Feeling ripped off by the on-site technician labor fee
Pat281
Newbie

First, let me start by saying I am not a person who complain just because I have been charged with a service fee.

I won't complain if the fee is not a huge amount. Sometimes I am charged with hidden fees here and there, but if the amount is a few bucks, I will just pay and avoid the hassel of trying to understand or possibly get a refund. 

I won't complain if the fee is caused by my own fault. For example, I overdraft my checking account and I need to pay 35 bucks, that is fine. I am responsible for what I did, no grudge. 

I won't complain, if the fee is explained to me in advance. So I get to decide if I am willing to pay or how much I am willing to pay. 

That is why I am so angry when I found I was charge for an outrageous $91 dollar fee for a Verizon technician to come to my house to replace a faulty DSL router. Let me start by saying what really bothers me in this incident. I was charged  a large amount of fee by Verizon because of one of their problem (the faulty DSL router). I couldn't use the internet service which I purchased for two days because of the faulty router, and I now need to pay for that. There are no other solutions (I spend endless time trying to work out a solution with Verizon support staff online) but to send a technician so the fee is inevitable. And come on, 91 dollars for replacing a Router? If they told me in advance about the 91 dollar technician service fee,  I will never agree to buy it and might just simply disconnect the service and switch to its competitor. As far as I know, they can charge me $191 dollars, or 291 dollars and told me afterwards, and I have to pay for that as well? 

I sincerely hope Verizon will help me make sense of this charge, help me understand why I need to pay for their problem that affect my purchased service, and why the half-hour service fee is $91, more importantly, why this fee is hidden from its customers. Otherwise, I will file a formal complaint to goverment agencies such as  Federal Trade Commission,  and Better Business Bureau. 

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Re: Feeling ripped off by the on-site technician labor fee
somegirl
Champion - Level 3

Normally a modem/router replacement is not done by a technician. They just ship you a new one and you replace it yourself. Was there some special circumstance that made this not the case?

Re: Feeling ripped off by the on-site technician labor fee
Pat281
Newbie

I couldn't get access to internet one day, so I contact the Verizon online support. After hours of trouble shooting, they couldn't decide the cause of the problem and they decided to send a technician. The technician came and run a few tests, told me that there is a problem with the router and replaced it. 

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Re: Feeling ripped off by the on-site technician labor fee
somegirl
Champion - Level 3

@Pat28 wrote:

I couldn't get access to internet one day, so I contact the Verizon online support. After hours of trouble shooting, they couldn't decide the cause of the problem and they decided to send a technician. The technician came and run a few tests, told me that there is a problem with the router and replaced it. 


In that case, I would call Billing and request that they refund the charge. If they decided to send the tech (you didn't request it) and the problem they found was in Verizon's equipment (not in your wiring/hardware), then you should not have been charged for the truckroll.

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Re: Feeling ripped off by the on-site technician labor fee
Pat281
Newbie

Thank you. I have contacted the billing over phone, and they told me that  every time a technician is sent out, there is a $91 charge. Would you please tell me the proper procedure or channle of requesting a refund? 

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