If you’d prefer not listening to me rant and rage, close this page now. My visit to Verizon was 5 hours long. I was so upset I missed Rick’s therapy appointment and I didn’t even make it back to the fair because I didn’t get home until after 4. I have tried to avoid this visit for so long but since my phone wouldn’t hold a charge for even a few hours I had to go.
I got there right at 10 with the plan of making an appt for next week but the guy who greeted me said he had no one else in line and he’d be glad to help. I wanted to move Rick’s and my phones and my IPad to a personal account from our business account since were closing the corporation. I went to Verizon for HELP because I didn’t know how to do it – they can set up accounts but can’t transfer accounts. What? He gave me the phone number for Customer Service that I reached after many prompts. I talked to the first guy who had such a thick accent I could not understand him. Sound familiar? Gave me several pins and passwords and links to start the process. Good thing the first guy gave me a pad of post-its. Before he passed my call on he wondered if he had done a good job and wanted a good recommendation on the survey. He literally would not transfer my call until I agreed!
Next gal in the transfer brow beat me until I cried. This is me 2 hours into the process. When my first guy came back he apologized.
This is the counter in front of me.
I didn’t have my checkbook to set up autopay and that or a debit card is the only accepted method of paying in autopay. There is a $20 monthly discount for autopay. No credit card – because you might not pay your bill? I don’t know. Then the discount I had gotten on the service made my debit card invalid. Seriously? The gal on the phone was so exasperated with me – I put the phone down and she called me back! To set that up I needed my pin – PIN??? All my passwords, etc were at home in a book. So in the middle of all of this I had to reset passwords!
Now can you see why I was crying in frustration? Finally my store rep came back after I hung up my phone and I reminded him I came to get a new phone. By this point I didn’t care what it looked like or what case it came in. And what accessories did I want?
Phone was available in store and then we had to get signed into Apple. Did I know my password? No. To copy everything over to my new phone would take about an hour and 15 min. Soooo hot outside – I went to McDonalds to buy a 99cent Diet Coke. Nope. Everything on their dollar menu has gone up to 1.39 including tax – UNLESS you order it online! Once again my head is screaming!
Back to Verizon. My rep was busy but he said my phone was ready. Nothing about trading in my old phone and another guy offered to look into it. I asked if it would take any amount of time and he said he was afraid it probably would. I left with two phones, one old and one new. At that point I didn’t care if they offered me $500 for my old phone – I wasn’t sticking around. By this time it was 4 pm.
When I got home the dogs thought I had deserted them and Rick had to listen to me rant and rave about my day. Everybody in the barn needed water, there was supper to fix, litter boxes to clean – you know. I wonder what my blood pressure must have been!
This morning my new phone is not showing me the notifications on my home page – didn’t he assure me my new phone had everything on it from my old phone?
That’s my rant about Verizon. Thanks for reading. On to more pleasant things. Judging at the fair. Really? I honestly never remembered about the gloves and I like the fact that everybody can listen in while the judge is working. After your very interesting comments I have several ideas for next year and they’re either going to be accepted or I’m done.
Reader quilts
Vicki’s guild hd a challenge to use receipt tape to make quilts and here are 3 of hers – what great fun!! I want to do this.
While I was waiting for Verizon I stopped at Goodwill and found this planter box for $4.00. Rick made dozens of these 25+ years ago and this is definitely his work.
Also found this piece of ironstone for $3.
RAGBRAI update – they rode 93 hilly miles yesterday in temps reaching nearly 100 – they are super humans!
Today is a pedicure and the fair. I need to get there by 4 – will I make it? I am supposed to be there signing books – yes, Susannah goes to the fair!
Last night as I walked the dogs before bed I took this picture of the barn. This might be what brought my blood pressure down. Haha!
I sympathize with your Verizon experience, but to see the barn at the end—-that is the most beautiful photo I have seen on your blog!!!!
Try denture cleaning tablets/water on your ironstone. It should lighten if not remove the stains. Love that you purchased back something of your own!
Myrna – I like the old patina and spots – the story of the bowl through the years.
The ironstone piece is the same pattern my great grandparents had for their wedding dishes! A very few pieces still remain in the family. 1890 timeline I believe.
We love Oh Susannah!! Hope you sell a bundle at the fair.
We switched to Consumer Cellular. After 20 years with Verizon they did not recognize my address or phone number. And don’t get me started on pins and passwords.
I will Google receipt quilt. Looks like the ultimate stash buster.
Your barn is a beauty.
May today be better.
I am so sorry for your Verizon visit. We have ATT and I avoid going there at all costs also. What should take an hour at most always takes 5 and I still don’t have all the answers I want. All those phone stores are the most aggravating I go to.
But on a positive note, your photo of the barn is glorious and your find if one of Rick’s creations is so fun!!! Take care and try to enjoy the day.
OH, Mary! What a terrible experience you had. Verizon is a company that loves to hold people hostage. We had a similar time with them a little over a year ago. We spend hours and days in their building. Now,I need to talk to them again but dread it so badly. I really hope your new phone(s) operate perfectly so that you don’t have to go there again.
Have a Purr-fect day today….
I feel your pain with swapping out phones, what a hassle. Isn’t it amazing how they can sell you a phone but can’t cancel an account. I have found that if I can’t understand someone on the phone, I just tell them and ask to be transferred to another agent. I’m sorry your day was such a pain in the %&*. Your view of the barn at night is pure bliss and it just says it all under the Iowa sky. I hope today is much better.
My husband I spent the day exploring one of the neighboring towns and had a blast wandering through antique shops, gift shops and thrift shops. We managed to hit the farmer market and get a nice cup of coffee from a truly quaint shop.
Oh,Mary I hear you about the technology frustrations! I had to have my daughter come over and reset my mom’s TV to factory settings because we couldn’t get video on demand off. It just was on her TV one day and we did not order it. Had to go to goggle and look up how to change it. They sure have left us older folks out of the loop. Have a good day at the fair.
I am so sorry your day was a rough one. Anytime I have to change something regarding my phone or computer I am so stressed out. I know how you felt this happened to me about a month ago. I hope it will be a better day today. Thank you for sharing all your animals and stories with us. Your pictures make my day.
Gosh Mary I’m sorry for your day. I start to shake if I know that I will have any dealings with Verizon. I HATE it. The young technie know it alls just we’re not taught about us older folk who do not intuitively know how to work our way through this new technology. It’s disgusting. But Verizon is certainly willing to take my money yet not give a fig about customer service. Never mind common courtesy. I feel trapped sometimes in this new techie world when I realize there is no way out. We are forced to do business the new way. Arghhhh.
