Disaster Relief: 10 points for State Farm & Verizon and the Penalty Box for T-Mobile

BarTopDancer · 10-27-2007, 02:07 PM

My auto and renters insurance is through State Farm. Yesterday I received a call from my agent’s office to find out if I was affected by the fires and if I needed anything from them. Thankfully I wasn't and didn't. I found out that their office (and probably others) is proactively calling their customers in areas that are or may be affected, one by one to see if anyone needs assistance. Awesome.

Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile were doing disaster relief at one of the emergency shelters. I found out that Verizon had a few tables and a handful of employees to assist evacuees. They provided about 15 phones, several laptops and wireless cards. The laptops were available for people to check email, read the news or do whatever they wanted to do. The phones were just on the table for anyone to use, to take back to their area and make calls to whoever they needed to in relative privacy. The area was packed all day and all phones were accounted for.

T-Mobile on the other hand has me disgusted right now. T-Mobile sent 1 guy to set up a tethered phone bar (5 phones) and pricing plans! While the guy wasn’t actively selling service, the phones were all the newest phones and the pricing plans/promotions/phone prices were set up in the 8.5 x 11 acrylic displays. I actually feel bad for the guy. How embarrassing. There were only a handful of people who went by the table. It seems no one wanted to be stuck using tethered phones and looking at pricing plans while trying to find out if they had a house. Talk about poor publicity.

katiesue · 10-27-2007, 03:19 PM

Boo T-Mobile.

I got a couple of calls from AAA (which I have my renters insurance with) giving the numbers to call if I needed anything.

Maddy's school was very pro-active. They have a call out system which normally just calls my home phone and sends me a email. This time they called home, cell and office. They apologized if people got multiple messages but with evacuations they wanted to reach everyone. The message last night mentioned 360ish students lost homes and 20 staff (that's in the district).

RStar · 10-27-2007, 03:57 PM

I have Verizon and State Farm. My State Farm agent is in Irvine, too. Real nice guy. I'm happy with both companies, and this makes me even happier!

wendybeth · 10-27-2007, 07:52 PM

Verizon was also able to help out in the Gulf after Katrina- they have quite the remote system set-up that they deploy in disaster situations, and they were up and running pretty quickly. They also replaced phones fee of charge for fire and rescue personnel when the extreme humidity ruined their old ones. I'm a bit biased, but they really are a good company and they deserve the kudos, BTD.

RStar · 10-27-2007, 08:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wendybeth

I'm a bit biased

Why, do you work for them?

wendybeth · 10-27-2007, 08:19 PM

My hubby does- he just told me that they gave about 800 phones free of charge to rescue personnel in SoCal, and had their 'COWS' (cell towers on wheels) set up and running asap- they are still running at a 95% coverage even in the affected areas. Not only are they doing good things for the people that need help, but they treat their employees really great. I wish more companies were like them.

katiesue · 10-28-2007, 09:07 AM

Verizon was also offering thier home customers free call forwarding if their homes were in affected areas so people could still get calls.

10-27-2007, 02:07 PM	#1
BarTopDancer Prepping... Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Here, there, everywhere Posts: 11,405	Disaster Relief: 10 points for State Farm & Verizon and the Penalty Box for T-Mobile My auto and renters insurance is through State Farm. Yesterday I received a call from my agent’s office to find out if I was affected by the fires and if I needed anything from them. Thankfully I wasn't and didn't. I found out that their office (and probably others) is proactively calling their customers in areas that are or may be affected, one by one to see if anyone needs assistance. Awesome. Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile were doing disaster relief at one of the emergency shelters. I found out that Verizon had a few tables and a handful of employees to assist evacuees. They provided about 15 phones, several laptops and wireless cards. The laptops were available for people to check email, read the news or do whatever they wanted to do. The phones were just on the table for anyone to use, to take back to their area and make calls to whoever they needed to in relative privacy. The area was packed all day and all phones were accounted for. T-Mobile on the other hand has me disgusted right now. T-Mobile sent 1 guy to set up a tethered phone bar (5 phones) and pricing plans! While the guy wasn’t actively selling service, the phones were all the newest phones and the pricing plans/promotions/phone prices were set up in the 8.5 x 11 acrylic displays. I actually feel bad for the guy. How embarrassing. There were only a handful of people who went by the table. It seems no one wanted to be stuck using tethered phones and looking at pricing plans while trying to find out if they had a house. Talk about poor publicity. __________________ Spork is the new MacGyver Postcards From My Edge
	Submit to Quotes

10-27-2007, 03:19 PM	#2
katiesue Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: San Diego Posts: 4,678	Boo T-Mobile. I got a couple of calls from AAA (which I have my renters insurance with) giving the numbers to call if I needed anything. Maddy's school was very pro-active. They have a call out system which normally just calls my home phone and sends me a email. This time they called home, cell and office. They apologized if people got multiple messages but with evacuations they wanted to reach everyone. The message last night mentioned 360ish students lost homes and 20 staff (that's in the district). __________________ My life is so exciting I can hardly stand it.
	Submit to Quotes

10-27-2007, 03:57 PM	#3
RStar Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Me & Manyard hangin out! Posts: 5,433	I have Verizon and State Farm. My State Farm agent is in Irvine, too. Real nice guy. I'm happy with both companies, and this makes me even happier! __________________ Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup! www.StarTownGifts.com
	Submit to Quotes

10-27-2007, 07:52 PM	#4
wendybeth Nevermind Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 7,847	Verizon was also able to help out in the Gulf after Katrina- they have quite the remote system set-up that they deploy in disaster situations, and they were up and running pretty quickly. They also replaced phones fee of charge for fire and rescue personnel when the extreme humidity ruined their old ones. I'm a bit biased, but they really are a good company and they deserve the kudos, BTD. __________________
	Submit to Quotes

10-27-2007, 08:19 PM	#6
wendybeth Nevermind Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 7,847	My hubby does- he just told me that they gave about 800 phones free of charge to rescue personnel in SoCal, and had their 'COWS' (cell towers on wheels) set up and running asap- they are still running at a 95% coverage even in the affected areas. Not only are they doing good things for the people that need help, but they treat their employees really great. I wish more companies were like them. __________________
	Submit to Quotes

10-28-2007, 09:07 AM	#7
katiesue Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: San Diego Posts: 4,678	Verizon was also offering thier home customers free call forwarding if their homes were in affected areas so people could still get calls. __________________ My life is so exciting I can hardly stand it.
	Submit to Quotes