My Verizon Hell

[njcromag]

My hideous experience with Verizon FIOS began in late January 2014, when I finally decided to bite the bullet and upgrade my slow DSL connection to FIOS.

I called one night and had a pleasant conversation with the representative, who sold me on FIOS with a special offer of only $45 a month, with all other associated fees/charges waived.

I kept asking her for reassurance that my bill would only be $45 from the first month on, so as to cover my butt and make sure I wasn't misinterpreting anything, and received constant assurance that this would be the case.

Well, the installation went off with one problem (more on that later), and they did indeed waive the modem fee, as promised.

But, when my first bill came in, it was for $75. I called to let them know they'd billed me in error, but they said there was an additional $90 charge that would be applied as a $30 charge for my next three bills. I told the customer service rep that the woman I'd originally spoken to neglected to mention this extra charge, that I'd repeatedly gotten her to confirm that $45 would be as high as my bill would ever get.

The woman told me I was out of luck. She couldn't confirm what I was telling her, so long story short, it was my word against theirs. And I would lose.

I decided to bite the bullet and pay the extra money. Had I known up-front of all the issues that would follow, I would have dug in my heels instead of allowing myself to be bullied (as would eventually happen).

But back to the installation…the installer knew what he was doing. He was quick, he was efficient, he assisted greatly in my initial setup, and I have no complaints about him. However, the day of the install, we'd gotten blasted with about a foot of snow. Therefore, his options were either to reschedule to a different day or run a "temp line" into the house -- a line that would remain above ground until they could find the time to lay it properly underground.

Assured by him that they could get the line laid "within 10 days," I told him to go ahead with the temp line install. The snow laid heavy for most of those 10 days, but melted sufficiently towards the tail end of that span. But, just as conditions improved enough for digging, installers were nowhere to be found. The 10-day span came and went.

I had to call customer service to make sure we were still on their schedule. The man informed me that we were, and that I should give them another week. Of course, I had to call to get this info, as nobody from Verizon had thought to be proactive and actually call to inform me. But I tried to remain patient.

A crew came back the next week and said the ground was now too hard to do anything (as temps had again plummeted), so they said they'd keep us on the schedule. Another week or two passed, and I'd gotten no additional word.

Finally, I got back on the line with customer service, practically begging for some kind of update. I told the guy my situation, and he said he'd look into it. He came back, saying we were no longer on the schedule, that our install had been marked as completed.

I was outside on my cell phone and was looking directly at the cable, still sitting above ground, and told him he/they were wrong. He said he'd make darn sure they took care of it this time. And they finally did.

Sometime over the next week, they finally came and laid the cable properly. Between initial installation and the cable finally being laid underground, it was somewhere in the vicinity of 4-5 weeks. I had to fight tooth and nail just to make sure they got the thing underground, as it appears nobody wanted to be bothered with it.

I had two issues with Verizon right out of the gate, and I was barely a month into my new service.

Then came the straw that broke the camel's back. In May 2014, I called customer service for assistance, as my internet service wasn't working. The technician had me try a bunch of different things before determining that my modem was the problem. He submitted an order for a new modem to be sent to me.

I got off the phone, did some troubleshooting of my own, and figured it out by myself. I got my internet working again, so I called customer service back to tell them I no longer needed the modem. They said it was too late, that the order had been placed, but all I had to do was send the modem back to avoid being charged for it.

The day I got the modem, it went right back out into the mail, courtesy of UPS shipping.

In June, our monthly charge was $145. When I called to ask why it had spiked by $100, they said it was because they never got the modem back. I immediately relayed shipping information to them off the UPS receipt I'd kept handy, and they entered it into their system. They said the shipping number checked out, but they couldn't apply the $100 credit to our current bill. Instead, they said, we wouldn't see bills (or, more accurately, we'd see $0 bills) for July and August, and the small remaining amount of credit would be applied to our September bill.

When our July bill came in, we were charged $45 (via automatic withdrawal). So, whatever credit I was promised never showed up. I called customer service again, explaining my situation, and after a full hour on the phone (I timed it on my cell phone), I was promised that the issue had been rectified and that we'd start seeing the credit with our next bill (August).

When our August bill came in, we were charged $45 (again, via automatic withdrawal). And, AGAIN, whatever credit we were promised was nowhere to be found.

Today, I called back into customer service, as I was at my wits' end. The customer service rep said he would apply the credit immediately, right there on the phone, so we could once and for all be done with this.

After he said the credit had been applied, he tried to sell me on changing from my DirecTV satellite service to their service. I told him I didn't want Verizon to see any more money than I was already giving them, that this situation (not to mention the others listed above) had left me frustrated.

Before I finished my thought, the rep cut me off and told me I had no right to feel frustrated, as he'd taken care of the problem.

For starters, I'd been told twice before (once on my initial call about the $145, and then in July) that the problem had been fixed, and it hadn't.

Well, pardon me for not feeling too confident in Verizon's ability to fix this simple problem! They were 0-for-2 fixing this so far, and yet, I was made to feel like a schmuck for doubting him. I'm still trying to find out how my distrust was MY problem when all Verizon had done is lie to me…from day one.

Not only that, but even if (and I still have my doubts) the problem has been fixed, him doing it NOW does not erase the ridiculous ineptitude I've dealt with for the last couple months (on this issue alone, mind you).

To basically tell me to shut up and be happy doesn't make up for what I've experienced, which is a level of negligence and carelessness that makes my brain swim.

I countered his thoughtless remark by saying I still have no confirmation that the issue has been solved, that I'm taking his word, much like I took the word of the previous two people I'd spoken with (with disastrous results). He again cut me off, and said I could just check my account tomorrow, that I didn't have to just take his word, that I could see for myself.

I wasn't yelling. I wasn't screaming. I was being as polite as I could. And yet, I get zero understanding. Not one single ounce. Obviously, I was the problem, not Verizon and their shoddy service.

 I expect to see that same $45 charge on my bill next month, and the same vicious cycle will repeat itself all over again.

Verizon owes me, not just for the $100 credit I deserve, but for this entire horrible experience.

Whenever I get asked about internet providers (and I do a lot, working in Information Technology, and with a company that has a pretty lenient work-from-home policy), I tell people to run for the hills if Verizon promises you anything.

Sadly, they deserve this reputation. They've more than earned it.

[ElizabethS]

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