I started Internet and Cable (FiOS Internet and TV) with Verizon last month. There was a problem with their billing practice so I contacted them trying to get it resolved. After numerous phone calls (totalling more than 3 hours) with an average waiting time of more than 20 minutes each I gave up and tried to resolved this over their website instead. After wasting an additional 2 hours with their websites trying to sign up (they have 2 separate domains: Verizon.net and Verizon.com depending on the type of service), I completely gave up and gave in.

Phone calls and direct website contacts didn’t work so I decided to inquire via email. To my surprise and frustration, they only provide “auto reply” which asks me to get this resolved via their websites or contact their customer service reps.

These people just don’t understand customer service, period!

I have had Verizon (or what ever their latest name change is) three times, yes three times. Each time has been a nightmare, here is my story.

1. 1997: ISDN made its appearance into the world. Of course, we wanted to move beyond dial-up and so I got the ISDN modem. Installed it and it worked right and this went on for (about) 3 weeks (to say it). After about three weeks, (one day) it died. It stopped working I mean the modem just would not work, and I couldn't do anything with my computer.

I called the (wonderful) customer service (in those days), it was called Bell Atlantic. What did Bell Atlantic do? Bell Atlantic talked down to me, and "assumed" in so many words and w/o saying a whole lot that the whole thing was my fault. They had me crawling under my computer stand, going out to the wire box on the back of the house. And of course nothing was wrong on there. Bell Atlantic just couldn't seem to figure out what the problems was. But the problem was "all" in my head and this customer was doing something wrong. They were also going by their book. And besides it didn't fit any of their book problems, they didn't have an answer for me, and "of course" again the problem was all in my head and my entire fault and "of course" I was doing something wrong. What was I going to do?

Got tired real fast of their blame games on this customer. One day, while working I went onto the Bell Atlantic website, and started looking for managers to call. I found the name of the Internet Services manager and got that person's name. I though, "well" I had two options, either write him at work or at home. If I wrote at work, it probably would not get to him. And second, I could write him at home if I found his home address. I ended up finding the Internet Manager's name with the company and then found his home address. He called me within 4 days after I wrote him. To fix the problem, he sent out the head of the union. The problem stayed fixed for about a month and then bombed again. By that time, I've had enough with Verizon (or whatever their latest name change was), and then I cancelled the service and went back to my trusty dial-up.

2. DSL came out to my neighbourhood. I subscribed to "this" service. Got it in th4e mail, instlal4ed it and it "worked" (for guess what), the typical 4 weeks, then this of course bombed, like anything else that Verizon had. I called them, they of course "again" talked down to me and everything was my fault. Now mind you, half my neighbourhood has DSL, but mine didn't work. I finally raised so much fuss and they came out to my house. Their reply was this. We can't come into your house; you don't have Verizon as your phone. This is part of the SCC rules. I said, show me the rules, I want to know where they are, who wrote them and I need some credentials. They refused to do anything else. This was plain out discrimination. Verizon would not fix my DSL, but again, most of my neighbourhood has "this" service, but yet mine would not and I repeat would not work. They said I had to wait for FIOS. FIOS came in July of that year "06". What happened next is the worst horror story of my experience with Verizon.

3. July of 07, it was installed and worked the best of the three experiences that we had. Even though at times, it was slow, it still worked. At that time, I also wanted to get my other computer connected to the internet. Verizon customer "Tech" support along with all their fancy MCSE etc; promised me and swore up and down that they would help me over the phone. When it came down to doing this task (which would have been so easy); like other times, they screwed it up big time. Each time I would call them, their head was "up their funny bone" (I'm being nice). Finally I got tired of their games and called Best Buy Geek Squad. Just as Geek Squad came into my house to fix the problem, the girl from Verizon calls me. I told her, you're a day late and a buck short honey and hung up on her.

This like everything else, we'd had through Verizon didn't last very long. In Sep of '06, we had a billing problem, that got fixed and they should have "immediately" turned the service back on. Nothing ever happened. I was still talking to manager's 4 days late, "yes 4 days later". The FIOS never got fixed. I got tired of it and ended up going to another service provider (cable company).

Finally here is an example of just how Verizon thinks of customers making complaints and blames everything on the customer. I was the EA to the Director of DSL customer services for over a yr. They were having so many problems with customers dropping DSL and going to other providers that they "hired" a contractor to find the problem. I took a look at the list of complaints one day, and said to myself. The problem is with the CSR's and not the customer. But no Verizon didn't see that and "of course" blamed everything on the customer.

I was out yesterday at one of their promotional events (they were signing up customers). Of course, they didn't want to hear my story. It would be negative towards signing up new customers. I did talk to a regional sales manager who took my name down and promised to call me the next week to see "if I wanted to sign up". The only want I will sign up again is this. I will have the name of a high-level VP to call if I have problems. When I call I expect them to jump. If they want this customer back, they will have to jump through hoops to get me to come back.

Now that you've read my story, think twice about going to Verizon. Nothing has changed in the company, except they want your service. Verizon is top-heavy with managers and knows it, but doesn't care, that is part of their problem.

