Verizon can't tell a dollar from a cent

[Balthamael]

http://verizonmath.blogspot.com/

 

Long story short, a guy got quoted a rate of 0.002 cents per kilobyte for an unlimited data plan. This seemed to him as absurdly low, so he had it confirmed, and had them give it to him in writing. Everything seemed fine, until he got a bill in which he was charged $0.002 for a kilobyte. This results in over 20 minutes long, painfully hilarious customer service phone call, wherein our hero tries, with a patience that even angels would be envious of, teach elementary mathematics to the Verizon customer representatives, but alas, for no avail.

 

If I lived in an area where Verizon operates, this story would be all the incentive I needed never to use its services.

[Wistrik]

Wow. (w00t)

 

They are thinking in terms of financial math but applying the wrong unit of measure. The cost is indeed $0.002/kilobyte, but they're hung up on cents for some mystifying reason. The only thing I can think of, outside of rather obtuse learned behavior patterns, is they are confusing THEIR cost for the service with what they're charging their customers.

[Krookie]

I'm listening to it now. about halfway through.

 

"Sir, do you see the difference between 0.002 cents and 0.002 dollars?"

...

...

...

...

"Uhm...No"

[Krookie]

it's even better when that girl comes on.

[Oerwinde]

I like how he tries his hardest to explain it but they just don't get it.

 

"Is .5 dollars the same as .5 cents?"

"No"

"Ok, is .002 dollars the same as .002 cents?"

"Yes"

[Rosbjerg]

the agony of stupidity.. or simply very smart (and patient people) trying to outsmart the customer by mentally starving them to braindeath..

 

I'm a bit divided on the issue..

[Krookie]

I liked how the first guy started bragging about his crappy job.

 

"HEY HEY HEY, I'VE BEEN A JUNIOR MANAGER FOR 1 AND HALF YEARS. ONE.AND. A. HALF. YEARS.!"

[Diamond]

the agony of stupidity.. or simply very smart (and patient people) trying to outsmart the customer by mentally starving them to braindeath..

 

I'm a bit divided on the issue..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think it is the "avoiding the responsibility" thing. Because, if the customer is right, they would have to make an effort to do something outside of their daily routine.

[Rosbjerg]

well on his blog one of the senior-what-evers are offering him halfprice to shut him up (so now it's only 50 times what they intially offered him.. lol) ..

[metadigital]

I believe it falls under contract law; if they offered him a rate in writing then they have to honour it.

[Oerwinde]

I believe it falls under contract law; if they offered him a rate in writing then they have to honour it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Does a verbal contract count? He has multiple people on tape telling him the rate is .002 cents.

[thepixiesrock]

Meta was talking about the fact that in the contract it says .002 cents.

[Surreptishus]

The guy got it in writing from them, so yeah he is entitled to the $0.00002/kB rate.

[metadigital]

A verbal contract is still a contract, too. It's just harder to prove in court, as some people are prone to tell fibs about what they said previously, and recall can sometimes be a little sketchy. But, it is still a contract.

 

The only way a contract can be voided, outside the parties agreeing so, is if it breaches common law.

[Rosbjerg]

lucky he got about 4 different people saying it's 0.002 cents on recording then.. ^_^

[metadigital]

Oh, yeah: they're toast. :D

[Balthamael]

I doubt Verizon is going to fight for seventy dollars, particularly when this story makes them look really, really bad. Once somebody in the management who has a modicum intelligence hears about this, this guy's charges will be waived and hopefully everyone involved in this debacle will be fired. Or, at the very least, they should be forced to take a remedial course in elementary arithmetics.

[Tigranes]

Looks like somebody just screwed up dollars and cents, then this was compounded by the computer database program and the numerous other people who failed to catch up on the error. Verizon can't get out of it and should pay up as there appears to be written and spoken evidence- and then give a tongue-lashing to the sillies. No big deal, really, just your usual incompetence and bureaucracy.

[Balthamael]

According to the blog linked to in the opening post, Verizon has given the guy full refund, though they do come off somewhat assholish in their reply, and they still fail to acknowledge that they screwed up.

Edited December 11, 2006 by Balthamael

[Walsingham]

This is one of those situations you can get into when you work for a bunch of fethwits. I'm proud to say that when I worked in customer service (for my sins) I had a boss who - although categorically insane - was willing to put up his hands and say we'd made a mistake. It was fun to say it because people never expected it.

[Azure79]

This is the funniest thing I've seen in a long time.

[alanschu]

Unfortunately, it seems ingrained that admitting mistake is a very, very bad thing.

 

Because once you confess your mistake, you can't possibly deny it any more. Which means, depending on the situation, you may have also just opened yourself up to a hefty payout via lawsuit. At least that's the thinking.

 

I hear about it a lot in the medical profession, where admitting a mistake makes a malpractice suit easier to win.

 

 

The funny thing though, was reading up on an article about a hospital that had an open policy about admitting mistakes. I think it was in MacLean's. Basically, the hospital felt it was bad for the mental health of both doctors and patients (or those related to the patient) to try to obsfucate the issue when something goes wrong. If doctors make a mistake, they are encouraged to have an open discourse with the patient. Interestingly, the discourse made the doctors seem less arrogant and more human, and they typically received less malpractice claims against them. The idea was that perhaps keeping patients out of the loop helped foster feelings of animosity.

[Calax]

isn't the whole not confessing to a mistake thing somthign that's the subject of jokes about microsoft... you know when they put the wrong spelling on a word in one of their processors and they promptly use their massive marketing and financial power to cause the entire english language to change the spelling?

[metadigital]

wait what

[Surreptishus]

wait what

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I thought that same sentiment a few hours ago. In the end I decided not to care.