If you’ve been following me on Twitter over the past week, I’m sure you’ve seen at least one of my posts on how Verizon is giving me a hard time with replacing my phone. This is more of a rant than anything else, but I wanted to make this post, so anyone else out there with Verizon Wireless problems, can share their experiences.
Here’s how it all went down… the other day I went out in my friends boat and they put my LG Voyager in their back so it wouldn’t get wet. Unfortunately some water drained into the back of the boat where the back was, and the LG Voyager sucked in the moisture (but wasn’t wet). At this point I wasn’t able to get my phone working, or even turned on.
Later that night I went to the mall to visit the Verizon Wireless store and talk with my sales manager there. The only reason why I am still will Verizon, is because my sales manager is awesome and can always get stuff done. So I went to the store and my guy was there, showed him the phone and he immediately asked, “what kind of liquid did you get in here?“. He could see that the charger area was already corroded. So at that point he said there was nothing he could do, mainly because I didn’t have insurance on the phone. (You know, whenever you actually get insurance you never need it… but the one time you don’t!)
So I went home, without a new phone and hoping my LG Voyager would dry out and come back to life. Later that night while watching TV I heard my phone start beeping… it came back to life! Everything is fine on it now, except none of the QWERTY keyboard keys inside work the phone. So I called my sales manager up and let him know it came back on, he then said I could get a replacement phone and battery for $79. Awesome, right!? Unfortunately he wouldn’t be back til Thursday (it was Sunday night this happened).
Monday came and I went to the mall to tell them my situation and that my sales manager said I could get it replaced. The person at the Customer Service desk started giving me a hard time and saying “we don’t do exchanges”… I told her I was in the previous day and talked with my sales manager, then she went and talked to her manager. She then came back and said it could be done, but they wouldn’t have the LG Voyager phones in till Thursday. However, she did make a note in the system that I would be approved for the exchange for $79.
Thursday comes and I head over to the Verizon Wireless store again. My sales manager left early, so I have to deal with the people in Customer Service again. I get the same attitude and story again… that they won’t replace or exchange the phone. I told the girl it was in the system, and she still didn’t care… her response was “well, that just means some one wrote it, and we don’t always acknowledge that”… so wtf does that mean! I knew my sales manager would be in the next day… so I just left.
Now it’s Friday, I call Verizon Wireless and make sure my sales manager is there so I don’t waste my time yet again, he’s in! I head over, talk to him and I’m ready for the exchange. He talks to his manager then tells me that “management” yelled at everyone yesterday and told them to “turn in their badges if they give any discounts or deals”. So once again… I’m screwed… after being promised by a customer service worker and my sales manager that I could get my phone exchanged for $79 instead of buying a whole new phone.
So I asked what my options were… my sales manager went to his manager a few more times and he was finally able to get me an LG Voyager for the price of a one year contract… which came out to $270 (-$50 rebate. So now I have to pay the $270 instead of the $79 I was initially promised.
In addition to everything I’ve written and gone through… here’s my breakdown of why Verizon Wireless Sucks!
- Horrible Customer Service Staff / Department
If you’ve ever been to a Verizon Wireless store, the Customer Service Department is usually crammed into a corner and no one ever has a smile on their face. The worst part is, these people have the worst attitude and everyone thinks they are a god. Because they were dealt with a poor position for a job, they seem to take it out on their customers… usually not solving most peoples problems.
- Upper Management Doesn’t Care About You
While employees and sales managers are doing their best to signup and help new customers, the upper management either stays in the back room never to be seen, or not at the Verizon Wireless locations at all. Again, the only reason why I am still with Verizon is because my sales manager is awesome. Now his job is being threatened by Verizon for trying to help customers, like myself, with phone problems and staying a member. I pays over $250 a month for the several phones on my plan, which comes out to $3,000+ a year…. but Verizon doesn’t care, I’m just a number among millions to them.
This was my rant and as long as it was, you get the point of how frustrating it has been. We all conduct business online and know what expectations we want others to have of us, and I would be mortified if someone felt this way about my business.
Are you with Verizon Wireless and have you had any complaints with them?
