Verizon: Money > Life
“A 62-year-old man had a mental breakdown and ran off after grabbing several bottles of pills from his house. The cops asked Verizon to help trace the man using his cellphone, but Verizon refused, saying that they couldn’t turn on his phone because he had an unpaid bill for $20. After an 11-hour search (during which time the sheriff’s department was trying to figure out how to pay the bill), the man was found, unconscious. ‘I was more concerned for the person’s life,’ Sheriff Dale Williams said. ‘It would have been nice if Verizon would have turned on his phone for five or 10 minutes, just long enough to try and find the guy. But they would only turn it on if we agreed to pay $20 of the unpaid bill.’ Score another win for the Verizon Customer Service team.” (via Slashdot)
It was obviously a public relations issue. Obviously, Verizon will realize that this was a mistake of the representatives that the police spoke to and this is obviously not the outcome that Verizon would have preferred.
I work in public relations for Verizon Wireless, and would like to provide a response to this story:
Verizon Wireless apologizes for our mistake. This particular issue has now been resolved. We will work to ensure our exemplary service to our nations first responders is on track, and we remind law enforcement to use our 24-7 hotline for public safety needs.
I meant to add on to the end of the post:
It was obviously a public relations issue. Obviously, Verizon will realize that this was a mistake of the representatives that the police spoke to and this is obviously not the outcome that Verizon would have preferred.