Poor Customer service
noname01
Newbie

Verizon seems to be trying to outdo Microsoft and Comcast for poor customer service.  Putting out something as poorly designed as the new TV guide is going to drive customers away.  If you send Verizon customer service an e-mail, they don't know how to read it completely and respond.  All the suggestions on the blog board are not generating any fixes.  It is time to move to another provider.

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Re: Poor Customer service
Justin46
Legend

@noname0 wrote:

Verizon seems to be trying to outdo Microsoft and Comcast for poor customer service.  Putting out something as poorly designed as the new TV guide is going to drive customers away.  If you send Verizon customer service an e-mail, they don't know how to read it completely and respond.  All the suggestions on the blog board are not generating any fixes.  It is time to move to another provider.


What is wrong with the Guide, other than the frequent wrong data and wording (the content)? Come on, be specific, nothing can be addressed if you don't say specifically what you don't like.

Whether you believe it or not, the Guide format (not content) was developed and then tested by a large number of customer Beta testers. They did not like everything they saw and provided feedback to Verizon, and many changes were made. Plus after the rollout of 1.9 to the first area occurred, rollout was stopped and some changes were again made, delaying the rollout to the rest of the country. And yes, there are some people who still do not like the format of the current Guide, but there are also lots who do (and I am one of those who do like the new Guide, it is easy to read, the colors work well, etc). So if you don't like something, be specific.

As to fixes, there probably will be some changes made to the Guide in the future. Verizon generally does not send out individual fixes except for really serious failures; instead, they package changes together and deliver a new level of the software for the STBs. Verizon has not yet finished the rollout of the current 1.9 version of the Guide, so I don't think there is any likelyhood of seeing anything new until after that rolllout is completed, which should be early next year from what I have heard. Then sometime after that a new level will be delivered.

Now, if you are really talking about the format of the Guide, it could also just be that you have some settings wrong, or that you have the old 6xxx hardware, which most certainly does not work very well with the new Guide. If in fact you have 6xxx hardware, you should be able to contact Verizon and get replacements (7xxx hardware) at no charge.

OK, now, what are your issues?

__________________________________
Justin
FiOS TV, 25/25 Internet, and Digital Voice user
QIP7232, QIP7100-P2, IMG 1.9
Keller, TX 76248

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Re: Poor Customer service
PJT2
Newbie

Now, if you are really talking about the format of the Guide, it could also just be that you have some settings wrong, or that you have the old 6xxx hardware, which most certainly does not work very well with the new Guide. If in fact you have 6xxx hardware, you should be able to contact Verizon and get replacements (7xxx hardware) at no charge.

When I called about the 4x3 format of the guide on my 6416 box, tech support advised me to call the billing dept. for a fix as there was nothing the tech dept could do for me.  The billing dept offered to upgrade my firmware for an additional $3 per month.  I called back and spoke to another person in billing who verified that this was a firmware upgrade only and they would not be sending out another box.  Ridiculous.

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Re: Poor Customer service
Justin46
Legend

@PJT wrote:

Now, if you are really talking about the format of the Guide, it could also just be that you have some settings wrong, or that you have the old 6xxx hardware, which most certainly does not work very well with the new Guide. If in fact you have 6xxx hardware, you should be able to contact Verizon and get replacements (7xxx hardware) at no charge.

When I called about the 4x3 format of the guide on my 6416 box, tech support advised me to call the billing dept. for a fix as there was nothing the tech dept could do for me.  The billing dept offered to upgrade my firmware for an additional $3 per month.  I called back and spoke to another person in billing who verified that this was a firmware upgrade only and they would not be sending out another box.  Ridiculous.


Well they told you the wrong stuff all around. I have been specifically informed by Verizon Tech Support:

"If someone wants the guide full screen with HD graphics, they simply need to call in, tweet, post on forum or facebook and we will overnight a replacement."