We are down to the last few “Blog Revenue Reports” for the blog, as the case study comes to an end with November 2008’s report… making it a full 1 year case study. When I first started ZacJohnson.com, I never would have expected it to be as promising and valuable as it is today. It’s simply amazing how many people are reading the blog, and the amount of exposure it’s given to me. Now whenever I attend an event or conference, everyone is telling me how they read the blog. That is just awesome!
Back to the blog report… July’s numbers came in at $4,101.18 profit and a break down of this month’s numbers are below.
AUGUST 2008 BLOG REVENUE REPORT:
- Affiliate Sales/Referrals: $2,774.88
- Private Ad Sales: $1,333.33 Total Revenue: $4,108.21
The only ad costs I have running on the site right now is for the Miva campaign I setup months ago. I was sure that I turned off the “auto-replenish” of funds, but apparently not… so they gigged me for another $250 into my balance. Once that is depleted I will close out the traffic from Miva.
For the most part, the numbers between July and August are nearly identical. The blog generated over $4,000 in profit again, so hopefully that is the bottom and low amount for the blog to hit. I expect much larger numbers for the month of September, not only because it’s when things start picking up again… but I’m also determined to write at least one post every day. So far it has been going well, but it is quite a job to accomplish. I’m looking forward to seeing the final numbers for the September.
If you haven’t already, follow me on Twitter and be sure to submit your questions and requests for future posts. Thanks for being a reader!
Last night I was in the kitchen, then Reena called me in for a new Bill Gates / Windows commercial. I ran in just as it started… so what the heck was it all about!?! For those of you that haven’t seen it yet, watch it now, then proceed with the post.
So… what was that all about? Besides a Mega-BILLIONAIRE hanging out with a MEGA-Millionaire… and a mega billion dollar company spending big bucks on a 1:30 second commercial… which seemed like a mini movie trailer. While many viewers were probably left scratching their heads and saying “WTF was that!“… others have their ownopinions. For those not interested in reading into it all too much, this commercial was the first of a series (just like the “I’m a Mac/PC Commercials”)… from Microsoft and their $300 million campaign for Windows.
As the commercial comes to an end, Seinfeld asks Gates if Microsoft will “come out with something that makes our computers moist and chewy like cake so we can just eat them while we’re working.” Gates wiggles his rear to answer in the affirmative. The commercial ends with the Windows logo and the phrase “Delicious.”
What is this hinting?… probably in the area that Microsoft still has a few tricks up their sleeves and that they will still be around for years and years to come. With FireFox and Apple gaining market share every day, and the new release of Google Chrome… Microsoft has plenty to worry about, but they are so huge in size, they have the man power and money to make things happen. In the meantime, we will all have to wait for those moist and chewy computers to come out.
What did you think of the commercial and is this your first time seeing it?
In a previous post, I was talking about As Seen on TV products and how they are rapidly spreading across the affiliate networks. I thought it would make for a fun case study to throw together a blog and a few landing pages to promote a few of these offers. In addition to any revenue that may come through the new site, I also want to stir up some ideas for you to possibly make some money with these offers as well. In this setup, I was targeting towards the concepts of creating individual landing pages for ppc, along with a blog for free search traffic as the site ages.
First off, I was playing around with my free landing page template, and created a custom landing page for the Shamwow offer. I think it came out pretty decent, and in a short amount of time as well. (UPDATE: Just to make clear to everyone, the Shamwow offer is available on networks as marketable through email/banners only. The landing page setup below is shown as an example only, and will not be used for ppc marketing. Refer to MarketLeverage for various AsSeenOnTV offers which can be promoted through Email/Search/Web.)
Next, I wanted to create a blog around the offer, not only to create more content and relevant links… but to further help with it’s indexing in the search engines so I can pull in targeted free traffic down the road. Since UniqueBlogDesigns just came out with their new Citrus Design, I decided to throw something together. I chose the domain name AsSeenOnTV-Products.net. Nothing that special, but it’s targeted and get the job done. The blog was quickly thrown up and not heavily monetized. I have also written a few posts for the blog to update with over the next few weeks.
After creating the Shamwow landing page and writing up some content for the new blog, everything is now live. It’s not the prettiest setup, but it works… and the goal is to continually add new content over time, targeting towards different “As Seen on TV” products. In addition to the many networks carrying these “As Seen on TV” campaigns, (mainly seen on MarketLeverage, HydraNetwork and CX Digital), you can also promote a TON more of their offers directly through the AsSeenOnTV.com affiliate program.
