My Phone is Broken

On Thursday my phone stopped turning on correctly.  I looked up the issue and realized it was an issue quite common with my phone.  My options were to do a hard reset of my phone or convince Verizon to give me a new one.  I didn't want to do a hard reset since it would involve losing all of my apps and the associated data with them.  Thus, I went to the Verizon store hoping there was maybe something they could do.

The man who helped me then was extremely friendly and helpful, but unfortunately I had to do a hard reset anyway.  I left the store feeling good about the experience even though I lost all my data.

Then the issue happened four more times in the space of three days.  I needed a new phone, so I went to Verizon again yesterday morning (I got up early to make sure I had enough time and everything).  I had hoped to the same guy as before, but no such luck.  I got a woman.  She just walked up to me and asked for my phone.  No hello, no greeting of any kind...okay...no big deal.  I explained my problem and tried to joke about it and got thoroughly ignored.  She had me sign into my account (actually my dad's.  I pay but I'm still on his plan, it's cheaper that way) and then she took my phone behind the counter and we proceeded to have this conversation:

Woman: You name isn't on this account.
Me: Umm...okay? Can we fix that?  I thought I was on this account.
Woman: Your name hasn't been on this account for months.
Me: Okay, that's really weird.  So can we put me back on the account?
Woman: Your ID
*I hand her my ID*
Woman: This isn't the name of the person on the account.  We can't add you.
*She hands back my ID*
Me: Right.  The account is in my dad's name.
Woman: I know that.
Me (so confused): Can we just call my dad and have him authorize you to add me?
Woman: No.
Me: No?  Why?
Woman: We don't record our calls here.  He would have to call customer service or come into the store.
Me: My dad lives a hundred miles away, so he can't come in.
Woman: Then he'll have to call customer service
Me: I just don't understand.  I've had Verizon make changes to my account and phone before and just call my dad to confirm with him that it was okay.
Woman: This is a corporate store.  This is how it is.  You're going to need to have your dad call customer service and add to the account because customer service records their calls.
Me: Okay.
*She looks at me expectantly*
Me: I'll need a phone then.
*She hands me the phone and I call my dad*
Me: Hi Dad
Dad: Oh, hi Kaylee!
Me: So I think Mom probably told you, but my phone is broken and I'm at the Verizon store and need to get my phone replaced.
Dad: Okay, do you need me to authorize that? Hand me to the rep.
Me: No. She's says that my name's not on the account...or something? And that you either need to come into the store or call customer service and get my name added to the account.
Dad: You're not on the account? But how is you phone working?  What are you talking about?
Me: I don't know.  I think she means that my name isn't on the account as an administrator?  It isn't very clear to me.  Here, let me hand you to her, she can probably explain better.
*I look up and she has since walked away right as I was about to hand the phone to her*
Me: She walked away Dad.  Sorry.
Dad: It's okay.  I'm driving and should hang up.  I'll be home in about 10 minutes.  Can I call you back at this number?
Me:I don't think so, I'll call you though. Okay? Bye.
Dad: That'll work.  Bye.
*The woman has returned to behind the desk as soon as I hung up*
Me (trying to get a better explanation): Okay, I'm sorry but I really don't understand what's going on.  What do you mean my name's not on the account?
Woman: Only your dad can make changes to the account.
Me: Right.  I understand that.  But in the past Verizon has been able to call him and he's just authorized what they've needed to do.
Woman: Well we can't do that.  I need to make changes to sensitive data.
Me: But, I logged into the account earlier? Is the data you need to log into different?
Woman: No.
Me (exasperated): Is this a new policy?
Woman: No.
Me: When was it implemented?  I had my account changed via contacting my dad on the phone only a month ago.
Woman: It was implemented a few months ago.
Me: The thing I don't understand is that I don't know what changes you need to make to the account?  You didn't mention what changes you had to make.
Woman: Well, you need a new phone and we have to have one sent to you (OH! I do!? This is news to me!)
Me: And that requires making changes to the account?
Woman: Yes.
Me (giving up): Okay.  I need to call my dad back.  Can I use this phone again?
Woman: Yes.
Me: Okay, cool.
Woman: You can come talk to me after your dad has called customer service.

Instead of talking to the woman, I called my dad back, realized I was going to be driving through his city later that night and we decided to take care of it in person.  Needless to say, I was not going to go talk to that woman again.  I did try to be polite, I did, and that conversation is basically verbatim how it happened in real life.  It was just frustrating (and she didn't even have the excuse that she had dealt with awful customers all day, I was her first customer.  I guess she was just having a bad day).

Anyway, I got to the city where my dad lives way after Verizon closed, so that didn't work out so my phone is still broken.  Unfortunately I had to do a hard reset again because ironically I needed to let my dad know that I was going to be late and the issue hasn't happened again, so I can't go into Verizon until it does otherwise they'll look at my phone and say: "But this is working just fine"

The most frustrating thing is that my dad did call customer service and the customer service people told my dad that he didn't have to make me a co-administrator of the account.  Verbal authorization over the phone should be sufficient for the store.  Gah.  So as soon as my phone breaks again I am going to try another Verizon store and hopefully get a more helpful person.

Sorry for writing a novel.