If you’ve ever found yourself frustrated with customer service, you’ll appreciate what Verizon just announced. The telecom giant is rolling out its most significant customer experience transformation in years.
In a press release, consumer CEO Sowmyanarayan Sampath said that customers “rely on us to power how they live, work and play, everyday” and that it’s time to “raise the bar for how we support them.”
What’s Actually Changing
The AI-Powered Customer Champion: Verizon is introducing personalized customer service with a dedicated expert for complex issues, powered by Google Cloud’s AI and Gemini models. The promise? You call once, and they handle everything from there. No more explaining your WiFi router situation to five different people who all seem to think you haven’t tried turning it off and on again.
24/7 Live Support: They’re expanding call center hours with actual human agents and introducing round-the-clock live chat. If you’ve ever had your internet die at 2 AM on a Sunday, you’ll understand why this is huge.
The My Verizon App Gets a Brain: Complete overhaul with AI-powered Verizon Assistant and “Savings Boost” to help you actually maximize your plan value. The app promises greater transparency and control for managing everything from upgrades to billing questions.
More Physical Stores: They’ve built the largest retail postpaid fleet in the industry, adding 400 stores over the last two years. Now 93% of the population lives within 30 minutes of a Verizon store, because sometimes you just need to talk to a human face-to-face.
Summer of Freebies
To kick off this transformation, Verizon is dropping 35,000 free prizes through their rewards platform, Verizon Access. That includes tickets to Beyoncé, Katy Perry, and Lady Gaga concerts, plus gift cards from Amazon, Disney, and Starz. Stop by any location through June 30 for additional freebies.
Verizon’s willingness to completely reimagine their approach is exactly the disruption this industry needs. The AI-powered Customer Champion could be quite the game-changer if it works as advertised. Ultimately, Verizon’s willingness to completely reimagine their approach is exactly the disruption this industry needs.
Now if they can just make sure their AI doesn’t become another frustrating obstacle between customers and actual help, they might just pull this off.