Tuesday, February 24, 2015

the high price of cell phones, Russian style

In life, there are givers and there are takers. I usually pride myself on being a giver. Except for today. I was an unwitting giver. And I would like to punch the takers in the throat.

I'm a long-time Verizon customer. Like, "since they were 360 Communications and I had a bag phone" long-time customer. I'm not sharing that because I'm proud of it or because I own Verizon stock or think they hung the moon. I'm just one of those "ain't broke don't fix" kind of people.

Lately I've been a little torqued about the amount I pay monthly for two smart phones. The signal is good, the phones are good, the service is good. But I seriously was thinking about going to one of those pay-as-you-go deals you see at Target. Because I really hate paying this much money for freaking cell phones. 

Well, I wondered if Verizon had figured out my ploy because lately I've been getting a lot of calls from them. I don't usually have my cell phone with me during the day, so the calls went unanswered. There were no voice messages just "missed call from Verizon" on my screen. Whatever.. let 'em call.

Today I just happened to be working where I could have my cell phone nearby. Around 11:30 am, it rings. Verizon. Ok, I thought, I'm game, so I answered. They were calling to do a brief survey about the quality of the service, and by completing it I would receive a $20 credit per line on my account in the next billing cycle.

Ah, a credit? From Verizon? Love it! Now we were talking.