--- and ---

"What I am saying is that if someone is having a compatibility issue with an older 2500 or 6xxx series due to the 1.9 rollout, we will upgrade them to a newer 2500 or a 7100 or 7216 for free. They will not get a free upgrade to a 7232."

I will try to get attention to your post and see if we can't get this resolved.

__________________________________
Justin
FiOS TV, 25/25 Internet, and Digital Voice user
QIP7232, QIP7100-P2, IMG 1.9
Keller, TX 76248

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Re: Poor Customer service
PJT2
Newbie

I will try to get attention to your post and see if we can't get this resolved.

Thanks.  I've been contacted through this board but for some reason they're not able to find my record.  I've not sure why this is the case but I always spend the first 5 minutes of each call going through the same thing. 

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Re: Poor Customer service
Justin46
Legend

@PJT wrote:

Thanks.  I've been contacted through this board but for some reason they're not able to find my record.  I've not sure why this is the case but I always spend the first 5 minutes of each call going through the same thing. 


If you do not get this resolved by early next week let us know here and one of us can try again to get you some help.

Most definitely you will want a 7216 instead of the 6416, it will look and perform better. And if you want a larger hard drive, for a $40 onetime fee you can get a 7232 with a 500GB hard drive. I have a 7232 with 1.9 and am very happy with it.

Note that some people have reported taking their old 6416 DVR into a FiOS store and getting a 7232 replacement for free, so if you live near a store you might call there and see if they have 7232s, and if they do if it will cost you anything. I don't know where you live, but here is a link to the Verizon FiOS stores:

http://www22.verizon.com/Residential/Templates/sas/sas_StoreLocator.aspx

__________________________________
Justin
FiOS TV, 25/25 Internet, and Digital Voice user
QIP7232, QIP7100-P2, IMG 1.9
Keller, TX 76248

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Re: Poor Customer service
ABCMD
Enthusiast - Level 3

Justin:

Each time I read about someone's issues with the new guide, it makes me angrier.

Those of us in NY/MA still have dont even HAVE the new guide, along with the new hardware features it enables.

After having been postponed twice, almost 6-8 months after the first non beta testers in this country received this update, there is still no date even being discussed as to when we will get what you all already have, and are able to comment on.

Each source of info (i.e. twitter, boards, customer service) says something different, and apparently now there is a moratorium on giving timeframe due to anger with previous last second postponements.

So yes, I would agree that FIOS customer service is terrible.

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Re: Poor Customer service
Malcolm_Stanley
Contributor - Level 3

I think we are all consistently saying the updates outstanding will occur in the new year.

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Re: Poor Customer service
ABCMD
Enthusiast - Level 3

Malcolm,

As always, thank you for your prompt response.

You have been excellent.

But it seems to me that you are the person designated by FIOS to respond to complainers on these boards

 I do remember what you told me, that in addition to customer service/server overload, hurricanes, ice storms, strikes settled months ago,  there are many things behind the scenes that are proprietary and that I/we don't know the details of why your rollout has proceeded in this  snail like fashion.

But with specific focus on your latest answer to my post, of course it is going to happen sometime  in the new year, but that is after two last second delays and roughly 6  months or more after first non beta testers got upgraded. 

Here in the NYC area, I thought it would be impossible to become as bad as Cablevision, but you guys are sure trying hard to match them, at least in terms of customer service  🙂

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Re: Poor Customer service
Malcolm_Stanley
Contributor - Level 3

I am a product manager and my objective here is to do a couple of things:

  • gather insights you have about our product that could help us make it better
  • communicate what I can about improvements that are coming up so you understand we tried to listen and respond to your feedback.

there are others here who are more explicitly  tasked with responding to specific complaints around customer service and other issues that may arise.

that is not primarily my role, except as it relates to the first bullet point:

if your insight is that we're not executing in the manner you expect, that is interesting to us, and we consider it a product challenge to identify and address the root causes that made you feel that way.

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