Very Unhappy Brand New FIOS Customer
jettg31
Newbie

I have submitted a copy of this letter this via the support email, and dropped off a hard copy at a FIOS store, but I have not received a timely response so I thought I would post it here as well.  I have removed the FIOS Employees names numbers on this version.

Dear Fios Customer Service,

I am a brand new Fios customer and I’m not very happy.

I went into the Verizon Wireless Store on S. Dale Mabry in Tampa, FL on Saturday, June 15, 2013 to upgrade my cell phone.  I’ve been a Verizon Wireless customer for over 10 years and have never had an issue with the service.  

During the process of upgrading the sales associate and I were practically harassed by FIOS MANAGER NAME, the Verizon Fios Manager, who was in that store at that time.  

FIOS MANAGER NAME asked if she could work up a package for me for Fios, and although I’ve been a Brighthouse customer for 10 years and was happy with them I told her sure, I’ll take a look at what she had to offer, and would consider switching if the price was better.  I was paying around $130 a month for Brighthouse Cable and Internet.  

Here are the Fios package details she gave me:

Triple Play bundle for $109/month with a 2 year contract
HBO at half off
Two DVR boxes free for life
Free Installation
30 days Worry Free
$200 Gift Card after 60 days of service

I don’t use a home phone, but since it’s included in the package, and the whole package was lower than my Brighthouse bill I told FIOS MANAGER NAME I would think about it.  She gave me her business card and wrote her cell phone on it, 813-###-####.  She told me to let her know by the following Tuesday so she could lock in this special package for me.

So I thought about it over the weekend and I decided I’d give it a try since it was a lower price than my Brighthouse monthly bill.  

On Tuesday, I began receiving automated phone calls confirming my Installation for the following Saturday, June 22nd.  I thought it was odd, because I had not signed up for anything yet.  I didn’t confirm the installation because I wanted to review the details with FIOS MANAGER NAME again.

So I called FIOS MANAGER NAME’s cell phone and left a message and told her I had been receiving the automated phone calls to confirm the installation and I was interested in the package and to call me back to confirm the details.  Less than 5 minutes later she called back and we confirmed:

Triple Play bundle for $109/month with a 2 year contract
HBO at half off (a promotion)
Two DVR boxes free for life – with HD Streaming
Free Installation
30 days Worry Free
$200 Gift Card after 60 days of service

The next time I received the automated phone call I confirmed the appointment.

On Saturday, the tech, FIOS TECH  arrived on time.  He was very professional and courteous.  He was there for several hours and had to do quite a bit of work wiring the outside of the house. When we were reviewing his work order I began to notice discrepancies between what FIOS MANAGER NAME had told me and what was on the work order.

There was only one DVR, and it wasn’t listed Free for life, but Free for 12 months.

There was another box, but wasn’t a DVR.

HBO was not even included on the order, and FIOS MANAGER NAME and I had specifically talked about two shows on HBO, Game of Thrones and True Blood, so she knew I wanted HBO, and when I spoke with her on Tuesday she confirmed HBO.

FIOS TECH called someone and had them add HBO to the order.  He also reviewed the package FIOS MANAGER NAME gave me with the Representative and they said that was not what was on the work order.  With FIOS TECH present, I called FIOS MANAGER NAME’s voicemail and left a message.  She never returned my call.

FIOS TECH completed the install and all the equipment was working fine and he left.

The very next day, Sunday, June 23rd the DVR box just stopped working suddenly.  The screen went completely black and the DVR was not responding to input from the remote.  I unplugged the unit, plugged it back in, and it rebooted and was fine.

During the first week of July the bill arrived.  There had been no adjustments made by FIOS MANAGER NAME.  The total amount due on June 22nd is $188.28.  With the $109/month plus HBO and taxes I expected it to be around $138, so it was $50 more.  Also there are all kinds of charges on the bill that I have no idea what they are for.  Digital Voice?  Extreme HD?  I don’t use the phone, and I don’t have a HD TV, why has this stuff been added?  I called FIOS MANAGER NAME and left a message.  She never called me back.

On Monday, July 8th I had programmed the DVR to record the Season Finales of Defiance and Warehouse 13 on Syfy.  When I went to view them that evening, two folders had been created.  Inside the Defiance folder there were 14 attempts to record the show and all were either 0 seconds or 1 second long.  The Warehouse 13 folder had 12 in it and they were all 0 seconds long.  Fortunately these shows were repeated that evening so I watched them live.  It would not allow me to record anything in progress.  I also noticed the Stop, Pause, FF functions on live TV were not working.  When the shows were over I called Customer Service, went through the automated system, and re-initialized my box.  When that was complete it worked fine.

I called FIOS MANAGER NAME’s cell phone again, explained the situation, and asked her to call me back.  She never returned my call.

Yesterday, Tuesday, July 9th, when I got home from work the very same thing was happening as the night before.  Programs that I had set to record had made multiple attempts, but not were successful.  Recording a live show would not work, and I could not stop, pause, or FF live TV.  I went into the help menu and rebooted the box from the menu and everything was fine after that.  I called FIOS MANAGER NAME and left a voicemail, and she never returned my call.

This morning I called FIOS MANAGER NAME multiple times, but I never got her voicemail.  I believe she was answering her phone then hanging up on me.  I called FIOS TECH S. and he answered.  I explained what was happening with the DVR.  He told me it could be a bad DVR and if it happens again, I should get it swapped out.  I agreed to do that.  

I still need to get the bill adjusted to the original agreement.  So I called FIOS MANAGER NAME again, and finally got her voicemail.  I left a message, but she has not called me back as of yet.  I called Customer Service to discuss all my issues, and after navigating the automated system I was on hold for over 35 minutes waiting for a representative so I finally gave up.

I logged onto the website this morning and was looking around when I noticed the Phone call log.  I went in and looked and there were multiple calls made to Syracuse, NY on 6/25, 6/26, and 6/28.  This is really odd, because there’s not even a phone connected to the jack.  So I’m not sure what that’s about.  But I’d like an explanation.

I’m happy there’s a 30 day worry free agreement to this, because so far there’s been plenty of worry.  

I want someone at FIOS to contact me ON MY CELL PHONE about this situation, tell me what you are going to do about my bill and my service, and explain to me WHY I SHOULD REMAIN A FIOS CUSTOMER.

Thank you.

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Re: Very Unhappy Brand New FIOS Customer
ElizabethS
Moderator Emeritus

Your issue has been escalated to a Verizon agent. Before the agent can begin assisting you, they will need to collect further information from you.Please go to your profile page for the forum, and look in the middle, right at the top where you will find an area titled "My Support Cases". You can reach your profile page by clicking on your name beside your post, or at the top left of this page underneath the title of the board.
Under “My Support Cases” you will find a link to the private board where you and the agent may exchange information. This should be checked on a frequent basis as the agent may be waiting for information from you before they can proceed with any actions. Please keep all correspondence regarding your issue in the private support portal.

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