I am posting the complaint letter I just sent to Verizon Wireless:

Dear Customer Service or "Higher" supervisor, 06/04/2008.

I had a terrible experience with your company and customer service yesterday. I have been in the customer service field before and by just being who I am, (fair, honest, good to people, logical...) it has made me more aware when others really drop the ball. The call started by me explaining how my cell phone was defective, and how I had already made several calls to them and during transferring me to other departments, I had my call dropped completely already two times. In total I have spoken to probably 7 people. I remained calm and polite while explaining my deep frustrations with them so far, and added that I was an extremely understanding and patient person. I had received a defective phone and another identical replacement which turned out to have even worse problems, and now I was requesting to go with a completely different phone combined with having read reviews on the internet about the problems people were having with this model. (also I noticed that this model was no linger even offered on their website for sale). The representative apologized to me about my trouble but the promise was empty. He began by saying he could only send me the same model again. I explained that after speaking to a few people already there that they had already told me that I could get a different phone (I asked him to look and my account had not been noted.. and he acted like he didn’t believe me stating that “policy”... I advised that I had already been told that this was an option and perhaps if he didn’t believe that my calls and transfers maybe he could pull up my calling history and see proof of my calls and which dept they went to.. I had also been transferred to trouble shooting that advised, “yes, it did appear that my cell did appear to have a software problem. I told him that I felt that he didn’t believe me and (almost jokingly) if he wanted, I could send letters stating my moral character, and that my life and my profession were very reputable and I am only looking for a “fair” resolution and a phone of my choice –even willing to pay more-. He advised that by “their policy” he could offer me a phone (of his choosing) of “equal or lesser value”. I paid $270.00 for my phone only a few months previously. (not discounted, but $270!) He offered me only two options of very basic phones that retailed for $79.00, or the phones that come free with a contract. (One phone was a model which my son had once and he had had problems with.) Representative said I was not eligible for “an upgrade” (I added I was not asking for ‘free’ upgrade, was willing to pay for it). “The policy” was that if I wanted a phone other than the two basic ones they chose I had to pay full retail price. Again.. the phone they sold me, and the replacement Both were defective!!! When I asked to speak to a supervisor he advised that he was the supervisor, when I asked to speak to “who ever was over him, he told me that it would not do any good that again..”this was their policy”, and then started trying to tell me something off the subject like how Verizon doesn’t make their money on the phones, they make it on air time... ??? I told him I even offered to pay “the difference” if he could allow me to choose a different phone.. then I got the same replies.. “that it was ‘policy’.. that me choosing a different phone was viewed as an upgrade and I wasn’t eligible for that until December. Clearly he was not giving me any other option or allowing me to speak to anyone else that it would not do me any good to speak to anyone else and even stating that "I wasn't the first person with a complaint like this today and would not be the last"..!!! I had spent over an hour on the line with people, and being a busy person, I did not have anymore time to talk with anyone else at this point and wouldn't know how to even express all that had happened again. (My son was also in surgery). I wish you could've heard the call and how unbelievable it was.

Ultimately, I felt that I did not matter to the company, that nothing I said was heard or made a difference and that I and my business did not matter. I spend only about $200 a month with them plus equipment... so more than $3, 000 a year just isn’t enough to be important to them. (single mother, 3 phone lines) Of course I am looking into going with a different company. With the economy the way it is, I cannot imagine that people like me don't matter to your company. I will be posting this on many websites as well as passing it along to everyone I know as a warning to them. I hope that if nothing else, this will help your customer service department in the future.

Sincerely, Tina (deleted for this posting).