Verizon Just Doesn't Get It

Business is about more than neat technology, flashy phones, high-speed services, and the next new thing. That would be life it was lived by a technologist. In reality, the world is filled with people who must provide for their families, obtain a little enjoyment from life, and make their money go as far as possible in these hard times. Unfortunately, many companies just don't get it.

Take for example Verizon. They are a large, multi-product company that provides a variety of telecommunication services to their customers. I all honesty, many of their products are quite good. However, if you ever want to interact with the company, you will find yourself in a customer service hell. If you go to their Web site, you will find it to be the most convoluted mishmash of links where you may be able to FIND what you want, but not able to ACCESS what you want. If you call them directly, you will find yourself in a phone tree where you will end up climbing around the roots, but never able to get to the limb you wanted. If you should be so lucky to actually talk to a human-being (an iffy proposition in itself), you will find the person will not provide you with any information unless you provide the magic information--information in many cases that may only be available if you access their web site.

Verizon is not the first, to be sure, to have fallen into the techno-trap. The poster child would be Microsoft and their rollout of Windows Vista--a poorly designed, tested, and implemented product. As a result, it was almost universally reviled and companies, their most important customers, refused to use it. The case can be made that Vista may have single-handedly contributed to the PC sales slump in the last couple of years and contributed to the surprising success of Linux-based systems and the resurgence of Apple in the personal computer market. Such seems to be the fate of Verizon.

Verizon has been waging a heavily promoted war on AT&T comparing Verizon's inferior, but larger 3G wireless network to AT&T's smaller, but significantly superior network. What Verizon neglects to mention is that their network does not service that much more of the population than AT&T. Simply put, Verizon may provide service to more sheep in rural Montana than AT&T, but sheep don't carry wireless phones. Sure Verizon has a bigger network. But AT&T has a network where people need it--in cities and suburbs, and along virtually every major highway in the country. AT&T is more people oriented. Verizon builds technology for bragging rights.

Verizon's customer service is oriented to following rules, no matter how ridiculous those rules get in execution. For example, Verizon has the capability for you to view your phone/wireless/Internet/cable bill online. That is a great idea. But what happens when you are unable to access that feature on their site? First, which site. Verizon evidently is two completely separate companies that do not communicate with each other. This is evidenced by the fact they have two separate and independent web sites--verizon.net and verizon.com. Take the example of the online bill. What happens when you log in to verizon.net and and click on a link that states view your bill? You are directed to a link that resides on verizon.com and are asked to log in a second time. When you log in, guess where you are sent? Back to verizon.net. You are in the worst the web has to offer, a web loop, not unlike Verizon's matching phone tree loop.

If you call Verizon's crack customer service personnel--a daunting task since their phone tree selections match nothing related to your problem, the first thing they ask you is your phone number (which you know) and your account number (which is one of those things I suspect most people do not have memorized. Guess where the account number is located? On the online bill you are attempting to view. You are stuck. Verizon will not provide further help unless you provide the account number (for security reasons) and you cannot access the account number because their system is so poorly designed.

This is the future of most technology-oriented companies. As it happens, Verizon (and GTE in their past life) has been getting a free pass for most of their life--they held a regulated monopoly over most of the areas they served. That is quickly changing. People are looking for products that work, things that are easy to locate, and people who are truly helpful. Apple gets it. Verizon does not. AT&T may not quite get it, but I believe they are learning fast. Verizon has probably gotten worse with time. Even Google has the agility to change rapidly. Verizon is the huge dinosaur lumbering along thinking things do not have to change.

A lesson for the future. You can have the most advanced technology, the new and shiniest next new thing. However, if the people cannot easily adapt to that technology, if they are unable to use it, if they are unable to get the support they need, they won't buy it. If they do buy it, they will flee to alternatives once they are available.

Verizon isn't the only company that doesn't get it. Microsoft is in the same boat. HP seems headed that way. That's okay, because losers always can be replaced by winners and new winners are popping up every day.