Jean – BINGO! You are exactly right about everything! Yes, they were willing to take my $1000, weren’t they?
I’m here to tell you AT&T isn’t any better. I’ve been putting off a visit for over 6 months! I learned by a iPad problem dealing with Best Buy you always need to take your password notebook with you!
Oh, Mary! What an awful exasperating experience! We have our daughter go with us whenever we switch phones because we don’t know if they are being honest with us or taking advantage of our electronics ignorance. Still has taken a couple of hours usually. We are waiting on a day now for her to help again. Girl, I feel your pain! The guy should have taken care of it all for you! I have forgotten my passwords too and feel like such a dunce. I have taken to writing it down and putting it in my purse. I bet Verizon would like to know how awfully frustrating your visit was and terrible customer service! Stomp, stomp.
I hope your day today will be so much better. Vicki’s quilts are great! I hope she can share the instructions 😻 Sending virtual hugs 🤗
I am so sorry you had such a rotten day! Technology is wonderful, until it isn’t… so much red tape, unnecessary run arounds, and less than helpful assistance! That photo of your barn is so very calming. Hope today is so much better!
Oh Mary, your Verizon experience was a nightmare, I’m sorry you had to experience that. I don’t understand either why doing anything with your cell phone requires a minimum of three hours of your life.
I’ll share my experience from yesterday. We have a cell phone booster in our house, purchased from Verizon. Last week it stopped working. Still has power but we can’t use our phones (Verizon) while in the house. I finally called customer service yesterday and after an hour on the phone, because they kept telling me we didn’t have the device listed on our account, I was told Verizon turned it off, what? We’ve had the device since 2016 and now they turned it off without an email or a text notification. I have to go into the local store and buy a new one!! The one I have was working fine and they’ve probably doubled in price since 2016.
I hope you enjoy your day today and put that unbelievable experience behind you.
Teresa, by chance do you have the receipt for the booster or did they need to help you set it up to work in the first place. I would try calling back and ask for a supervisor right away and explain the issue before you have to waste money on a new one. There has to be some way for them to see you had this device. I feel for you too though. Good luck with this issue too.
Hi Teresa, the person I dealt with was able to see that we’ve had the device since 2016, it was assigned a phone number for identification on our account just like an iPad is so it shows up on our monthly bill even though there aren’t monthly charges for having it. Her only explanation is that for whatever reason, the device was deactivated and that’s why it wasn’t showing up on our account any longer. Basically no explanation, no notification just turned it off. I have a nephew who works for Verizon so I’m waiting to hear from him if he can help me get this one reactivated or just what the heck, right? He’s helped me with issues before but he’s in another state so I have to wait until he has time to message about it because they can’t be on their phones while in the store helping people. Verizon wants you walking through the door.
Good luck with this. I too hate dealing with these companies. Hope it goes well and you don’t have to purchase a new one.
Is there a reason you stay with Verizon? I’ve had really good service from AT&T.
I feel for you, Mary, technology can be so frustrating! Seems like I’m asking such a simple question and I get blown out of the water by their “help”. Usually it ends in tears for me too.
I just recently said to my husband “WHY is everything so difficult anymore?!” Your experience is an example! Mike retired earlier this year and when we had to make some changes to his phone it became so difficult that he/we gave up and he said he doesn’t need it anymore! Of course I can’t reach him anymore anytime he goes anywhere but he is the one who would leave the phone home anyway!! What an awful experience for you!
I don’t know anything about “receipt quilts” either. Vicki sure can make a lot of quilts! It’s impressive!
Do your areas have emergency alert systems? We have 2 land lines and I find it ridiculous that they have a recorded message that alerts us that the weather is hot! Really – who would not notice? Yep, it’s hot in Md.
LOL!!! Yep! Jan in MA
I avoid going into the phone store at all costs!!!! I got my new phone online last time and I have to say it was surprisingly hassle free. I didn’t even have to ask a son for help Haha! We’ve had Verizon since they were Alltel lol. We probably should look into piece comparisons, but honestly, I think they are all out to get us one way or another, so why bother? I sure hope you get it all sorted to your satisfaction. Have a blessed day!
Vicki in Seattle – Can you get me in touch with her I would like the patterns for her receipt quilts. Thanks. Love reading your blog. Had problems with Verizon myselt but since I am in the middle of closing on a manufactured home I do not want to jeopardize anything right now now I am holding off on finding another carrier.
Cecilia, Google search for receipt tape or adding machine tape quilts. They will show how to sew the scraps to the receipts.
There are no patterns for these quilts. I just put the strips on my design wall and played around. I have been trying to use up pieces in my “PARTS DEPARTMENT” so the flying geese and triangles were added for visual interest and eye candy! Enjoy using up your scraps!!😄
Forgot to say…. How wonderful to find the planter that Rick made. It is so pretty! Loved the dish and your picture of the barn is beautiful! I know every person who gets Oh, Susannah will love it!! Made me want an baby goat…haha
So sorry about your Verizon visit, so frustrating!! The barn picture is just beautiful! Hope you have a better day today 😊
So sorry for your troubles with Verizon! I have very little patience for technology, and when I needed a new phone, which was 5 years old and no longer charging, I took the easy out, and had my son come with me.
Love the barn picture…so peaceful! And as always, appreciate all the shared quilt photos.
We had Verizon & had lots of problems so we switched to T- mobile. Our son is on our plan and with Verizon he couldn’t get service in his house. Had problems getting T-mobile set up but now it works fine. Glad we switched!
I feel your pain! Every time I deal with Verizon, I swear I will change companies. But I never do it, because they have the best reception in our rural area.
Judy, I think that’s why all of us put up with their crappy customer service, and ridiculous hoops we have to jump through when you do have an issue.
Oh, Mary! I think my blood pressure went up too just reading about your Verizon experience. That sounds like a trip to hell and back! So sorry you had to go through that! Thank the Lord you have your peaceful farm and surroundings to come home to, to pull you out of that hideous experience! What a nightmare.
Love your quilts, Vicki~ I am curious about the receipt tape thing?
Oh! Mary. I truly understand your frustration with phone service. Then to have crappy transmission at times takes the cake. All of these comments should be given to congress and told to clean up this problem.
Then to Verizon’s board of directors.
