In 2008, my wife and I moved to a new apartment. We contacted Verizon when we first moved in. Three Months later we had service. We spent countless hours on the phone with various Verizon representatives all promising the install team to be coming to our apartment and complete the job. The first group came and said they couldn't set-up our install. The second group did not show up. The third group came to do the work needed to finish the install. The fourth group came and indicated that the third group didn't do their job correctly, but stayed until we got service. We moved in September and more than three months earlier.
We moved just recently and now, we are close to facing the same dilemmas. We confirmed an install for 8/18/2010. We were subsequently informed that we couldn't be installed that day due to a billing issue with the previous residents. We were told that we would be installed on 8/20/2010 on our wireless phone. My wife stayed home all 8/20/2010 morning because the appointment was scheduled from 8:00am to 12:00pm. No one showed. We come to find out that our scheduled install date was changed without our knowing to 9/20/2010. An email was sent to my wife's address, even though we are waiting for Verizon to set-up the install. Now, my wife is calling back to make sure that we get an install earlier than 9/20.
We are happy with FIOS, but Verizon must do a much better job of respecting the customer when it comes to installation. It is just an unprofessional and poor first impression when establishing a lasting relationship with a customer. A few comments for thought:
1) When an install is established, one customer service representative should be responsible for that customer until they get service? A courtesy call after installation would be a good way to improve customer relations.
2) Better communication should be established on the day of service. Having a 4 hour window is understandable, but requiring a 8 hour window is a burden on the customer
3) When installing service, the service personnel should be prepared for any requirements or install processes that may need to be implemented. Instead of coming back, the responsibility of Verizon should be for satisfactory service on the day of install.
In general, I agree with you. I think the complexity comes in that there seem to be three different skills sets required to get things up and running -- and that a single person or team can't necessarily do them all. When I was installed, it took a team of folks with special equipment to run the fiber from the outside of my house to the neighborhood connection point -- these we're obviously independent contractors skilled at using specialize digging equipment to bury the cable and route it under driveways, etc. Then it took another guy to install the ONT, connect up the fiber, etc. and then a third guy to do the actual inside installation (although these last two I believe were just because the install took longer than expected and they handed me off to the other person to complete the job). The installer also said I was fortunate to have all my inside wiring in place because otherwise he might have had to have someone else come out to fish cables, etc. with the proper tools to drill, etc.
Not sure if I'd want a single person to do all this work -- I'd rather have an expert at each so a professional job gets done.
However, with that said, it should be all transparent to me the customer -- someone should show up on time on the installation day and I should be kept informed along the way about the progress until it's complete. It does seem a bit more complicated for the end customer than it need be.
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