The List Why Carrier Stores Are The Worst

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Published 27 Mar 2015

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Disclosure
Trying to get your wireless bill sorted out over the phone is a pain, so why do we do it? Why do we spend three hours on hold with Verizon? And another two hours arguing with a customer service rep to avoid going into a physical store. And talking to someone face-to-face? Because carrier stores are the worst, that’s why. A five-hour phone call with your wireless company is nothing compared. To actually walking into a store trying to get your problems fixed. Here’s why you and everyone justifiably hate going into a wireless carrier’s store.

You’ll Have to Wait Forever

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This happens without fail; I get to the store and ask how long the wait is? And a rep tells me it’ll be 15 minutes. Would you like to sign in? I say yes, and they say, oops, we just got an influx of customers. It’ll be an hour and 45 minutes.

Possibly Even Longer than That

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Oh, I’m sorry, you’re here to change your plan? This is the line for people signing up for a new phone. I’ll put you in the plan changing line for another 45 minutes. What is this, the DMV?!

They’ll Always Try to Sell You a New Phone

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Oh, you came in here to switch your data limit? What would go great with a different data limit? This brand new smartphone!

Then They’ll Try to Sell You a New Plan

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They’ll try to distract you with Kim Kardashian but repeat after me. You do not need a new data plan.

That is More Expensive Yet Gives You Less Data than Your Old Plan

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Okay, so with this new plan, I’ll pay $100 more than I’m paying now; but I’ll get 20GB less data. Why would I switch to this? Oh, right. Because the corporate office wants to get me off this grandfathered unlimited plan. Yeah, no thanks!

Everything Has a Fee

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If you want to change your name from Sarah to Tom on your account. You’ll pay a name change fee of $20. it, what?

Are You Sure You Want to Cancel?

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I know you haven’t used this phone for two and a half years. But are you sure you want to cancel?

Are You Sure that You’re Sure?

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If you cancel this line, you won’t be able to reactivate it without paying the reactivation fee. Are you positive?

Unfortunately, I Am Unable to Cancel Your Service at this Time.

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Oh man, my system’s down. Looks like you’ll have to call the hotline to cancel this phone. So, I accidentally added three extra lines to your account. So you’ll have to cancel those, too; there will be a $35 cancellation fee per line. That cool?

Don’t Even Think About Asking Them to Fix Anything

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Having a problem with your Galaxy S5? Have you tried turning it off and then turning it back on again? Hang on a moment while I email Samsung customer service.