I didn’t have a cell phone till about 6 months ago. My kids made me get one because of my husband’s health issues. I told them to do it all and I’d pay them to be on their plan. I wish you had kids to take care of it for you. I don’t have grandchildren and told them they won’t have anyone to help when they’re our age.
I write my passwords and PIN’s with friction pens in a book….we’ll I took the book with me when we got the phone. Lo and behold, the heat in the car erased the ink 🙄😳. Lessons learned there.
One more rant. As a retired MaBell employee, we had to be on hold trying to connect to internal departments to get our jobs done too. A lot has changed and not always for the better.
Love the pictures today…the barn closing is a gift to me.
I think if you put the papers with heat erased fricton paper in the freezer, everything will show up again…….. Worth a try?
In the 70’s and low 80’s today and it feels wonderful. Great for the Days of 76 celebrations.
Betty in Rapid City
Dearest Mary, I am so sorry for your frustration with Verizon.
While I’ve had a cellphone for a while, I mostly got it so I could text, I rarely use it as a phone, so I have a Tracfone, currently a Samsung Galaxy. It’s cheap, less than $30 bi-monthly, and I haven’t needed customer service for anything. DH only got one, another Tracfone, a Motorola, online from Amazon during the pandemic because for health appointments he had to phone them that he had arrived in the parking lot. Although Tracfone does not have a particularly good reputation for customer service, it has not been an issue for us. BUT Donna mentioned that she has Consumer Cellular which has a better reputation for customer service. Perhaps it’s time to change providers?
I will mention that as a retired banker, I have problems with a provider of any service that will not accept a credit card and requires you to pay only thru your checking account/debit card. That would be a deal-breaker for me.
LOVE the ‘receipt tape’ quilts! What a clever way to use up leftover flying geese units and strips! : )
P.S. I will note that we still have a landline which is now fiberoptic. Our phone is ‘voice over internet’ and we have fast internet speed at 500 Mbps. Best of all, it costs less than before the switchover of the line from copper to fiberoptic.
Jeanne, did you switch to Frontier? I have heard nothing but great things about their fiber optics. We can’t get it here yet but it’s coming as lines are being run for it. I still have a land line too with them. I also use trac phone (Samsung I bought from QVC and I swear an Angel to told me to turn it on to that station 5 or 6 years ago as I rarely ever watch QVC) but I bought it and never have had an issue. We add text and minutes on as needed as I don’t use it much.
Kathy, it sounds like you are like me – primarily a landline user. : ) Actually, we’ve had Frontier since we moved into this house 30 years ago. Originally a single landline, then when DH’s then business partner complained about not being to get thru because, ahem, yours truly was online using dial-up, we got a second line. Then when we could get DSL, we dropped the second line. We are very pleased with the fiberoptic. DH emailed himself a 30 mb file from work to his personal account at home and, including other emails being received at the same time, it all downloaded within 5 seconds! So it’s fast. We’ve also had no problems with streaming which is nice – sharper picture (newer TV, also Samsung, helps) and clearer sound. The package included a new modem with an Amazon eero mesh router which boosts the wi-fi, but our house is not very big and there are just the two of us so not a lot of wireless electronics. (DH had to remind the installer about the eero unit being included at no extra charge per the letter from Frontier.) We just have one TV, a desktop, my laptop (also Samsung – seeing a pattern? LOL), and our cellphones. A bigger house or lots more wireless electronics might need additional eero unit(s). Sorry, was this too much? Are everyone’s eyes glazed over? LOL I’m just so thrilled at how well it all works!
Hope you can get your fiberoptic installed soon, Kathy! : )
Jeanne, this was so helpful for when the time comes for us to change providers. Our internet now is so slow (Spectrum) so when Frontier DSL is offered, we are ready thanks to some great tips you gave us. Our house is not large either and just the two of us. I had my husband read it so we might actually look like we know what we are talking ! Thank you again as this information is much appreciated.
You are entirely welcome, Kathy, although it will not be DSL, it will be fiberoptic, which is entirely different. Glad I could help! : )
The barn, the walk at night, and petting a cat will lower your blood pressure! That visit to Verizon sounds horrible—so sorry. When we had Verizon, I would ask for a rep that spoke slowly! I had one guy who was a trainee and I hugged him when I left after only 45 minutes! Maybe I shouldn’t mention this, but we switched to Consumer Cellular and have been very pleased. Kept our numbers etc..And, they are very reasonable and I have no trouble with being able to connect anywhere even in Amish country. I need a new phone so I will see how it goes🙀. I am not familiar with receipt quilts, but they are beautiful. I love Rick’s wooden flower holder. Neat! Hang in there Mary😀
Diane,
I hope I thanked you for the card as I knew it came the same day as a doctors appt and not sure if I properly thanked you. I too have those same quilt cards and love them. Thank you and I will get a note to you soon.
I’m sorry to hear of the ridiculous waste of your time regarding your cell phone. I don’t know why it always seems to take forever to deal with these things. I am in agreement like everyone else – your barn picture at the end was beautiful. Hope you have a much better day today.
I’m forced to agree that Verizon customer service can be awful and frustrating! Last year it took me 5 months to get them to stop charging for international service after I returned from a trip. But they have the best coverage in our area, so we stick with them. Sorry for your troubles and I hope it’s all taken care of for now.
I feel so sorry for you Mary to have had to go thru all that craziness! Shame on Verizon, one person should have stayed with you thru the whole process in my opinion!!
I have heard of receipt quilts a couple of years ago and started to collect the tape, hoping to make one in the future sure looks like fun!
How wonderful for you to have come across a planter that Rick made, what memories it must have brought back for you!
Hope you have a few peaceful and calm days, you deserve it!
Mary, your day with Verizon was horrendous! I can’t imagine tying you up that long. Horrible customer service in my opinion. And I agree with JeanneH – auto pay should always be on a credit card. You can dispute their charges. So glad you made it through the day. Sorry about missing Rick’s appointment. Your barn is fabulous! I would love to see it in person.
I love Vicki’s quilts. I’ll send a pic of one I did with yet another layout. I like the flying geese borders. So clever.
So here’s what happened here. My neighbor hired a tree guy to take down a dead tree in his back yard. It fell the wrong way and demolished his new custom built shed! Trashed! I felt so bad for both of them. Hope your day is much better than yesterday!. Enjoy the fair.
