False advertising in Verizon FIOS upgrade/renewal tools
mdverr
Newbie

How would you expect the price to change when you have a select button and minus $35 next to it?  Personally, I'd expect that the base overall price would go down by $35.   Well, Verizon apparently isn't good at math, doesn't understand what minus $35 means, or are just plain false advertisers with their bundle pricing tool.  

Here are the screenshots.   With the ultimate bundle clearly showing I should save $35 by downgrading from the Ultimate to the Extreme TV package:

image

And the results only showing a $15 savings:

image

Verizon you make Comcast look tempting.  All I was doing was trying to renew my agreement and now you have me considering going back to the dark side since your cusomter service is just as inept.  The online chat which took over 40 minutes, tried to tell me "Let me share that the $35/mo less price you are referring to is with the upgraded bundle (that means upgraded Internet and TV plan)." - whatever that means.

Matt

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Re: False advertising in Verizon FIOS upgrade/renewal tools
tns2
Community Leader
Community Leader

These forums are peer to peer so Verizon would not be likely to comment.  If you were having trouble with something the Forum admins might step in to help open a problem record for you, but that doesn't appear to be  the case here.

This particular problem only appears to be occuring since they started offereing the special bundle (Ultimate,internet 75/75, FIOS DV) at a special price.  That was only in the last few weeks.  Not that others haven't noted other mistakes before.

ps:  Did you noticed I said I am retired.  Yes have more time to read a few forums on subjects I am interested.

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Re: False advertising in Verizon FIOS upgrade/renewal tools
tns2
Community Leader
Community Leader

The reason for the confusion is a mistake on the WEBSITE.  The prices shown as minus look to be the usual reductions but the price shown is a SPECIAL offer for the combination of Ultimate/75mbps internet/FDV and includes some additional bonuses.

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Re: False advertising in Verizon FIOS upgrade/renewal tools
mdverr
Newbie

A mistake on the Website that is False Advertising???

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Re: False advertising in Verizon FIOS upgrade/renewal tools
tns2
Community Leader
Community Leader

They need to correct it yes.  ADVERTISEMENT not exactly.

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Re: False advertising in Verizon FIOS upgrade/renewal tools
mdverr
Newbie

Completely disagee.  Verizon is showing a rate which is advertising.  The rate is not correct which is false advertising.  False advertising is a crime.

Nice to see that they did seem to get the feedback from this posting and correct the issue.  I'll still be more thoroughly reviewing my most recent comcast offers.

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Re: False advertising in Verizon FIOS upgrade/renewal tools
tns2
Community Leader
Community Leader

Mistakes are often corrected.  Ever go to a store and have them post a notice that an Ad is in error? Its is not a crime.  Doing it on purpose may be.

Re: False advertising in Verizon FIOS upgrade/renewal tools
mdverr
Newbie

That is incorrect.  The correction would be to honor the price represented.  Are you a Verizon employee?  

Have you ever heard of the Federal Trade Commission?  

http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/media-resources/truth-advertising

Verizon's tool made a material claim that was false.

http://www.business.ftc.gov/documents/bus35-advertising-faqs-guide-small-business

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Re: False advertising in Verizon FIOS upgrade/renewal tools
tns2
Community Leader
Community Leader

Nope. Retired and never worked in that field.  BUt I live in the real world.  Some local laws are fussier and maybe in your area you can force Verizon to honor the prices you see.  But the FTC is unlikely to consider this false advertising, unless Verizon fails to correct.  It is not a 'adverise" page but the page where you try and build your personal bundle and it clearly has some errors.

Lots of companies will not honor errors.  E.g. Amazon a few months ago made a big mistake on Blu-ray/DVD's and cancelled all the orders after they realized it (some peoples orders squeaked through shipping before they realized it).

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Re: False advertising in Verizon FIOS upgrade/renewal tools
mdverr
Newbie

I work hard and am in the real world.  I expect nothing from others, other than to be honest and straightforward.  I brought this topic up on the fourm, not for personal gain, but to address a significant issue - falsely advertising a price.  I don't care if it is a "bug", misprint, or any other means, it was not 

You obviously have time on your hands if you're not an employee or indirectly being compensated by Verizon and are defending this practice.  I don't see how this mistake, intentional or not, is lawful, let along excusable.  How long has the issue been in place?  If Verizon commented on this issue and was transparent on how long it had been in place and how many customers may haven been affected, I would give them major props and be supportive of them.  However, that will never happen.  

I don't think any of the telecoms really care or know how to treat customers.  This is just an example of where Verizon has clearly gone out of their way to fail (i.e. mistake if you give them good intent) or deceive their customers because the cost of change (or lockin) that they have their customers in.  I contacted the web customer support about this issue a few days before this original post to give them a chance to explain and/or correct the issue (i.e. mistake in your mind).  The web people claimed it wasn't a mistake or issue.  However, after I posted this to the forum, the advertisment tool happened to magically get corrected within hours.  I am happy that they've fixed their advertisement and hopefully they will no longer decieve customers or at least have significanlty better quality assurance in place to not allow these false claims or "mistakes" (in your eyes) to get to the customers.  

If only any of the telecoms would be as customer centric as Amazon or any other company that has to compete to get customers ... that would be a great world for all consumers.  The key difference is those companies actually care and honor their commitments.  

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Re: False advertising in Verizon FIOS upgrade/renewal tools
tns2
Community Leader
Community Leader

These forums are peer to peer so Verizon would not be likely to comment.  If you were having trouble with something the Forum admins might step in to help open a problem record for you, but that doesn't appear to be  the case here.

This particular problem only appears to be occuring since they started offereing the special bundle (Ultimate,internet 75/75, FIOS DV) at a special price.  That was only in the last few weeks.  Not that others haven't noted other mistakes before.

ps:  Did you noticed I said I am retired.  Yes have more time to read a few forums on subjects I am interested.

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