Dear Verizon,

This is my farewell letter. If I don't leave you sooner, I won't be renewing my contract at the end of this term.

In your attempt at disguising consumerism behind shiny "rewards," then poorly training your employees to assist consumers with clarification and how to properly respond to questions about these rewards, you have broken my trust and lost my loyalty. I'm sure I'm just a number to you, but to me, Verizon was one of the few companies I felt I could still respect. This is no longer true, and this makes me sad.

Just to be clear, it's not about the money. It's about the failure to properly train your employees. It's about the breakdown in customer service. It's about the fact, after having purchased over a thousand dollars in new equipment, I am unable to use the Verizon Up Reward Device Dollars without spending more money. All because I was instructed wrong to begin with.

It's been a tough year for me. I counted on being able to rely on the customer service agent I turned to for help when I was too overwhelmed by life to have anything left to read the fine print without guidance. This trust has been built up over the years, over a decade of interaction with Verizon Customer Service. I learned to trust the agent at the other end of the line or the other end of a chat session. I have been lulled into complacency by a bygone age, where customer service mattered, and I could always depend on, trust Verizon to make things right. This is why I have stayed so long. This is why I paid the premium amount, I thought I was getting premium customer service and was willing to pay the price.

Earlier this year I contacted Verizon for assistance. At the end of our conversation, I asked how I would redeem my Verizon Up Reward Device Dollars. I was told I had to purchase the phone first, and then after being billed, I would be able to apply the credit to the bill. This is incorrect. I'm uncertain if it was correct at the time of the contact.

When I was making my last purchase, I received a call that my grandmother was dying. I didn't have it in me to re-confirm the information I had been given previously. I couldn't try to figure out how to use the Device Dollars. Since I had been told I needed to apply them to my bill, I figured I could deal with it later. I was wrong, and I lost out on my "Reward."

Just a side note. I made my purchases on a Saturday. I spent that Sunday in the hospital watching my grandmother die. I know that isn't Verizon's concern.

Rewards are a double-edged sword. Train your employees right, and maybe the rewards won't become a cause for losing loyalty instead of reinforcing it. As I see it, you can own your mistakes and make it right, or we can part ways under less than amicable circumstances. Seems like a small thing to lose more than 15 years of loyalty over. But, that's just my perspective. I'm just a number. Business is a numbers game.

Respectfully,

A Loyal Customer