I know the feeling of trying to go the route suggested but sometimes just want someone to help me. I got a person one time who said he was in New York but there was a screeching parrot in the background. When I commented on it he said it must be MY phone. I hung up because I know he was lying. I went one time to Verizon and had to talk to a woman on the phone at the store and here I am trying to listen to her in my phone while I was supposed to be doing all this stuff on my phone. Finally I asked if I could get the same results if I swung a chicken over my head and hung up. The young man said he would deal with it and for me to go get lunch and return in an hour and it will be fixed. And it was. Sooooooo frustrating
Angie, you are funny! I called Verizon one time to report that our landline was out of service. The gal asked me if I was calling from the number that was out of service! I asked her how would do that?? There was a very long pause! Stay cool. Hotter in Balt than here on the Eastern Shore and it is HOT here too.
Oh, what a beautiful, beautiful barn picture. Maybe your next venture could be making prints from some of your lovely pictures and selling them. Sad isn’t it that life has got to be so complicated? I feel your pain with the phone hassle. Wednesday was my day to be on the phone to try and clear up who is primary payor on my dental insurance. 5 hours of my life I’ll never get back! The young agent from one company got pretty frustrated trying to get through the prompts to talk with a live person in a conference call. I was rather amused. As my FIL used to say, “illegitimi non carborundum”. (Don’t let the b*****ds get you down.) My husband brought me a bunch of receipt rolls that his office doesn’t use anymore so want to get the scraps sorted and ironed to get started on that. I never thought about using left over parts so will need to pull those also. At least I have things organized as friend came to visit last week. I started organizing my sewing room in January and had just dumped stuff in the guest room so had to finish the job in the sewing room so my friend could have room to sleep. Being a quilter, she may have stayed up all night looking thru my scraps. As it was, she took a nice bag full of things home with her. Win for both of us; we went to 4 quilt shops and I found a few things to fill my (newly) emptied space.
Hi Mary. I love your posts so much and check to see what’s going on in your life every day for the last few years. You really had a bad experience yesterday. I was complaining about having to renew my driver’s license yesterday and all the incompetence I witnessed. But your time at Verizon was a new record. I hope your weekend gets better. And I loved the picture of your beautiful barn and Hazel in there too.
Oh Mary what an appalling day at Verizon! Held hostage because of your phone! I hope Oh Susannah was a hit at the fair, I love that you bought back a planter that Rick made and what a great photo of the barn. I love barns.
We finally got a bit of rain here and slightly cooler temperatures, so all the plants are looking relieved.
Everyone seems to have the same problems with Verizon. We switched to Consumer Cellular years ago and couldn’t be happier. They have great coverage. When we have trouble, Target can help. In fact they have a tech that we go to and on the sly, I give her a $20 because she is so very good to us. If you call them on the phone, that works great too. The bill for two phones is $56.39. On another note, when companies say they won’t take a credit card, I make a fuss and come to find out, they do take credit cards – sometimes.
My new copier arrived yesterday. It only took me several hours to set it up. The tech on the phone couldn’t understand that all I wanted to know was how to install the printer cartridges. It was awful. Youtube saved the day. Irritating, but certainly not as bad as you had Mary. This is exactly why I hate leaving home. Mary, it must be such a relief to get home and stop the craziness.
Vicki in Seattle, love your quilts.
I’d mail a letter via USPS to the Executive Vice President and CEO of Verizon Consumer Group, whose name is Sowmyanarayan Sampath. Address is 1095 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.
Just send them a copy of your post.
Great idea.
Mary! I could picture it all! I call this – The Curse of The Baby Boomers! No matter what – it’s always a hassle and takes gobs of time! I’m glad your beautiful barn helped soothe you.
MO,
Thanks so much for the card! It was so festive. I loved it.
Mary I feel so bad you lost your day to such incompetent staff who lead you around in circles. It certainly gives these young people bad raps as they aren’t there to help. I won’t do business with companies who do this to their customers. I did go to McDonald drive thru for a happy meal the other day and it was $5.79, paid cash , but now I need to go back and see if it would have been cheaper ordering on an app which won’t happen with me. I don’t download apps. Nope no way just to do business with someone. Another marketing ploy.
Our news yesterday said a national bank didn’t do their direct deposit in time for some employees of a municipality and that those who had payments taken out would need to be reimbursed for any of those charges incurred cause it wasn’t there in time. I was shaking my head thinking of all that needing to be unraveled in some families day.
I started a receipts strip quilt but put it away. I was making such a big mess working on it, I just packed it up for another day playing with scraps.
I keep my passwords written on a notecard with all other pertinent information listed on the card also. I have learned the hard way that any call with bank, phone, iPad, laptop, doctor’s portal that might require a password this file goes with me. I take my cards on vacation and when I visit with my daughter in St. Louis. Those cards have saved my blood pressure many times. Fair thought and quilts was I was surprised not to see gloves on the judges and handlers. The one quilt made from squares cut from men’s shirts is a project I have been buying shirts for. I think I need to keep buying shirts. Were the square ten inch cuts? That quilt, when made, will become my travel quilt. We spend two months during the winter at various places. There is never enough blankets to keep me warm so I always take my own.
I am right there with you about Verizon. I forgot my Apple password so I went to my local Verizon store. They said they could not help me and gave me a phone number to Apple. Came home called Apple and the person that I finally got to talk to was very hard to understand and I had to keep asking him what he said and that I did not understand him!!! I have no idea what language he was speaking. He was so frustrated with me after an hour and a half and kept saying “Oh my God don’t you understand?” He said that he would have someone call me from Apple later-well I am still waiting 3 month later and STILL don’t know what my PW for Apple is!!! So I understand your frustration all too much. Why can’t we get wonderful American english speaking people for support. I don’t want to go on as I am getting angry and frustrated just writing this. Good luck to you.
Lorraine! You had me “laughing out loud”!!! I can’t imagine a customer service rep saying “oh my God” to anyone! I used to do Customer Service and this just blows my mind! I have actually asked if there was someone there that speaks English! All of this talk about the difficulties dealing with phones is really making me consider just having an old fashioned flip phone – and using a Trac Phone like Diana does. Jan in MA
I 100% agree with you on this Verizon visit. How can you talk with a person on the phone you cannot understand. I have said to people “I cannot understand you”. Jay had an experience with a phone call where he was waiting for the person to speak to him and the person said “If you are not going to say anything I am hanging up” and he did and he didn’t say “hello” in the beginning. It is difficult to explain over the phone without the person seeing what you have in hand for one thing.
