Installation Day: A Tale of Despair
EnumsMatter
Enthusiast - Level 2
I wanted to make a quick post outlining my experience I have had with Verizon over the course of three days; May 27th through 29th. This is a bit long and as detailed as I could make my account, I tried to keep running notes about my experience since the first day of installation - I'm sure some things were missed after wasting days waiting for an installation that never happened and after spending a combined total of more than 320 minutes of the phone where I had lapses of consciousness waiting around. Here it goes:

May 27, 2016
Installation Day
Initial Installation 8:00am – 5:00pm

The original technician arrival window was 12:30 to 1:30 PM, the window was then pushed back until 2:00 to 3:00 PM. Then arrival estimator then said there was a delay with my technician and I am to contact Verizon for details. This happens, right? No one is ever on time but surely they will show up today!

Once I called Verizon, the agent got a hold of dispatch, who said my technician would call me within 30 minutes. I waited around 40 minutes, receiving no phone call, and called Verizon back at 3:34PM to see what was going on and why my technician never contacted me with an update. The agent stated they got a hold of dispatch and my technician would be arriving within an hour and a half (this should put his arrival time around 5:10PM). After still not receiving updates from the technician I called Verizon once again at 5:18 PM, my technician showed up while I was still waiting for a representative. He arrived at my apartment at 5:35.
After showing up, the technician stated he would be right back and he disappeared for over thirty minutes and shows up (around 6:00) with a router for my installation. He then says he will be right back once again, the technician disappeared for over an hour. The technician finally returns at 7:00, stating he can’t find his tools and he drove all the way back to his previous job site to look at them – he then asked if he could borrow any tools I may have (which I offered and none of them would do, considering I just have basic home repair tools). Let's note, not once did the technician even give me a courtesy call, he showed up unannounced and disappeared without saying a word or stating he would be leaving the premise of my complex.

Around 7:10, the technician calls his dispatching helpline to see if he can install the service without his tools since the prior resident of the apartment had Verizon has their service provider. He is then told he would receive a call back from his dispatching team. The technician then continues to sit within my apartment doing nothing from 7:20 PM until 8:25 PM, when he then states he had not received a call back and had another job to get to.

I then call Verizon at 9:45 PM that night to discuss my installation options for Saturday, May 28th. I am told that dispatch is closed, so I would need to call back Saturday morning to setup an installation.

May 28, 2016 - Saturday

I call Verizon at 8:00 AM, when their dispatch opens, as requested from the prior night. This agent then told me I was in the work order queue for Saturday and a technician would arrive after 4:00 PM. I call Verizon once again at 4:30 PM to receive an update on the estimated arrival time. The agent said he could not give me a definite answer, but my internet would absolutely be installed today. Now there is a little backed story for why I needed it installed after 4:00PM - Friday night I drove well over five and a half hours and reached my destination around 4:30AM, I had places to be and didn't expect to have a technician loiter inside my apartment until 8:30 PM. Now, with the promise I have been made that a technician would be arriving Saturday I made the 5 and a half hour trip back to my apartment Saturday, reaching my apartment around 4:00 PM under the impression someone would be there sometimes after 4:00 PM.

After waiting a while, I decide to call Verizon back again at 6:30 PM to see if an agent could give me an update on the estimated arrival time, since we are now two and half hours past 4:00 PM. This agent said that dispatch stated I was the next work order in queue and the technician is on his way to my apartment, he should be arriving within 45 minutes to one hour. This should put the technician at my apartment no later than 7:30 PM.

I continued to wait, and give the technician a little wiggle room, I figured it could take slightly longer to arrive than an hour since we are in a traffic dense area in Northern Virginia. I then call Verizon again at 8:00 PM to inquire to the status of the technician. It turns out, dispatch was closed and he was unable to get a hold of anyone and told me, the technician would not be arriving (even though he was apparently on his way to my apartment the last time we spoke and from the events that took place Friday, technicians still work late into the evening since one loitered in my apartment until 8:30 PM and then stated he had another job to go to).

During this same phone call, which started at 8:00 PM I talked to a total of five people, I requested twice to be connected with a supervisor and seemed to only get connected with one after both attempts had a failed transfer to just another agent. This waiting game to speak with a supervisor took more than one hour.

