requested information regarding a customer's bill:

- Proration charges

- Month in advance charges

- Premium messaging charges

- Ringtone, ringback tone, and wallpaper download charges

- Charges associated with using data without a data plan

- Charges associated with using more minutes than are allotted on your plan

- Using your phone internationally without subscribing to any global services

- Using your phone on the borders of Canada or Mexico while in the United States, yet still connecting to international towers and accruing global roaming charge

3. Order you new phones and accessories

Based on exactly what you want! Customer Service Reps match people to phones all day and do a pretty great job in fact!

4. Troubleshoot basic phone problems

If you didn't just start using a cell phone for the first time last week, you probably hate this type of call to vzw.

5. Connect you with the best person to resolve your issue

Customer Care Representatives are like a free 411 service to fix any issue you could possibly encounter as a phone owner.

6. Provide advice regarding account changes (especially when the details of the Verizon Wireless policies are pertinent and relavent to your personal account.)

7. Provide monetary credits to financially responsible customers on the rare occasion they may have a hard time paying the bill

Call from a line that is not on your account. Initially, your call will be treated like any call by which the phone number system is not recognized by Verizon. This means you will be treated like a new customer and in turn get paired with the most highly rated customer service representatives. These ratings are based on customer provided after call surveys. If you act like a jerk, you get routed to the agents in training, you'll spend hours on the phone, and nobody cares. If anyone actually complains (by letter to the corporate headquarters, see important Verizon Wireless contact information at the bottom of this page.

Follow the annoying prompts to choose what you are calling about. This will direct your call to the reps who can actually solve your problem. If you fail out of any of the initial prompts to verify your number or password, you will get connected directly to a call center trainee. These lowest tier reps are under so much scrutiny, they are very slow and difficult to work with.

Most call center employees have a ranking for transfer rate. Don't get stuck troubleshooting with a Tier 1 customer care representative. If you act polite and grateful, most agents will be more than happy to issue credits and bend the rules.

1. Advise the rep that you have already completed troubleshooting with an in-store agent earlier that day.

2. Politely request to be transferred to tech support because you are on a tight schedule.

3. Most customer service

If your $800 phone gets destroyed... Pay Asurion $100 and you're back in business. But you're also stuck with the same phone, and it's a refurbished, previously owned device. Are you the type of cell phone user that would benefit from an insurance package?

If you take care of your cell phone as though it were your child, don't even know what upgrade date means because you replace your phone every three years, and don't understand why you have to have a data plan with a smartphone because you don't use the internet enough to know how to send an email; you are better off saving the $5.99 - $9.99 per month Verizon Wireless would charge you for insurance.

By the time your phone actually breaks, you will have spent around $120 - $240 in monthly payments and then have to spend upwards of $100 on your insurance deductible. Before you are allowed to pay the deductible however, you are subject to the largely spited, emotionally draining weed out automated system used by insurance companies to keep scam artists from taking advantage "of a program designed for protection." Not to mention the $50 - $100 you will have to pay for the insurance deductible. Then, after all you've invested into the insurance feature... Verizon will provide you with a Certified Like New Replacement phone, not even a brand new phone with your perfect payment history! These CLNR phones have supposedly passed an extensive line of rigorous testing. In reality, these refurbished phones are only fixed to work for a short while before breaking again and the customer is left with a frustrating, useless, yet seemingly unavoidably and expensive device and access charges. If this sounds like you, consider a cell phone plan devoid of Asurion insurance.

If you break your phone all the time, get the insurance.

Check Out The Verizon Wireless Insurance Options

Verizon Wireless Sales Staff makes more money if they sell more phones. They will do anything to sell you a phone if it extends your contract.

- First, ask for a 10% discount on the phone or mobile broadband device when you are extending your contract. This will always be approved. If the agent is unwilling to give you the discount, ask to speak with a supervisor. All agents are afraid to pass their calls off to a supervisor because they are punished or their pay is docked for the pay period. To combat the reluctance of customer service transferring you to a supervisor, place your phone on speaker, and do whatever you please. Customer Care is not allowed to hang up on you and eventually they will put their supervisor on the line just to get you off the phone. Don't cuss or get angry. Stay calm and remain silent unless they begin reading their dead air script or pass you to a supervisor.

- Next, after providing all your information and shipping preferences, the agent can now taste his commission. This is the perfect time to ask the agent to throw in some accessories for free. Ask for a car charger, protection case, and extended battery thrown in for free b/c of some deal you saw somewhere else. The agent will always credit accessories if it means it will make or break the deal.

-

Verizon Wireless has secret promotions all the time to help customers who are in financial trouble. Call in at least once every month or two and explain that you could really use a little help on your phone bill. Explain that money is tight but you can't live without Verizon Wireless. If you are behind on your payments, request to be transferred to the financial services department. Financial services is the only department that is able to set up payment plans with you to keep your service from interruption.

WARNING: If you ask customer service to set up a payment plan for you, they will offer to gladly notate your account with a payment arrangement. This keeps you happy right away. Until your phones are disconnected after 12 days of non payment because merely notating the account does nothing. ONLY FINANCIAL SERVICES CAN HELP YOU SET UP A PROMISE TO PAY!!! Customer Service wants to get you off the phone as quickly as possible.

A lower Average Handle Time (average time an agent takes per call), provides a exponentially higher paycheck.

Don't let an agent force you to speed through the phone call. Something will definitely be overlooked and you could potentially be facing extreme overage charges.

Request any current promotions that Verizon may be offering at that time. Don't question the validity of an answer an agent gives you. Always call twice to customer service and ask the same questions. compare answers and inquire about any discrepancies.

If you have spent a great deal of time on the phone with customer service, request a courtesy credit of $20 to compensate you for your time. Be polite in using whatever reasoning you provide to the agent.

***Pretending that you are going to disconnect service is a common and overused tactic. The "Ultimate Threat," only helps if you are out of contract and have an amazing payment history***

Nationwide Family Share Plans are allowed to have 5 lines.

On the new Account Level Pricing (ALP) structure, each line is charged an access fee of $9.99.

So...

If you have a damaged or defective phone OR Just want a new phone

AND

You have a family plan without 5 lines:

***You can activate a new line and recieve 2 yr pricing on any device!

***You can place a test device (dummy esn) on the newly activated line, and place the BRAND NEW phone on your own personal line

***Thus increasing your bill by only $10/month

> And providing you with a BRAND NEW phone in 2 days!