As more offers become available on the networks, I may keep adding a few of them to the site. In a few weeks I will write a follow up post to see what type of traffic the blog is pulling in from the search engines. In a test like this, it’s important to remember that you are already going to pull in targeted traffic, so it isn’t so much of a issue of quantity but quality. If you can spend a day and a few hours a month putting together a decent content site, it can make you money all year round.
I’m very excited to announce that I will be speaking on a panel (Making Money Online with a Blog) at BlogWorld with some of the greatest marketers and bloggers of our time. What first started out as a myself, John Chow and Jim Kukral (moderator), has since turned into a super panel with Darren Rowse (ProBlogger), Jeremy Schoemaker (ShoeMoney) and Brian Clark (CopyBlogger). This is sure to be most anticipated session of BlogWorld 2008. There is a massive RSS readership of 151,030 spanning across the bloggers featured on this panel.
If you are still undecided if you should attend the event, I would highly recommend doing what you can to get there this year. Last year was the first BlogWorld Expo event and it was awesome. I got to personally meet with big timers like Marc Cuban, Gary Vaynerchuk, Unique Blog Designs, John Chow, Neil Patel, Leo Laporte and many others for the first time.
CONTEST TIME! Win a FREE PASS!
I was fortunate enough to secure ONE FULL Blog World EXPO PASS Valued at $400. I thought it would be best to give this away to one of my loyal blog readers. This contest is going to be short and simple… considering BlogWorld is just weeks away! To enter and win, all you need to do is write a post on your blog on why you want to attend BlogWorld Expo in Las Vegas, and link back to this blog post. A winner will be selected on Friday the 12th of September. BlogWorld is held on the 19th and 20th, so make sure you can make full accommodations to attend the event! Good Luck!
There are a lot of ways you can start making money online. One of the quickest and most profitable methods is through Pay Per Click marketing. Please read my "Super Affiliate's Guide to Pay Per Click Marketing" to see if it's right for you. I recommend using the following ad networks to run offers from.
"With great power comes great responsibility".... my Uncle Ben told me that. Haha, just kidding! I'm Zac Johnson and I've been making money online for over 10 years now. In short, I started making money online while I was in high school... but my passion for marketing and making money goes back way earlier than that. I created ZacJohnson.com to help motivate you to start making money online, and live the life the you always dreamed of. [Read my full bio...]
If you’ve been following me on Twitter over the past week, I’m sure you’ve seen at least one of my posts on how Verizon is giving me a hard time with replacing my phone. This is more of a rant than anything else, but I wanted to make this post, so anyone else out there with Verizon Wireless problems, can share their experiences.
So I went home, without a new phone and hoping my LG Voyager would dry out and come back to life. Later that night while watching TV I heard my phone start beeping… it came back to life! Everything is fine on it now, except none of the QWERTY keyboard keys inside work the phone. So I called my sales manager up and let him know it came back on, he then said I could get a replacement phone and battery for $79. Awesome, right!? Unfortunately he wouldn’t be back til Thursday (it was Sunday night this happened).
As the commercial comes to an end, Seinfeld asks Gates if Microsoft will “come out with something that makes our computers moist and chewy like cake so we can just eat them while we’re working.” Gates wiggles his rear to answer in the affirmative. The commercial ends with the Windows logo and the phrase “Delicious.”
As more offers become available on the networks, I may keep adding a few of them to the site. In a few weeks I will write a follow up post to see what type of traffic the blog is pulling in from the search engines. In a test like this, it’s important to remember that you are already going to pull in targeted traffic, so it isn’t so much of a issue of quantity but quality. If you can spend a day and a few hours a month putting together a decent content site, it can make you money all year round.
"With great power comes great responsibility".... my Uncle Ben told me that. Haha, just kidding! I'm Zac Johnson and I've been making money online for over 10 years now. In short, I started making money online while I was in high school... but my passion for marketing and making money goes back way earlier than that. I created ZacJohnson.com to help motivate you to start making money online, and live the life the you always dreamed of.