JANUARY 22, 2009

Don’t Judge Me By Area Code

When I signed up for FiOS service back in November, I was thrilled, to say the least. I loved the internet speed and was overwhelmed with the deluge of TV channels. However, I recently noticed an error on my bill and have accepted that the honeymoon phase is most likely over.

While I value the service Verizon gives me, the customer service  leaves a lot to be desired. Every time I call Verizon, they always ask for my phone number, regardless of what I am calling about. I know that when I enter my Verizon Wireless phone number one of two will things happen: they either assume I want to talk about my cellular service and forward the call to Verizon Wireless, or they look at the “978″ area code and transfer me to the New England regional office.  The latter happened earlier today.

The first operator whom I spoke with was really confused that I could live in Arlington, VA with a “978″ number (Massachusetts). Why this was confusing in this day and age, I’m not sure, however, the representative proceeded to transfer me to five different representatives - each asked for my number, I might add - and all of them informed me that I was at the wrong place and forwarded my call. Every time I reached someone new I explained the situation to them, but it appeared to make no difference.

Frustration.

But then I had an idea.  I lied.  It’s unfortunate, but I simply told the next customer representative that I actually did not have a phone number. Without a phone number, the representative had to ask me for my Verizon Account number, and then we were able to address the issue quickly and with no other problems.

While I was fully satisfied with the “friendliness” of the representatives, I value my time, and I take issue with the process (or lack thereof) they use to organize calls and accounts. Like my personalized license plate, my phone number is a little piece of my identity- it says I’m from Massachusetts and I’m proud of it - and I’m not going to change my number to make Verizon a little bit easier to talk to.  It used to be that area codes identified the state/city/county of the caller; in today’s world, however, that function is outdated.  The FCC established phone number portability so consumers could keep their numbers without maintaining loyalty to a provider. The rise of VoIP phone service has also contributed to the death of the area code.

So, Verizon, if you’re listening: make a simple change - ask for the account number from now on, not the phone number!