Jay said it is a help to have your laptop or ipad along and google everything you want to do and follow those directions. YOu could do this in your own home. I am not undestanding why the store clerk couldn’t do more for you there. Things always take more time than planned.
I will never understand why the companies cannot print out exactly how to do these projects instead of saying “it is all on our website.”
YOu know you are not alone in wanting to do these projects.
Call Jay
The designers are super computer literate and think all the rest of us are too which we are NOT.
Love your quilts. WEre those rafters dusted off first?
Rhoda – no the rafters were THICK with dust but it comes with the territory since I want to help make the fair better for everybody. I’ll have a big job cleaning them.
I just went through the same thing with T-Mobile when they bought out my original carrier Sprint. What a hellish day—and I do mean day. I was there for 5+ hours. New phone is NOT like the old phone. And went through the same thing with auto-pay
Dorothy – identical days for you and me. I’m still in shock today and keep thinking about it. I have to stay with Verizon for 2 months but then I’m going to look around!
Mary,
Do you have US Cellular up there? That’s what I have and it works well most everywhere. When I went to Alaska several years ago, it worked there as well. We have a local store here, so that’s why we use them.
Mary! I have so much sympathy for you & I really understand what you have gone through! I can tell you stories of my issues with everything that we deal with every day lately! I just got off the phone with an insurance company who sent a letter to verify an address! The robot that answered would / could not understand anything that I said! When I finally talked to a real person it was no better! I have ended up crying so often lately after dealing with people who just don’t get it! I wonder how high my blood pressure is too after these events! It seems there is at least one issue every day! When will it get better?
I am sending photo of quilt I just finished for my sister to give to her daughter on her 50th birthday .
Mary I feel your pain with Verizon, we have had our share of issues also but we haven’t had good luck with other companies getting reception. We get lost in the valley and it drops us when just driving down the road. Lucky to get two bars at home.
Staying inside and sewing blocks together in a quilt top. Celebrating a quiet 70th and receiving calls from my siblings.
Rita,
Do you have US Cellular where you live in Iowa. We have it here in Oskaloosa, and it works real well for us. They are rather pricey, but my husband and I are on the same plan. Just a thought.
Jeanine
Jeanine we tried uUS Cellular a few years ago and couldn’t get a signal we’re we live. My have to try again. Not sure how their service is elsewhere in the US.
Rita in Iowa happy birthday!
Happy Birthday, Rita in Iowa! I’ll be 70 this year as well. Where did the time go?! Jan in MA
Rita- 70 is the new 50 so you just keep on enjoying those birthdays for a long time! Happy Day to you.
Vicki you made a lot of beautiful quilts.
Ricks planter box is a fun find. And the barn picture is so peaceful and beautiful.
As to Verizon. One of our sons is an IT guy. He takes care of our phones. Even he gets frustrated with the service he gets for things. He will tell them exactly what is going on and they still want to go through their “procedures” starting with “is your machine in the on position?”
I’ve had to go to the Apple Store with our iPhones before. It is so bright and white that it can trigger migraines. I wear my sunglasses in their store. There are so many people and so many things going on that I hate going in. Any electronic store is so stressful for me. I hope you do not have to go back to that store for anything more.
Stay cool!
I do not know how to send photo of my quilt!
Barb – click on the arrow above the photo and hit email. Then put in my address. maryehazel2020@gmail.com. Hit send
PSA – I’ve started carrying a bottle of water in a small cooler when I go out. You never know when you’ll have car trouble or be stranded in this heat.
The other day I happened upon a truck that broke down. They had the windows open and it was 104 degrees. I handed my bottle of water out the car window as I waited at the light. The passenger was so thankful for that bottle of water and I know God put me in her path. We both felt better with that one bottle of water.
Susan — what a great idea. I think I may just steal that idea and do the same. Thanks!!!!!
Susan K 💟
Susan K – what a good idea! I’m going to get a cooler right now and get it ready.
Mary, Went through this several years ago with Verizon. It’s too late now, but you could have done it all at Best Buy. Verizon was absolutely NO HELP when we tried to change hubby’s phone and my phone to a personal account rather than business account. He and I plus his office manager were at Verizon for HOURS, just like you. Finally, we went to Best Buy to get things changed over. WAY easier than dealing with Verizon. I just had to get a new iPad a few weeks ago because it just “froze.” I Googled what to do, tried everything, nothing worked. Went to a computer store that ONLY deals with Apple products. They couldn’t get it to work, either, which made me feel good. Glad it wasn’t just me. Eventually ordered a brand spanking new iPad Pro with HUGE memory. It’s not a luxury as that is how I mostly communicate with everything online. The ONE thing I needed was the document I created ON MY iPAD which had ALL of my passwords in it. And, that was the ONE thing that didn’t seem to be retrievable when they set up my new iPad. They were able to restore my iPad to when it had been automatically backed up a few days prior to its fail. Fortunately, I found it when I was home. And promptly e-mailed it to myself. And PRINTED it!! Technology is wonderful, until it isn’t. And no one makes it easy to deal with it for us, UM, more MATURE folks😂😂!! I have also found dealing directly with Apple to be very efficient. Their customer service is still pretty darn good. They may be able to give you info about trading in your OLD phone. Just a suggestion. Right now I’m sure you don’t want to deal with ANY customer service ANYWHERE.
Enjoy your day at the fair and selling books. Stay cool. Just need to get through today and temps will cool off here in Lincoln, NE, back to 80s and 90s. Isn’t that funny that we think 90s are cool after days on end of 100 with feels like temps 110-120? UGH.
Rosie – I would gladly take your advice but Best Buy closed several years ago.
So sorry about your Verizon debacle. We have Trac Phones, I pay for minutes and Jim buys our phones on Home Shopping network. Works well for us.
The Ragbraii visit to our neighborhood turned out to be a quiet evening. I could hear the band playing oldies, the riders went walking on our street and were very well behaved. A good experience for all.
New stove, fridge and microwave delivered yesterday. The delivery guys were to deliver and set up the appliances. What a couple of sour guys. I know it’s hot outside, but when offered drinks, they just looked at me like I had 2 heads. Whatever. Your life is what you make it. Lighten up and enjoy the ride.
LOVE the barn photo!!
Agree with all the comments. I think they enjoy treating us like we are idiots. It sure doesn’t help to admit technology isn’t our thing.
Barn picture is beautiful.
