An Ode to Verizon

[Ixion]

To preface this dialogue I am placing my rant here so that others who have known this mind numbing frustration can breathe a sigh of relief of knowing that you don't suffer in solitude- I have sympathy for(some)customer service representatives that truly try their best to provide a good service, I really do.. having to extinguish fires caused by what MANY would deem shady business practices(see: reviews on Google) should NOT be how anyone has to go about the day, but alas...

I've had Verizon Fios Service over 2 years and account and while I did have an very breezy set-up and install initiating my service- when it came time to move my service to a new place the trouble began.. Placing my order online I saw a promotion(still currently active, pretty good deal in my opinion) for verizon Gigabit double play + Amazon Echo & Prime.. quickly scurrying to satisfy my consumerism I entered my address, saw that I was eligible, chose self-install and placed my order- right after this we opened a new chat with an agent  to ensure everything was in order, we gave him the address again and heasked for our confirmation order and congratulated us on our new service.

Getting to our new place and plugging in our G1100 router, to a coax cable(yes we quickly realized this isn't how gigabit ethernet works) to no avail, we contacted customer service who promptly sent out a technician(repair ticket said no cost, we'd come to find out that wasn't entirely true) technician came out January 3(Thursday) and we found out we didn't exactly have the correct equipment for the service ordered-surprise and that he needed to speak with 'engineering' and get things settled. Again no problem, we're patient we've got (verizon)hotspot and computers at our work places to supplement.

Cut to Monday, January 7- calling a new agent to check on "engineering" as we were instructed to do by our technician, the agent has no clue what's going on and sends a new technician out our new Tech arrived the next day, stares at us in bewilderment as we explain what's going on with "engineering" and what our last tech guy stated and he gets on the phone with some folks, explains he may need to run a new line to install the OCN, OEN? Whatever it is, he ended up installing it in our new place with NO TV installation and went on his merry way with our gratitude for having finally given us internet..

The real issues came when calling about these issues, between several differnt orders being generated, one customer service agent who yelled at me, citing I didn't know my username/password that I had used for a while, another who told me I had to AGREE over the phone to plan, without citing price, length of contract or any other essential legalnese before the OEN, OCN? To sitting on hold for an hour without any agents answering the phone, to having my WHOLE ACCOUNT DELETED to create a new one, which the technician created for us without sharing the details or confirming the details were correct, to having a surprise bill, significantly more costly than we anticipated only to find out that there was a hidden charge for a technician to come out and provide a service at a fee when the customer service agent states "lets get a tech out to see what's going on"... Come on Verizon, you can do better than that. How can a business sustain itself with such terrible practices? Net neutrality regulations we miss you...

TL;DR - What should have been a simple move & change of service upgrade results in several hours of phone tag, one very rude angry customer service agent, two technicians coming out rendering service for a hidden fee, one deleted account which still states I'm receiving Amazon Echo & Prime(Turns out that's not true), one lack of TV service, a sudden, expensive charge to a checking account and one really confused, irate and belitted customer. 

[jonjones1]

That’s a long tirade.

yep it would seem on surface to be a simple move, however the home was not set up for the service requested. Not your fault but in no way should you be charged for it not being ready to go.

the ONT had to be installed, then engineering had to provision you for your requested speeds and services. It should have been no issue to hook up TV or phone once the ONT was in place.

the problem with verizons home premise charges is once you ordered on line the install fee would have been waived. Your problems began once you chatted or speak to any of them on the phone or chatting. The free install then changes to $100-$130 etc. they include it on their end to bolster their fees.

you could contact your states Public Utilities Commission or Public Service Commission via a google search. Call the toll free number and explain what has transpired. They will get you someone from executive escalations who will assist you.

call your bank, credit union or credit card company and have them do a charge back for any amounts not agreed to. Also never give Verizon or any company auto pay for any reason, it gives them carte Blanche to drain your checking or savings or credit account. Remove that today.

hope it all works out.

[LawrenceC]

Hi Ixion,

Your issue has been escalated to a Verizon agent. Please check your Private Message Inbox for a message from Verizon_Support. You can find your Inbox by clicking on your username at the top right corner of this page. Please direct all correspondence concerning your issue to the agents who will be assisting you privately.