Verizon is in a tough spot when it comes to retaining loyal customers. After implementing several price hikes earlier this year, its customers appear to be exploring cheaper options for phone services.

According to its latest earnings report, Verizon lost a startling number of customers during the second quarter of this year.

• 51,000 postpaid phone customers cut ties with the company.
• Verizon’s wireless postpaid phone churn (the number of customers who cut phone service) remained flat at 0.9%, compared to the previous quarter.

The loss comes after it rolled out several deals and discounts to attract and retain customers, such as a three-year price lock guarantee, free phone lines and a generous iPhone 16 bundle deal.

Verizon makes another bold offer to fix declining customer numbers

Now, Verizon is doubling down on its efforts to win back customers. The phone carrier is running a new promotion targeted at AT&T and T-Mobile customers.

Verizon is encouraging those customers to bring their latest phone bill to one of its stores, and its representatives will offer them a “better deal.” 

According to a recent post on Reddit, the phone carrier is allegedly using artificial intelligence to scan bills and offer customized deals. 

“Verizon is advertising a new deal to get T-Mobile and AT&T customers to switch over and they’ll match the price. I have T-Mobile Magenta Max, and I’m paying $135 for three lines, all included. I went to a Verizon 3rd party store, and they said I could get the Verizon Ultimate Wireless plan (because my plan includes 5gb of international data, which I use). Also, they will supposedly match my Netflix, Hulu and Apple TV included if it shows up on the bill. Apparently, the way it works is they feed the T-Mobile bill into some AI tool, and it comes up with the price and additions, and it’s guaranteed for 3 years,” wrote one T-Mobile customer on Reddit who had looked into the deal.

Related: T-Mobile plans move that will push customers to upgrade phones

A Reddit user claiming to be a Verizon employee said under the post’s comment section that the AI tool scans bills for discounts, allowing the company to offer similar ones to those customers. 

“The way it works is the AI tool looks for a discount applied to your current bill and applies a similar promo to the Verizon plan if and only if Verizon’s pricing isn’t already lower for a plan with similar features. The important thing to note is that if the AI doesn’t recognize the discount, the only way to get the discount is for a ticket to be submitted for a department within customer support to review. And if no discount exists as a line item on your bill and your current service is just inherently cheaper we cannot apply any credits to beat their price. This promo will not let us beat everyone’s pricing as the marketing implies. It doesn’t hurt to get a quote,” wrote the employee. 

Verizon’s decision to allegedly use AI to match bills comes after its chief financial officer, Tony Skiadas, said during an earnings call in July that the company is using AI to improve customer “loyalty and retention.”

“We have taken a series of actions to address our elevated churn. On June 24, we launched initiatives designed to improve the customer experience, including leveraging AI for more personalized support.”

Verizon Chief Financial Officer Tony Skiadas.

In addition to matching bills, Verizon also states in the promo on its website that for all plans, it promises customers 40% in savings on top streaming services, free satellite texting, a three-year price guarantee and other perks. 

Verizon customers may soon see big changes at the company

Verizon’s increased focus on attracting new customers follows its controversial decision to remove its loyalty discounts, which usually ranged between $10 and $40, angering loyal customers. 

In August, Verizon also hiked its tablet plan by $5 and raised its device activation fees from $35 to $40.

More Telecom News:

• DirecTV customers threaten to leave after latest warning
• T-Mobile suffers massive boycott from customers
• Verizon quietly backtracks on harsh change that angered customers

As Verizon continues to double down on boosting customer numbers after making harsh pricing changes, it announced earlier this week that Dan Schulman (the former CEO of Paypal) has replaced Hans Vestberg as CEO of the company. As a result, customers may soon see major changes.

“I believe in Verizon and its future, and I am honored to be chosen to serve as CEO,” said Schulman in a press release. “Verizon is at a critical juncture. We have a clear opportunity to redefine our trajectory, by growing our market share across all segments of the market, while delivering meaningful growth in our key financial metrics. We are going to maximize our value propositions, reduce our cost to serve, and optimize our capital allocation to delight our customers, and deliver sustainable long-term growth for our shareholders.”

Related: Verizon discontinues free customer perk from phone plans