Verizon: I hope you're seeing these posts

Read this while holding your side. The bar just keeps getting higher for what companies are expecting their customers to do. The number of illogical instructions in the latest email from Verizon defies belief. Honestly, I think this is over my head.

Also remembered that I'd just parenthetically mentioned problems with logging into AT&T's redesigned site. Question: do the people redoing sites talk to the people who did the original design? User experience here leaves, shall we say, a tad to be desired.

Dear  J. Lipnack,

Thank you for your prompt response. I have confirmed your user ID via a  separate secure email you confirmed you received. Though the user ID will display in all capital letters, both the user ID and password must be entered in lower case. I do apologize for disturbing you at an inconvenient time, however, to comply with FCC security guidelines we
cannot send the temporary password via email.

To sign in, visit our home page:

http://www.verizon.com/residential

I do realize your's [sic] is a small business account, however, we are experiencing some issues due to recent changes in the small business access link. Do not click the 'Business' tab, but instead, in the 'Manage Your Account' section in the upper right hand corner, do not select 'My Business Account' but select 'Small Business Phone'. Otherwise you will be directed to the Verizon Wireless website, where your user ID and password for our site will not work. Do not change the default in 'I want to...', enter your user ID and the temporary password above and click 'Sign In'.

Once signed in, you can change the password on the 'My Profile' link.

I hope I have assisted in resolving your reason for contacting us. If you have additional questions, or if we may be of assistance to you in the future, please let us know. We look forward to serving you.

Thank you for using Verizon. We appreciate your business.

Sincerely,
Vicki
Verizon eCenter

Comments

[Stuart]

That is too funny. I kept expecting Vicki's paragraph in which she would ask you to jump up and down, pat your stomach, and chew gum at the same time.

So here's my question (and perhaps my rant): do you think that the Head Honcho of Customer Service -- at Verizon, at ATT, at Intuit, at {fill in the name of the company that consistently messes up} -- ever reads blogs? Or follows Twitter? The voice of the consumer has become so available, if not loud, don't you wonder if anyone bothers to listen?

[jessica lipnack]

Good point, Stuart. Vicki did call me this morning while I was in the midst of something else. I asked if I could call her back. Take a wild guess. There are no direct lines back to anyone at Verizon so it was do or die. I did.

[Stuart]

To me, that is the endless chain of customer service frustration. When they call, leave a message with some urgency to call them back, provide a number which, when you call it, leads to nowhere. Absolutely nowhere. An endless do loop of nowhereness. As though the person who called never existed, they're not sure why you've been called, etc. Or am I the only one?

[jessica lipnack]

If anyone reading works in customer service, perhaps you could chime in. What gives with this? Stuart is right. All leading nowhere. But I do have another customer service story brewing that is in fact positive. I know. You think I'm making it up. Stay tuned.

[Adam Gaffin]

Amazing. They should just put up a picture of a donkey without a tail and tell you to close your eyes, spin around three times and then click with your mouse.

[Craig]

Hi Jessica,

I'm sorry you're having such a bad user experience. Your post gave me inspiration to write about good usability decisions that can actually cause a bad user experience, such as the one you're dealing with.

My post is at my Useful Usability website.

I hope in some small way it helps you and all the other people who have to deal with bad user experiences out.

Good luck!

[Porsche Nguyen]

Jessica, this is a great example of customer service gone haywire. And in today's connected world, an exchange like this can have a negative impact on a brand.

That's why we created [my company]. It's a real-time social search listening platform that scores a brand's online efforts and provides lots of juicy marketing insights into one's online performance.

[deleted link]:
Peace out, -Porsche

[jessica lipnack]

Adam, I haven't had to play that game since about second grade. You've got it just right.

Craig, love your cross-post and blogged it next. Thanks.

Porsche, sorry but no advertising here. Thus the deletions.