A story of a broken web site, a broken customer service process, and the negotiation for some form of compensation.

1. THE VERIZON EXPERIENCE
A MULTI-SESSION NEGOTIATION
B. WALTUCK

2. THE BACK STORY
• Home telephone VOIP.
• System has a battery backup for power failure operation
• Battery beeps audibly when beginning to fail
• The battery began beeping on February 4th
• I had purchased a replacement battery once before. It was a simple process on
the Verizon web site. The battery costs $39.99

3. THE FIRST ATTEMPT
• On February 4th, I tried to buy the battery online
• I could quickly and easily select the battery and put it into my online cart
• But trying to checkout kept bringing up a web page that offered various other
accessory items
• I could see the battery was in my cart but I could not check out and buy it
• NOW WHAT?

4. THE FIRST CONVERSATION
• Verizon offers online live chat with customer service reps
• On the 4th, I chatted online for about 20 minutes
• I was then referred to the technical support rep online
• I was told that Verizon was aware that the web site was broken
• I was told that Verizon did not know when the web site would be fixed
• I was not offered any option to obtain the battery in any other way
• WHAT WOULD YOU DO NEXT?
• WHAT WOULD BE YOUR NEGOTIATION MOTIVATION AND STYLE?

5. THE NEXT TEN DAYS
• Over the following ten days, I made several more attempts to log in to the
Verizon site and purchase the battery
• Each time, the site did not work. It was the same as the first time.
• I had multiple chats with online service and tech reps
• I was told that Verizon had no idea when the web site would be fixed
• WHAT ELSE WOULD YOU WANT TO KNOW, TO INFORM YOUR NEGOTIATION?

6. THE ALTERNATIVE SUGGESTION
• On the second chat with a service rep, I was told that some local Verizon phone
franchisee stores carried the batteries.
• I was given a link to search by zip code for local area stores that might have the
battery
• Calling one local store, I was told that while they did not have the battery, there was a
store 25minutes from my home that did have it.
• I called that store three times. Each time I got a message asking for my name and
number.
• WHAT WOULD YOU DO NEXT?

7. THE STORE EXPERIENCE
• So about six days on, I happened to be within 20 minutes of the store. I
decided to go.
• The sole clerk was rather abrupt. She told me they did not carry the batteries
and never had. She told me the store has “chronic problems” with their
phones, and callers are often not answered.
• HOW WOULD THIS IMPACT YOUR ONGOING NEGOTIATION AND EFFORT
WITH VERIZON TO OBTAIN THE BATTERY?

8. BACK TO THE WEB
• I made a third attempt to buy the battery online. The web site had the same
problem as on the first try.
• I had yet another chat with a customer service rep online. From the person’s
spelling, grammar, and word usage, I concluded they were not a native English
speaker.
• This person offered to take my name and credit card in the chat window and
get me the battery.
• WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

9. FEBRUARY 13, YET ANOTHER TRY
• At around 7:15p.m. I tried yet again to buy the battery.
• The web site was still broken.
• I entered an online chat with a service rep named Charmi.
• Charmi had no idea about the broken site or that Verizon had repeatedly
acknowledged the site problem.
• Charmi first insisted I use a link they provided, to try to buy the battery.
• It was the same page I was already on, and gave an error message when I tried
to add another battery to my cart (limit of one).
• I was then transferred to another technical rep, Larry

10. HATS OFF TO LARRY (AN OLD SONG
TITLE)
• Within two minutes of hearing my story, Larry offered to ship me the battery
and bill it to my account.
• He told me this is what should have been done on Day 1. He could not explain
why I had been treated as I was for ten days.
• He said shipping would be UPS ground- a week before I would receive the
battery.
• WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

11. THE DEAL. . . AND THEN. . .
• I accepted Larry’s offer.
• AND THEN. . .
• Followed my participation in a weekly global Twitter chat on customer service
with a series of tweets about what had happened. I tagged Verizon, Customer
Service, and Fail in these tweets. This was around 10:05 p.m. last night.
• WHAT WAS MY NEGOTIATION INTENTION? ASPIRATION? BATNA?

12. THE SOCMED EXPERIENCE
• Within minutes, Verizon’s Twitter account rep on duty had spotted my tweets
and responded.
• They asked me to leave the public forum and go instead to Direct Messaging-
a private correspondence.
• WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

13. (NOT SO) PRIVATE
CORRESPONDENCE
• The Twitter rep for Verizon was very nice, and genuinely heard my story.
• They saw my direct request for “valuable consideration” n return for my
having had to go through not just the four online chats over ten days of the
broken site, but the hour of negotiation that evening, leading up to Larry’s
offer to ship the battery.
• I evaluated my position based on ten days lost; four long online fruitless chats;
a wasted trip to a store that had been represented as having the batteries; and
an hour-long negotiation with Charmi then Larry.

14. THE LEVELER
• Just as the online chats always said they were being monitored and recorded by
Verizon, I was using an iPad, and taking screen photos of the entire Twitter
conversation.
• The Twitter rep said that Verizon could, and would, make some accommodation of
value back to me for my experience. But to do so, I had to follow a link back to an
online chat representative.
• This private Twitter correspondence had then taken over an hour. It was 11:55p.m.
• WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

15. SAY HELLO TO ISAAC
• The online rep was Isaac. After nearly 90 minutes with the Twitter rep, I fully expected
Isaac had been briefed on my identity, and had read the Verizon notes on my chats and
case.
• But no. It was clear that Isaac was taking this chat cold, and was totally unfamiliar with
my experience.
• I asked Isaac three times directly to answer if he had read the nites and knew my story.
He evaded answering at first. He finally admitted he was only then reading the notes
and I needed to be patient with him.
• WHAT WOULD YOU DO NOW?

16. THE OFFER
• After more than 30 minutes, now around 12:30a.m., Isaac offered to refund me
the cost of the battery.
• WAS THIS SUFFICIENT COMPENSATION FOR ALL OF MY EXPERIENCE WITH
VERIZON IN THIS MATTER?
• WHAT WOULD YOUR COUNTER-OFFER BE?
• The following slides have the screen captures of my exchange and negotiation
with Isaac, and the conclusion of this negotiation at 1:01a.m.

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39. 23 OF 24: BACK TO TWITTER DM

40. 24 OF 24: AND NOW. . . ?