Hope you sell lots of books and have a great day!
Nancy – you’re right – I’m old – technology is not my thing!
Mary — These phone companies are NO help!!! It is SO FRUSTRATING!!!!! I had to buy a phone several years ago and I made my son go with me. I have AT&T but all in all I think they are all the same. Sadly I don’t think any of them care at all. I feel your frustration — I recently had the same going into the cable company to get a new box. One would think it would be simple….. ha! Had to call the bank a few weeks ago…… could barely understand her, she wouldn’t give me a straight answer and then, after not helping me one bit asked if there was anything else she could help me with…… my reply was you couldn’t help me with what I called about, so what makes you think I’d ask something else? No one seems to give a flying fart about customer service any more. So frustrating.
I do hope you enjoy the fair — the heat has been so unbearable across the country. Totally oppressive here in Florida….. ugh
I can sympathize with you about Verizon. Most businesses want their customers to do everything online. It is next to impossible to talk to a customer service representative on the phone. There are few if any people to talk to without waiting on the phone for a long time. I guess they don’t care what people think of them.
Oh Mary, I’m so sorry you went through all that frustration with Verizon. I’ve had them for 20 years and never had such an awful experience. Well, just once and that was my fault. I clicked on a text link that really wasn’t from Verizon and they stole my phone account. Talk about panic!! The fraud unit cleared up everything the next day and now my account can only be changed if I go into a store and show my ID.
The beautiful picture of your barn is so calming. I hope you have a fantastic day at the fair and have a relaxing weekend.
What a great group of quilters on your blog. I love reading all the comments on here, especially Angie’s great comment “could she get the same results if she swung a chicken over her head?” I have to remember that one.
The barn is a stunner! It is picture perfect and you captured it beautifully. Life in the country is more peaceful and I hope today brings you more peaceful endeavors. The quilt pictures were a great inspiration . I was at The Good Time Quilters of Circleville Ohio quilt show yesterday with two of my best friends. The quilts were all show worthy. Thanks for all you do to promote quilting .
I received my Oh, Susannah book today. Oh, what fun I will have reading it to my grandsons. Thanks so much!
Vicki – thank you! Endorsements like yours help sell books.
My Verizon account is still in my husband’s name.
I haven’t informed them of his passing as I don’t want to open up that can of worms. Can you imagine?
My SIM card died last year. After calling Verizon and figuring out I couldn’t get the assistance I needed over the phone, I made an appointment at a local Verizon store. I had to take my phone, my ID, my husbands ID, mine and my husband’s Apple ID and passwords, and my husband who was terminally ill to the appointment. Apparently my husband needed to be there because the account is in his name. After 2 hours of this and that, and still no SIM card, my husband got sick so I had to help him to the car. When I got back in the store, the technician handed me my phone and said it was all taken care of. I didn’t trust him so I turned on the phone and tried a few things just to make sure the phone was working. The technician looked at me like I was nuts. LOL
Love the barn and all the quilts.
What an adorable planter box!
Stay cool everyone!
Wow. What a day you had. I fully understand why you were putting off walking in there. I’m definitely hesitant to walk all into Comcast for many of the same reasons. They should have given you your new phone for free after all that!! Customer service is not what it once was.
You really captured a beautiful moment with your barn shot. Glad it helped calm you after your long and frustrating day.
Oh my! I would be crying too! I’m so sorry you had to go through this. The husband and I did this a year ago and we’re fortunate that it took just under 2 hours and the guy who helped us was great.
Poor Mary !!! I feel your pain and frustration .Is your old phone an iPhone? If so – I think they have a buy back program . Have fun at the fair . Ours was last weekend and I was a scribe for the needlework, knit and crochet division judges . That was an interesting experience !
Oh, how frustrating dealing with phones, computers and tablets. It’s such an ordeal. I’m sorry your day was so long with little feeling of accomplishment.
The barn picture is wonderful. So peaceful!
I really don’t like technology when I have to learn it on my own. I had phone company issues several years ago -couldn’t or wouldn’t help me. I walked out, got on the computer and bought a new phone through Consumer Cellular. When it arrived, I called them on the old phone, they did their thing and my new phone was all set up – took about 5-10 minutes. Top notch service all the time. Oh, my phone bill for the same same plan was less than half of what it was with the old company.
Love the barn picture – so peaceful.
Linda, Consumer Cellular is really helpful aren’t they. It’s refreshing to call a company and talk to someone who actually speaks english. They are geared towards us old folks.
Dang, that sounds like a terrible, awful, very bad day … I have my internet service through Verizon, but otherwise use a Tracfone. Since I don’t have a phone # with them (internet # only) I cannot call them to ask a question or get help, period … I have to go out to the store and handle things in person. Now they want me to switch to their 5G plan … not sure if I will, or I’ll go find another service. If I even try calling Verizon from my Tracfone, it quickly recognizes that I have no phone with them, and basically tells me to go the heck away. Grrrrr …..
So sorry about the technology misfires. The logic behind some of the hoops through which we must jump isn’t logical!! (Well, at least to my brain.) God provides moments of unexpected calm – like your barn vision at the end of the day.
A broadcaster on the local station made a brief comment that he had spent the last few days at a bike trek in Iowa. I knew exactly what he was talking about because of your mention RAGBRAI, Mary. It made perfect sense, too, because I know he is from Iowa.
The adding machine tape quilts I’ve heard of. Curious how it works. Ah, this is when technology is of help. I’ll see what I can find online.
Jan E.
Don’t even get me started about Verizon. That store is a torture chamber. I have for years entered quilts etc in our county fair. Last year new rules only one quilt in each category. We’ll the building was very sparse. Plus I had some sparky remarks on some of my items. Now I’m not a perfectionist and our fair is not a juriied show and I feel I make high quality sewn items. So this year I am entering nothing and I can live with it. That’s my rant.
Sandra – and that’s the whole reason I suggested we just have an exhibition with no judging. People are afraid to bring their quilts to be judged. One reader suggested a People’s Choice Award
If we “old” people learned how to do something on the computer, etc, by the time we needed the information, everything would have changed.
I wonder if the people who are supposed to be helping even know what they are doing? And if the client is discouraged, mad or crying and they leave the store — Problem solved and Verizon still has that account.
Every business is cutting employees to cut costs. Just push a button. Money deducted automatically from customer bank account. Don’t have to bill you, don’t have to get a check and deposit it into their bank account. Personally I don’t like automatic bank deductions. Talk to a live person? No, leave a message. Push a button. I’m charged $4.99 for the newspaper just to send a bill. They just want to push a buton.
