Sunday, December 10, 2006

Yahoo Answers

Someone asked Yahoo Questions to chime in:

And here is the answer.

21 comments:

Unknown said...

I just checked with a reporter at my station and they love the story and are interested in doing a news segment on it. We are going to need some contact info so we can discuss this.

Comcaster said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
George Vaccaro said...

@eugene, you can reach me at verizonmath at gmail dot com.

I may not want to add any more fuel to this fire, but I'd be glad to speak with you.

Patrick "Phos...." Martin said...

Just out of curiosity, George...

What is your general geographic location?

I know a bunch of people in the TV biz as well. (And if you know anything about the TV/Radio biz, many of them career hop all over the country).

Comcaster said...

George... posted your YouTube video on Spiked Humor (http://www.spikedhumor.com/articles/71388/Verizon_Wireless_002_is_the_same_as_002c.html)

also, next time you call them, or need to explain it to them, do it like this ;

take a pen and paper and write down .002c. now, to the right of that, wright down 1kb. next, .020c and to the right of that, 10kb. below that, .200c and to the right of that, 100kb. see, we are not even at a full penny yet. we are at .2 cents. 2 tenths of a cent. Now, below that, 2.000c and to the right, 1000kb. There, we are at 1,000kb and we've hit 2 cents. Below that, 20.000c and to the right, 10,000kb. Do you see what we are at? 20 CENTS for 10,000kb. Now this is where it get's complicated. I used 36,000kb, and I'm rounding up to make it really simple, so, for every 10,000kb, it's 20 CENTS so, 20+20+20 is 60 CENTS for 30,000kb. at 40,000kb it would be 80CENTS. How exactly did you arrive at 70 DOLLARS before?

George Vaccaro said...

@phosphor,

I hop around myself East Coast - Wesst Coast, so I don't really have a location perse. And actually coincidentally my last contract was for the radio industry...

Thanks for the thought, I may take you up on that. I just want to give Verizon a chance to respond tomorrow before I take any next steps.

Unknown said...

@phosphor

The time the site meter was added is GMT -5 so probably east coast, and given the trip to canada more likley north, but that is all just a guess...

Unknown said...

George,

This is history in the making. I bet all the customer service training classes will use this as an example of how you can f*** up. That is READ what the rate says ( zero point zero zero two dollars per kb ) and not put in cents when it's not there.

Manish

Unknown said...

Scratch that.

Verizon probably has 0.002 cents/kb written in customer service rep manuals, just as a marketing scam

Ben Lundy said...

The more I listen to the recording, the more I become convinced that the first guy realized the mistake that was made in quoting George and the woman who came on next had the specific purpose of confusing the point in an attempt to frustrate George to the point where he would just drop it.

This happened to me once too. I bought a product that the phone rep told me would work with my model of computer, and when it arrived it did not. I was on with one phone rep for twenty minutes explaining the need for an exchange or refund, and then he finally transferred me. When the next guy came on, he was belligerent and accused me of trying to get two of the same product from the company. He refused to budge and my last resort (short of going to small claims court) was to tell him that I would never order from them again, and that I would tell my friends about the quality of their customer service.

I really think they train people at a certain level of customer service to bulls--t the customer until they become to confused, frustrated or apathetic to pursue the complaint.

George Vaccaro said...

@manish & benjamin

I kinda felt like that too. Like Mike was starting to get it. Then Andrea comes on and conveniently throws out that mathematician comment just as I had her on the mental ropes.

Hard to say for sure - she also might have really thought she was right. Sometimes when you deal with the same thing over and over, like calling it cents, you come to believe its so true it cannot possibly be wrong. I'd really like to see exactly what it said in the notes...

Also Manish, I may reconsider Cingular - I have just heard that they share towers or partner with T-Mobile, and I had horrible coverage with them in the past. That said, this was a few years ago, and im sure the network continues to grow.

Unknown said...

George,

I've never heard Cingular sharing towers with T-Mobile. Where did you get that? Even if they do, I know T-Mobile's service is horrible. I have half of my friends on T-Mobile and they're always complaining about network problems.

Manish

Unknown said...

I saw this last night and was almost sick listening to it. I sent the link on to a friend who works for Verizon. Unfortunately, he works with their IT department so it may not matter, but he's forwarding it to all his managers. Keep up the good fight, this is a concept that I've understood since the 3rd grade and has irked me on several occasions.

Unknown said...

George,

Oh I have a friend in the silicon valley who has T-Mobile (he moved from Chicago, otherwise he wouldn't have gotten t-mobile). He says his phone often goes in roaming mode and says "Cingular" instead of "t-mobile". Maybe thats what you're talking about. T-mobile may be offering free roaming to other networks, when their own towers are not available.

Either ways, this friend of mine keeps telling me he has better reception when his phone is on Cingular, than on its own T-mobile network.

Anonymous said...

I just submitted your story to the Wall Street Journal. I hope they print it. Keep the cause.
-Andrew

Yad said...

@George

This is the calm before the storm. I imagine this story will get exposure to the mainstream media early next week. Your blog has had 68,000 visitors already.

Prepare yourself!!

sonicphoenix said...

I'm very temped to write Verizon informing them that I had previously considered upgrading my existing plan to include data services but as a result of this will be cancelling my service with them at the end of my current service agreement in addition to moving to one of their competitors. I'd encourage others to do the same - even if you don't actually move it will at least make them more aware of the situation and the incredibly bad publicity that things like this can cause.

Kelly Hawk said...

WOW WOW WOW

IS YOUTUBE IS SILENCING THIS?!?!!

This used to be in the most viewed/ most discussed categories... and it still SHOULD be ranked up there (because of the number of views and responses)!!

Even though the recording is still on YouTube, it's not showing up in any of the top categories where it clearly belongs.

Conspiracy?

svmillin said...

This should be on Leno or Letterman!

svmillin said...

This should be on Leno or Letterman!

Anderson Digital Media Services said...

I have had t-mobile since 2002 and in Houston, their coverage is good. My brother is in Arkansas and I can call or text him anytime even though he has At&t coverage and not t-mobile. The customer care at t-mobile is very friendly, I haven't encountered a moment when they have been harsh or irrational.