Verizon announces alarming plan to prevent more angry customers | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

Verizon (VZ) had a rough start to 2025 — many customers made the harsh decision to cut ties with the company after it implemented a series of price increases.

In Verizon’s first-quarter earnings report for 2025, it revealed that it faced a net loss of 289,000 total postpaid phone customers. This loss matches Verizon’s “worst result on record,” according to analysts at New Street Research.

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During an earnings call in April, Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg admitted that recent price increases contributed to the loss in customers during the quarter.

“We did have a slow start on postpaid phone net adds, largely driven by elevated churn due to recent price ups and pressure from federal government accounts,” said Vestberg.

Despite this loss, Verizon Consumer Group CEO Sam Path said during the call that the company does not regret recent price hikes as it helped it “lock the revenue for the rest of the year.”

Verizon aims to prevent further customer loss with its recent move.

Image source&colon; Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Verizon has a risky solution to a growing problem

After facing a startling dip in customers, Verizon is switching gears to prevent this issue from getting worse.

The phone carrier is now relying on artificial intelligence to provide “personalized customer service,” according to a recent press release.

Verizon will leverage Google Cloud’s AI to “ensure full resolution” of any issues customers may bring to customer service. The technology will also “keep the customer updated” through the My Verizon app, text messages, or callbacks.

In addition, Verizon customers will now be able to speak with a live agent 24/7 and access 24/7 live chat support.

“The new, personalized experience provides greater transparency and control, giving consumers the ability to easily become a customer, manage upgrades, add new lines, ask billing questions, take advantage of savings and more,” said Verizon in the press release.

In a recent interview with CNET, Sampath claimed that Verizon’s new reliance on AI “has nothing to do” with its recent loss in customers.

“Every first quarter we lose customers; that’s the seasonality of the business,” said Sampath. “So this has nothing to do with our first quarter of business. This has to do with the two, three-year transformation that we are in the middle of.”

Using AI for customer service isn’t bulletproof

Sampath highlighted the challenges of providing effective customer service. He said that while 80% of the time customers get their issue fixed on the first call, 15% have to call again.

“The last 5% go into a doom loop, and they are the most dissatisfied,” said Sampath. “It’s a very rough journey for them. We see it, and it’s not fair on them.”

Yet he also stressed that, unlike some other companies, Verizon is not looking to replace its customer service staff with AI.

“We’ve used AI to basically take cognitive workload off our employees so that they can focus their bandwidth and headspace on listening to customers better,” said Sampath.

More Retail:

Verizon’s increased reliance on AI could be risky, since the technology doesn’t always get it right.

For example, in March, T-Mobile’s AI-generated message to a customer about a new free line offer went awry when it said the line would be free for only 24 months. T-Mobile later said that the message was an error and clarified that the line would remain free for customers as long as they maintain eligibility.

In a restaurant example, one of McDonald’s AI-powered drive-thrus also suffered an embarrassing botch in 2023.

A woman revealed in a viral TikTok video that when she tried to remove a Diet Coke from her McDonald’s order at an AI-powered drive-thru, it ended up replacing the item with nine sweet teas, which she did not ask for.