I really do wonder about hot, sweaty people is a very dusty atmosphere handling the quilts……. Not mine, thankyou.
And,Mary, you do have a beautiful barn. If I remember right, you put red, steel siding on it?
And what if all this great technology fails, we old people will know how to stuff without it!!!
Betty in Rapid City
Betty – yup, they held me hostage during the whole ordeal because all accounts were in jeopardy and they had my phone. I didn’t dare just close the Country Threads account and leave all 4 of us without phone service! And that’s what would have happened if I had gotten up and left. They told me to call the number to transfer and left me at the window counter! Nobody paid any attention to me. And that’s the reason I went to the actual store – for help!
Yes, I broke the bank when I had steel siding put on the barn as well as the roof but if I wanted to preserve my great old barn it was necessary and I’ve never regretted it.
Oh Mary, what an awful experience. Such a waste of time! I’ve had fun though, reading through all of the comments. I’ve been entertaining my husband with a lot of them, too. Some funny people here! The barn picture is beautiful, wish I had a barn…Vicki’s quilts are great – and I’ve heard of register tape quilts! I learned about them on YouTube I believe, and my husband actually brought me what must be vintage by now a roll from an old adding machine or something for me to try making one, ha-ha. Now that I see hers, I will definitely try making one! Isn’t it great that you found one of Rick’s planter boxes? No one has asked about the quilt behind the planter…is the pattern one that you have for sale? I don’t remember it! Jan in MA
Jan Hebert – the quilt is Gypsy Wife by Jen Kingwell
Just thinking about going to Verizon is bad already! We were having issues and wanted our iPhones and iPads separated from one user name, if you know what I mean. We were dumb when we first got them and left a techie person use the same sign in on all of our gadgets. Well, we decided it would have been easier to get a divorce than split up our phones and iPads. After a lot of hassle, miles, and time we ended up at the Apple Store in Sioux Falls. They were awesome and knew exactly what to do in a very short time! Phew! Sorry you had such an issue.
Hopefully today is the last day of this hot humid stuff! Ugh! I did do some sewing and picked cucumbers and zucchini and jay picked the green beans! We are having salmon and green beans! He is going to put the salmon on the smoker.
There should be a law against phone companies procedures.
I feel your pain.
Mary I have been avoiding going to Verizon too. I have been trying to get them to apply a discount for over 6 months. Never done but they said it was all taken care of I don’t know how many times. Would show on my next bill. Latest that credit no longer applies. Ugh! Do I want to go???
Thanks for the quilt and barn pictures. Settled me down after reading your visit to Verizon. Thanks.
since you had such a challenging day i will not make any comments about ours.
Brendalynne – oh no, what happened? We have to know!
Boy I can’t understand how Verizon has any customers. I too was held hostage from them but several years ago we switched to T-Mobile. $90.00 a month for 3 phones, unlimited everything. So we are pretty happy. I have no patience for poor customer service. My money, my rules. Oh I love the barn. Take a deep breath.
Hi Deb, the problem is you have to go with the provider who offers the best phone service and for us in Iowa, that’s unfortunately Verizon. My sister in Illinois uses T Mobile and every time she calls me her calls drop multiple times, it’s a true test of my patience to keep waiting for her to call back and continue a conversation. I wish she’d change to another provider but she likes that T Mobile is cheaper.
Teresa, I have the same problem with dropped calls but I’m the problem. Apparently, I put the phone against my face and hit the hangup button. Now I put it on ‘speaker’ and hold the phone in front of me. My son had to tell me what was wrong – enough said.
I just received my book and I love it. I would have loved Susannah. She looks so cuddly and like so much fun to keep your entertained!
I could also regale with stories about phone and computer problems. My newest cell phone is through Best Buy with Lively. I like it. It is easy to use. Also AT and T customer service has been much improved for my internet problems.
I’m so sorry that Verizon ruined your day. I got so frustrated with Verizon that I switched to Cricket (after 10 years with Verizon). It’s a much cheaper monthly rate. They auto bill on my credit card. The phone service is great. It was 3 hours in the store to change everything but worth it! Dealing with the cell phone process is unfortunately evil!
All the others have said it well. We’ve never had Verizon. I have experienced the stress of calling or visiting the phone store of our provider. I’ve felt that my blood pressure must be high and even checked it once. It is so frustrating not to be able to understand the person on the phone, not to be able to get help from the person face-to-face at the store, and the time it takes to get something done over the phone.
The barn picture is wonderful, and so are the quilts.
So sorry you had such a frustrating day! My sister moved recently, & she has had a lot of frustration trying to get accounts transferred to her new address, & trying to get services set up at her new house. She has had a lot of days like you had today! So it’s not just you!! Why do they have to make things so hard???
So sorry about your phone problems. Technology is a bother. I hope your day at the fair was enjoyable. Glad you brought the beautiful planter home. You should have the photo of the barn framed. It is a beautiful picture. We are having torrential rain here. Maybe our creek will fill back up for the animals. Have a good day tomorrow.
So sorry you had so much frustration at the phone store; that is just not right!
I received my copy of Oh, Susannah! It is just wonderful, Mary. We both love it.
I hope your Friday was better. 🥰
i’m sorry you had such a hard time with verizon. when i wanted the new samsung 23 ultra (after over 10 years with my old phone), spectrum wanted to charge me to death. it had been a horrid incident getting a new phone for my son (also on account). i lucked into a deal with samsung and managed to save almost $500 and got a 12% rebate from raketun. spectrum was stunned that i didn’t buy from them. no way. also got 2 years of service for $50 less. my biggest peeve is that they put the manual on your phone. how are you supposed to access that while on your phone? vicki, your quilts are marvelous. love them. mary, i hope you have a much better weekend. patti in florida
Well, you are ‘preaching to the choir’ here. I have had the same type of experience with this company. (and other large companies also that hire contractors who’s first language is not English). I have just accepted that I have to be sitting at my desk, with my notebook where I record everything that is requested during the 10 minute conversation that is usually 3 to 4 hours. And (like you) have my notebooks with all the ‘pins’ in them at my side. I have had contractors hang up on me and I believe it’s because they get paid more money for all the calls they take and if the call is taking too long – they drop it and go off to another easier call situation. Extremely frustrating.
