Mail call

Last week's column taking to task comments made by Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg generated a flurry of reader response. Here's a representative sample.

BT writes: "One of the things as a 15-year veteran of the wireless industry that concerns me about the consolidation of the carriers is arrogance. Arrogance right along the scale with the comments that Mr. Seidenberg made to the editors of the Chronicle. After reading the article myself, I certainly had a change of opinion regarding Verizon as both a company and a competitor. I have always admired the manner in which Verizon has competed in the marketplace. They have always tried to be respectful and thoughtful towards both their customers and their competitors. These comments certainly seem like a dramatic change of philosophy on the part of Verizon. For a company that depends on 48 million customers for its livelihood, it seems like an all-around bad idea to call them, in effect, idiots."

JN writes: "Keep in mind Seidenberg is a Bell head, a monopolist. He does not understand competitive environments, he is accustomed to a captured (no choice) customer base. He doesn't know any better."

KM writes: "I read your article about Verizon CEO Seidenberg's comments, thought it was a joke and was waiting for the punch line."

And finally, a Verizon Wireless employee writes: "Ivan Seidenberg as you know is the CEO of Verizon Communications, not Verizon Wireless, so his comments are hardly a representation of our culture internally. The employees of Verizon Wireless work very hard to increase customer satisfaction. We do so by constantly investing, improving and further developing our network for the best possible user experience. Is it perfect? No, no wireless phone is perfect, but it is the best you can get. We have the fewest dropped calls of any carrier and the fewest ineffective call attempts. From a customer satisfaction standpoint, our call centers live and breathe first call resolution and work diligently to represent VZW in the best light possible. We would never think of, speak of, or treat our customers the way you depicted in that article."

E-mail me your thoughts at jankeny@primediabusiness.com.