It’s 2018 to Us, It’s 1980 to Verizon

How exciting, Verizon seems to have a product called Onetalk that will allow our staff to integrate their VOIP and cell number on a single device. And, it has IVR and also multi-ring capability It sounds interesting.

So I went to purchase it so I could be a guinea pig for our company.

You cannot add it on as a “feature” to your line. So quit looking for it in the MyVerizon section or you will waste a bunch of time like I did.

You have to fo to their special website with the catchy URL: https://www.verizonwireless.com/biz/productivity/one-talk/

Yeah, it looks interesting. I’ll try it. How much is it?

Huh? They don’t list the price on their website. That usually means it is expensive.

Oh, I can’t just buy it. I have to fill out a form so that a sales rep will call me back. The form is long…my name, company, title, address, city, state, zip, oh-come-on-get-done-with-it, my industry, my company size, my business needs, more…sheesh do they really need any of this stuff to sell me a phone feature?

Finished with the form. Now, I need to WAIT for a rep to call me back.

This is very 1980s.

Don’t they realize it is a weekend, I am on my “playtime” to try new things, and that when the rep calls me back during business hours I will probably be in a meeting or super busy and won’t have time to talk about their little feature?

How is it possible that Verizon thinks this is a reasonable way to do business? Just let me buy it and try it. I am a big boy. I can fill in the VOIP settings and even configure our PBX. I am a big boy.

I just hate when companies don’t allow self-service.

Verizon, please enter the 2000s. Please.