The supervisor is actually one of the first helpful people I speak with, and he and the prior agent work with me to see if they can get the old Verizon box from the previous apartment tenants working – they walk me through the steps of getting the box turned on and reset, they then continually try to get a signal sent to it. I then try to use my personal router I had packed from my recent move to see if we could get the box to broadcast a wireless signal (I was supposed to be using the Verizon router provided to me, but the Technician from the Friday before took the router and refused to allow me to keep it). After troubleshooting for more than another hour, we finally end our conversation around 10:30 PM on the note that the box currently installed in my unit only supports 75mbps whereas the service I am trying to receive is 100mbps – so our attempts were a lost cause and a technician will need to replace the box in my unit to support the higher data transfer speeds. The agent then tells me there is a note on my account from dispatch that someone would be arriving the continue my installation at 8:00AM on Sunday morning.

May 29, 2016 - Sunday

Sunday morning, I wait around with the knowledge a technician should be arriving around 8:00 AM, according to the note on my account from the prior night from dispatch. I proceed to call Verizon around 8:05 AM to only be informed that I was never placed in the work order queue for Sunday, the agent worked for over 35 minutes to attempt to get me placed in today’s work order queue. I was then told dispatching was still closed, I should receive a call back at 9:00 AM when dispatching opens in order to confirm an installation for today.

I wait until 9:20 AM and after receiving no call back, I once again take it upon myself to call Verizon support. At 9:37 AM I am informed by the agent that no one would be able to install my internet today. However, the agent stated that I should have been offered a Verizon Jetpack, their mobile hotspot, to use for a temporary Internet connection after the failure to install my service on Friday (I would like to note, after three days of calling Verizon Support, this agent was the first one to offer or even mention to me that I could have received a complimentary hotspot to use during the downtime of my installation). I was then told, the soonest they could have a technician there to install my service was Wednesday, June 1st. This agent then transferred me to Customer Billing, from there, Customer Billing was able to setup an order to get me a temporary hotspot device shipped out so that I could at least have some temporary connection until my service is installed.

I then received a call back at 10:00 AM from the same agent who promised to call me back at 9:00 AM, he was regretful to inform me that there was no way they could have a technician come out today to install my internet service. However, he was able to push my install back to Tuesday from the stated Wednesday and he sent me a confirmation email with a morning installation date between 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM for Tuesday May 31st. So hopefully, someone actually shows up to perform my installation.

All-in-all, the service I have received from Verizon of the course of the past three days has been anything except helpful. This is truly the largest customer service nightmare I have personally been a part of. Over the course of those three days, I talked to more than fifteen people, just trying to figure out when someone would be able to setup the Internet that I had ordered on May 22nd. After talking with more than fifteen people, only one person offered me the use of a complimentary mobile hotspot – which would have been a nice asset during the first dialed installation considering I have now gone well over my data plan with my personal mobile carrier and I am incurring additional charges for overage data (most of which I have used for three days trying to check order status of my service and technician). I am starting a new job in the area this upcoming week and I needed Internet on Friday, for preparations, Saturday was pushing it, and Sunday was definitely pushing it further. Now I won’t be receiving my hotspot until Monday, which will be later in the evening when FedEx runs at my apartment complex. Over the course of my experience, I have been deceived, lied to, treated with no respect, and while I have encountered a few very helpful agents, the overall attitude and blatant disrespect for my needs as a brand new paying customer has been completely unacceptable. This is my first experience with Verizon, and my installation week is definitely a bad first impression with using them as my service provider – we can only hope this is not how I will be treated in the future and we can only hope that my service will encounter zero issues over the course of my term with Verizon, for I fear their dispatching and technician teams would never be able to assist me in a time of need.

That wraps up my story, we will see what the next few days hold for me as a new Verizon customer. Perhaps Customer Billing will be able to throw a few perks my way, or at the very least remove the charge for my installation fee. Who knows, and I'll worry about that when the time comes. I just needed to make a small public rant outlining my experience.
Tags (3)
0 Likes
Re: Installation Day: A Tale of Despair
EnumsMatter
Enthusiast - Level 2
Update: I was told I would receive a shipping confirmation for my hotspot by end of business, it never came. Yet another empty promise, even on top of the holiday, there was no way I would receive my hotspot for tomorrow. Currently following up with Support to see where we go from here.
0 Likes