FIOS Internet = Great, FIOS TV & Tech Support = I would rate them lower than F if I could

[FiosCustomer911]

I have never made a post like this before.  But the horrible service I've received from Verizon's FIOS team, the lack of quality in the service and rudeness of one of the support agents have prompted me to share my experience with other.  I do so, hoping Verizon will read this post and make some changes that will benefit everyone.  On that note, I'll attempt to briefly summarize my experience.

About 1 1/2 months ago, for no reason that I can discern three problems arose:

problem 1: HBO GO quit working

problem 2: my bedroom FIOS box quit working

problem 3: my front room FIOS box quit displaying the picture (however, it still outputted sound and the guide appeared when I pressed the guide button).

I attempted to use Verizon's FAQ to solve my problem, but to no avail.  I then attempted to use Verizon's tech support chat function.  After spending 13 minutes holding to chat with an agent, then another 21 minutes chatting with the agent.  No resolution could be found.  In addition, the agent kept telling me I needed to register my HBO GO account.  I informed him, several times, that I had and he would in turn tell me I was wrong.

I then called Verizon's tech support and spent over 40 minutes on the phone with a different support agent.  The guy I spoke to on the phone was at least courteous and tried to be helpful.  He told me the same thing as the chat agent, which was, I'd need to register to use HBO GO.  So I re-registered, and created a second My Verizon login ID per the agent's instructions.  It didn't work either.  After spending 40 minutes on the phone with me he told me it would take 24 hours for the second My Verizon account to be accessible with HBO GO.  So I thanked him for his time, hung up and waited 48 hours just to be safe.

Today upon trying to use HBO GO, it still isn't working.  I called Verizon tech support (spent 24 minutes on hold and another 20 minutes talking to the agent) in an attempt to fix the problems.  The agent was able to fix problem # 3 for me by resetting the FIOS box.  However, he wasn't able to resolve problems 1 or 3.  I was surprised by his response when I asked him about HBO GO.  I asked him, "HBO GO hasn't been working, I re-registered per the support agents instructions the other day, do you know how to fix it?"

He replied, "I have no clue.  HBO GO is a new feature, I’m just reading up now on it.”

I don't fault him for his lack of knowledge.  I think it's indicative of Verizon, as a company, not training its support agents adequately.  I say this because I interacted with three support agents.  All three were not well versed in fixing HBO GO problems.

At this point I'd given up on getting a resolution.  And all my time spent on attempting to get a resolution has eaten up a lot of my time on my weekend.  I informed the agent I am moving in 2 weeks (the 15th), so it's not worth the effort to resolve the issue.  I asked him to notate my account with the problems and transfer me to billing so I could request some kind of refund for the lack of service over the past 45 days.  He obliged and transferred me.  

After waiting another 5 minutes on hold, the Verizon billing agent began asking me for my phone number, address, etc.  And suddenly the phone call disconnected.  I should also note, I was making the call on a Verizon cell phone.  

I don't know what else I can do.  Every attempt I've made has resulted in more time lost and no resolution.  This has left me very frustrated.

Verizon, if you read this post, please, please help me.  I thought Time Warner's tech and billing support was bad, but after my experience with Verizon's I'm beginning to think Time Warner wasn't so bad after all.  

I'm concerned that Verizon might take down my post, so I'm going to post this to my blog and facebook page.  If anyone knows of a good consumer activist group, I'd love to get in touch with them.

Yours truly,

FiosCustomer911

[KaLin]

I'm sorry to hear about your recent issue. The Verizon Forums is a peer-to-peer support channel in which users help other users. Because your issue appears to need account specific assistance from Verizon, I've copied your message to an employee monitored board, where a Verizon representative can assist you. You will be contacted by email, private message in the Forums and/or the billing telephone number on your Verizon account as soon as possible.