Unfair billing from Verizon

[V_Vega]

I was a new customer with Verizon FIOS but due to the impossibly incompetent and deceiving practices of their billing department I quickly decided to disconnect my service as soon as I noticed unjust charges on my first Verizon bill.

We moved into our new apartment a few weeks ago, and decided to get Verizon FIOS for internet and TV because the previous tenant also had FIOS and we thought setting up a new account in our name should be easy. What a mistake that turned out to be... After talking to a sales rep we agreed on a package and decided on the self install option since a tech was not available to come out anytime soon and all the basic wiring and the optical unit was already present anyway. When I received the installation package I easily managed to set up everything as needed, but I noticed that while internet was working OK, the live TV signal was either completely blank or for some channels very heavily distorted. I then called tech support and after discussing my issues it was decided that I needed an in-home visit from a technician to fix the problem. I was told that if there would be any charges the technician would tell me upfront, to which I replied that if there would be any charges I would not accept them and cancel my service immediately as I do not plan to pay for Verizon's failure to deliver me with a working product.

When the technician arrived in our home and after a brief investigation he noticed 2 problems: 1) one of the cables inside the optical unit in the basement (which was installed previously for the former tenant) was loose and needed to be tightened; 2) one of the settop boxes I received from Verizon did not work at all, and was replaced by the technician. After these 2 fixes, everything worked OK (except for the remote connection to the DVR, which never worked at all, but that's another story). The technician never mentioned any charges that I would be responsible for and I assumed that was obvious since both problems were not caused by any wrongdoing on my part.

Fast forward to 2 weeks later and big surprise: I get a charge for labor in the amount of $90!!! First I went back to the store where I initially set up my account to confront the sales rep with this issue. All he could say was that I was definitely in my right and shouldn't be charged for this technician visit. However he claimed that he couldn't access the system to correct this issue, and just gave me the phone number for the billing department. I must say it already struck me as very odd that they have no problem accessing the Verizon billing system to set up a new account, but as soon as any problems arise they're helpless.... Strange way of running a business...

Anyway, I called billing and after getting the runaround treatment (3 different departments, 4 customer reps on the phone who all seemed helpless), I was told that the service technician advised me of the charge at the time of his visit, which is an outright BLATANT LIE, and that there was no way to revoke the charge. I asked repeatedly to be connected to a supervisor who has the authority to adjust these charges and was refused. Therefore I immediately decided to cancel all of my service with Verizon as I don't want to be a customer of a company who lies to their customers and tries to steal their money. I was then told that I only would be billed for the charges of internet and TV service for the period during which my account was active, which is acceptable to me, and that no extra charges would be billed. To make sure there could be no reason for them to steal any more money from me, I immediately returned all equipment to my nearby service center the same day as my call to customer service.

Today I finally received my final bill, and while I did receive a credit for the days that I disconnected, the disputed charge of $90 was still there... On top of that they also added some more charges for "remaining internet activation fee". All in all they expect me to pay $226.12 for less than 20 days of internet and TV service (which didn't even work at all for several days!), which is utterly ridiculous.

I have been with multiple major cable companies previously, including Comcast and RCN, and I have never been treated this way. I hope someone with authority from Verizon can rectify this issue or otherwise I will be forced to consult my attorney to look at my legal options to dispute this charge that I never agreed to in the first place. Not to mention that I won't have a good word to say about Verizon to my colleagues and friends who are considering switching to FIOS.

Hopefully this can be a warning to anyone considering to activate Verizon service!

[TonyaD_VZ]

We sent you a message on our private support board to assist you and we did not receive a response.  Please repost the issue if you are still experiencing a problem so that we may assist you.  Tonya C.