Agent's promise of refund or credit has not been met.

Being lied to is not a good feeling as a customer.

They promised me of credit and now they are denying ever existed of that promise by simply saying it has not been logged in.

On 6/13/2008 a telephone pole rotted and fell on our garage roof. It put several holes in our roof then fell to the ground and snapped the wires in half and were stretched out across the road. We contacted verizon as soon as we noticed what happened. They sent a service man out and he said he was the wrong person for the job that someone else would be out. After a week another service woman came out and told us she wasn't the right person to do the job that someone else would need to come out. We had another appointment yesterday and no one showed up or tried to contact us. Again no service. It has been over 3 weeks now that we have not had service and in the meantime all the rain we have had is pouring into our garage thru the holes in the roof. I keep calling and spoke to several supervisors and nothing is being done to repair the damages or restore our service, and the wires are still laying across the road. I am at wits end and don't know what to do, I need some help.

Thank you,

Debra Appel

This is a story about how I want to get Verizon FIOS and discovered that I am not good enough for it. It’s a rather long story, the short version is that after over a month, 2 days off, talked to over 30 technicians, over 10 hours on the phone, and appointment rescheduled 15 times, I still can’t get the service fully setup. The last technician that I talked to today said that I did this all wrong from the beginning. Yes, I shouldn’t have called.

Before I start let me say that out of all the people I dealt with, all but 2 are very good. Almost everybody I talked to whole heartedly tried to help. Somehow the Verizon God didn’t like me.

Chapter 1: The Order.

A month ago we bought a new house. I checked with Verizon 2 weeks before our closing date and they say yes, we can get FIOS. Great! I can finally try this exciting new service. So as soon as we closed the deal on 5/22/2008, I called Verizon. The sales rep was nice enough to explain all the options. We discuss for about 45 minutes to pick the package, internet speed, number of cable box, etc. All is fine. At the end, she transferred me to a third party verification agent. That lady asked me one question which I didn’t understand so I said “Can you repeat that?” Perhaps she heard me say something else, she said, “Seems like you have been coached by Verizon and so I have to cancel your order.” She then hung up. What? After almost an hour on the phone I got hung up like that?

I called back right away, I told the rep that I just placed an order and wanted to make sure it’s fine. The guy says they don’t handle Virginia and had me transferred, but he said the office is now closed.” What?” I said. “But I just talked to them a minute ago.” Anyway, I got transferred and left a voice message. I told my wife that this doesn’t make sense, the sales office should be open 24/7. So about half an hour later, I called back. This time the rep was able to find my order. He said that everything is fine and I am scheduled to get installation on 6/10. Cool.

Chapter 2: Week One.

So I waited patiently for the next 2 weeks assuming everything was fine. On 6/10, I took the day off and got to the house early (the appointment was 8am – 5pm). Around 9am I started to worry. So I called, the first person I talked to said he couldn’t find my order. He then had me transfer. The second guy found my order but didn’t know what’s going on. He put me on hold and the call dropped. I called back, expressing that I was on the phone for 20 minutes and still didn’t know what’s going on. This time the rep knows which system to hit. She said that the order didn’t go through as the phone number wasn’t ported correctly because they submitted my new address to my exiting phone company. I said if there is a delay, shouldn’t someone contact me so that I don’t waste my day? Anyway, she apologized and I gave her my old address. She said the new due date (yea, I learn some of their terminologies too) is now on 6/12. I received a rescheduling email right after the call. I was unhappy but was ok to wait for 2 more days.

The 12th was my moving day, so I had to arrange a friend to be at the new house to wait for the Verizon technician. Around noon my friend called me and said the Verizon guy told him that they cannot install as the fiber line was actually not at the house yet. “Am I supposed to know this?” I talked to the technician on the phone. He said he will send a ticket in right away and they should come out in 24 hours and he will come out right away to have it all fix. Fine. Another 24 hours.

That afternoon, someone came to my house and put yellow paint on the lawn to indicate where the fiber lines should go to. I thought maybe they will come out the next day and I may get service before Monday.

Wrong. Week 1 pasted and all I have is some yellow lines on the lawn.

Chapter 3: Week Two.

I called on Sunday and the guy said someone from the control group will contact me when they come to work on Monday.

Early Monday morning (6/16), the Verizon crew showed up, dug up the yard and put the fiber line to my house. I saw them packing up as I left for work. Eager to get it done, I called Verizon on my way to work. The lady was very nice and tried to schedule an appointment for me. “The earliest appointment is 7/4.” She said. “No. no. no.” I said. “Verizon made 2 mistakes on my order and now I have to wait in line again?” She said she will put down on the note that I should get expedited installation as the delay is due to Verizon’s fault. She said she will try her best and will call me back.

About 1 hour later, someone called me back. This lady is bad Verizon employee 1. She said, “They will drop the line this week and I have secured your schedule for 6/24.” I told her they have already dropped the line (put fiber optics underground) this morning and I didn’t understand the wait. All you said was, “You are all set for the 24th” and didn’t even listen to me.