Shirley – I never thought of that – dropping the call to take another. Oh, the nerve!
I feel your Verizon pain, I switched from Verizon to ATT not only because it was less expensive, but since Verizon switched to 5G every caller or person I talked to on the phone complained the phone was going in and out and they couldn’t hear me. It didn’t matter if I was in or out of the house, standing on my head or laying down, 50 miles away or just down the road. My constant complaints to Verizon, especially after telling them I wasn’t going to pay my $200 bill for not having service, only got me a $35 discount on my one bill! And going to the Verizon store, what a joke. Everything takes hours to get done, regardless how simple, and the person working with you has to help 15 other employees while you wait for them to finish you! Need I say more! Verizon used to be great but not anymore.
On a much, much better note, I got my Oh, Susannah yesterday! Thank you for the personal note, and when I get a camel you WILL be the first to know – after my husband of course. And thanks for autographing my book. I don’t think I stopped smiling opening the book and reading it. I fell in love with that tiny baby the minute I looked at her picture. So sweet! I love goats but can not have any because they do climb on anything and everything and my husband doesn’t want a goat on the roof of his truck!
You know, they have so much technology at their disposal, why don’t cell phone companies have a section for those of us who need guidance and special help, with clerks who are focused and willing to devote time to good customer service and come up with a way for us to access our pins and passwords with maybe two valid pieces of ID rather than hear us say “I don’t know, I can’t remember”? Do we care how super secure our phones are like kids do?? Or even make phones for us that will talk us through whatever we want to do! And it’s only going to get worse!!
Your Verizon visit story is just awful. They told us at the very beginning that computers and cell phones were going to make life so much easier. Still waiting for that to happen, If anything, it has definitely made life way more complicated & aggravating. I hope you have a fabulous weekend, Mary. You’re worth it!
I feel your pain! I hate dealing with any of those companies.
Good Customer service is a thing of the past. Enjoy the fair today.
It’s miserably hot here, too. I walk Holly at 6am to beat the heat. It’s still hot and muggy. The sewing room is cool, I’ll stay there today!
I love your picture of the barn at night. I can see why it lowered your blood pressure! It transported me to the nights I walked the dogs before going to bed, the night sky, the crickets chirping and the feel of the night air. You definitely needed that after the visit to the phone store.
Mary, I was almost in tears with you after reading your ordeal with Verizon. I am no longer a Verizon partici-pant, thank goodness. My husband went to Best Buy and got me a new flip-phone, which I love! And it’s red!! Same coverage I had on Verizon, easy to use, and no contract.
We live in a small community. Our Verizon store always has new employees, and has even been closed at times because of lack of help. Whenever my husband has gone there for help with a question, he seems to be gone for hours.
As for PINS, passwords, and all that crap, I feel so cheated and behind the times. Us oldies are just not educated in all of this, and unless you have a young family member, or young person to help, you are just sunk! That’s my rant for this morning.
Linda – and I recognize your rant as if I wrote it! Our Best Buy closed and I envy all of you whose husbands do things like this for them.
Hi Mary. Technology can be frustration sorry you had such a tough day
I started a collection of the iron stone platter you purchased I use the iron stone in my decorating for fall . Have a nice weekend
I feel your pain Mary!! Seems like customer service is a thing of the past!!
Received my copy of “Oh Susannah” yesterday and it is wonderful. She was such a little sweetheart!!
Washing and cleaning out my dirty car today!!
To all have a super day!!
Sally Jane from Mi.
Verizon can drive any sane person right over the edge. My cousin was a salesperson, then a store manager for AT&T and he has nothing good to say about them, either. I was talking the other day with a group of quilting friends my age, about tech issues. I said my kids, ages 29 and 32, are the first generation to grow up with cell phones and computers from birth (and in case you think I’m not that old with kids that age, DH and I got married in our 30’s and went through nearly 5 years of infertility treatments). A friend pointed out that they have learned tech like young kids learn a second language. Tech is NOT our generation’s native language. I ‘m not too dumb to learn but they don’t have the patience to teach us anything. IT’S JUST MADDENING. The barn pic is calm and peaceful, love it!❤️
Sue – I wish I had a young person to help me. I do have Richard who helps me with blog, etc. but I needed a young person to go with me. It IS just maddening!
Mary, I like others feel your pain with Verizon! I think Covid changed so many things. Many businesses were working from home. I also know there’s 2 types of Verizon stores. One is a franchise & can’t remember what the other is. I’ve been to some that were terrible with customer service & others much more helpful…but that was before Covid! I’m with Spectrum now & have been happy with their service. Just got a new phone from them & is less than half what I was paying with Verizon! My phone through Verizon was over $100 for one line & that phone had been paid off for a year! Their set up fee was pricey, too. I’ve had TMobile & had problems with areas they didn’t cover. My experience with Spectrum has been good in this area & it took less than an hour to get my new phone & have everything transferred! Great customer service & he didn’t leave me to help someone else. I found during Covid in 2020, it was difficult to get things accomplished through phone customer service. I had many phone conversations trying to get in home health service for my husband. Found an agency to take care of this & somehow the insurance we had neglected to make notes that things had been approved. Luckily I had made very detailed notes on who I talked to, date & time, etc. After losing my patience, asked to speak to a supervisor! I received a check two days later! Why does everything have to be so difficult? After my husband’s passing in 2020, I went through the same thing getting his monthly retirement! I agree customer service is a joke!!
Mary, I do hope you find a phone Co that is much easier to deal with!
Love the picture of the barn, so pretty! I remember your barn when we stopped at Country Threads in 2007 on our 6 wk trip out West! We both loved all the animals, too!! Hope you had a wonderful day at the fair!
Alice in SW Ohio
Good customer service is a thing of the past, no matter what large company you are dealing with…sad but true. We have Verizon here and have some great guys at the local store, and we are grateful!
I learned the hard way that you need all your passwords etc with when you go!
I have also learned to ask for a different phone representative if I have trouble understanding the one I have reached, by saying that “I’m sorry, I’m having trouble understanding your accent. Will you please pass me to a new representative. It usually works out in my favor.
Hang in there, Ladies….our generation can survive these new technologies!
Straighten Your Crown & step up onto the Red Carpet!!!
Switch to T Mobile if possible. You have to have a 5G phone that my daughter found out when she did the switch. I really like T Mobile way better as I take the Amtrak from ND to WA 2-3 times a year and my phone works great travelling on Amtrak. survivor972002@midco.net