After I hung up I realized I had missed another call from Verizon. It was the nice lady that I was talking to on my way to work. She left a message saying that she had talked to the dispatched department and had secured an installation appointment on 6/21.

At that point I received 2 emails. One said confirm installation on the 21st and the other said confirmed on the 24th. So now I’m confused. 21st or 24th. Of course, I called back. The guy I got said it’s weird that one system said the 21st and the other said the 24th but he had fixed them all. Now everything is lining up on the 21st. “Everything is fine, right? Cause this order has yet to be fine.” I said. He reassured me that I will get installed on the 21st. I received another confirmation email saying that installation is on 6/21. All seems fine. That ended my Monday.

On 3pm Thursday 6/19, I received an email saying that if I don’t call Verizon by 6/23, my order will be canceled. Worried my hard worked will be down the drain, I called right away. The lady who took the call says somehow there is a hold on the Internet and TV and the installation has been pushed out. I told her the entire story again and she said she put everything back on 6/21 and everything should be fine. That same night, at 7:42pm, I receive an email saying that my installation is confirmed on 6/26. Wait, wait, wait. I thought I talked to someone and everything was back to 6/21. Of course I called and the guy was very nice and told me some system says 21st and some says 26th. While he didn’t understand why, he put everything back to the 21st. I told him the story again and he reassured me that the order is now confirmed by the dispatched department and everything is fine on the 21st. That night at 10:19pm, I receive an email confirming my installation on the 21st. That ended my Thursday.

The next day, Friday 6/20, one day before the big day, I received an email at 12:01pm saying that installation is now on 6/26. Called and screamed at the rep. I said I have tried very very hard to work with Verizon and somehow Verizon just doesn’t like me. This time I was talking to the nicest rep of all. He put me on hold for a little bit, came back and said that his supervisor is talking to the supervisor of the dispatch department and everything is truly fine.

Chapter 4: The big weekend.

That night I actually couldn’t go to sleep as I was too excited about getting FIOS the next day. Next morning 6/21, the much anticipated installation day, I woke up early. Well, of course nobody showed up. The appointment was from 8-12. I called around 10am, told the story again and told the rep that this is really unacceptable. He put me on hold and called the dispatched department. After a few minutes he came back and said someone will show up that day. Immediately after the call, I receive the familiar scheduling email saying that installation is now scheduled for Sunday 6/22. Hold on. Did I just talked to someone and said that installation will be on same day? Plus do they even do installation on Sunday? I called immediately. This time again I talked to a very nice person. I told him again how much work I had put into this order and somehow Verizon just didn’t want to work with me. He called the dispatched department and came back saying they are really swamp and cannot take my order that day. I started to scream and told him that I had taken 2 days off, countless time on the phone and had to cancel Saturday party because of the installation and they can’t fit me in? He put me on hold again and came back saying someone will show up before the end of the day.

By noon on 6/21, the same person that I talked to last called back and said they really can’t get my order done that day but they are going to put me on a priority first installation on Sunday morning. He said he will pass my information to his colleague to call me at 8:30am and make sure the tech does show up. He was so nice that I accepted the delay.

Sunday morning 6/22, a lady called around 9am saying that she will be arriving in 45 minutes. Around 10am, she pulled the Verizon truck into the block. This was real. She was really nice and apologized for my inconvenience. I told her everyone that I talked to in Verizon seem to be nice but some unknown entity within Verizon has been messing me up. It took her and another person about 5 hours to get everything setup. By Sunday afternoon, we had Fios TV and Internet. Hurray! Still no landline yet, for some reason, but that’s not important, now that I have TV and Internet. That night we enjoy HD TV on our new TV set and called home from our VOIP phone. I thought that was the end of story.

Chapter 5: Conclusion.

During installation, the lady said that the phone port was delayed but should come through by 6/26. I told her so long as we get Internet and TV, phone doesn’t really matter. On Friday 6/27, after almost a week of enjoying Fios TV and Internet, the installation lady called and said that the phone order still had not came through but she will continue to follow-up. What a nice person.

Today, 7/2, almost 6 weeks after my first call to Verizon, I called again to ask for a status. This time I talked to a below average rep. I told her the port was originally due on 6/10 but someone put in the wrong address. She said what I had done was wrong. I should have moved my COX service over to the new house before switching to Verizon. She said of course the port wouldn’t go through as if this is all my fault. I said someone should have told me at the beginning and not wasted 6 weeks of my time. Now I’m trapped as my COX service has already been canceled. She said the only thing I can do is to call COX, reactivate the service, move over to my new house, then switch to Verizon. And she said it in such a tone that sounded like I was making an unreasonable request.

So I called COX to have my phone reactivated and move over to the new house. The rep over in COX was very nice and said if I really want Verizon, that’s my right, but he just wanted me to give them a chance. I told him go ahead and put me back on TV, Internet and Phone. I am probably not good enough to receive Verizon’s service.