Verizon discount deal is misleading and the agents promise things that never come true
CarrieDao
Newbie

I recently ordered Verizon Triple Play as I see the discount online. The process of ordering and installing has been a great pain.

Ordering:

I first called a sales agent to order via the phone. After spending like an hour with him, going through different options and picked my bundle and price, I couldn't finish the order that day as he had issues inputing my SSN in the system. So I had to fax my documents to Verizon. He promised to call me the next day at 12 and never did. So I had to end up ordering online because he never gave me the order number.

Installing:

Even though the discount says "installation fee waived," the email sent to me after the order was confirmed asks me to "confirm self installation date." If I have to install everything myself, what's the point of "installation fee waived." So I called customer service, asking about this. The lady I spoke with was Brandy and her ID was {edited for privacy} (after the sale agent incident last time, I always remind myself to ask for their names and ID in case what they tell me is not true), and the call was on Tuesday at around 7pm. After talking to her for about 1 hour without leading to anything, I asked to speak to her manager. She told me to wait and then when coming back to me, she told me that her supervisor would call me at my cell in 1 hour or so. No one ever called me after that. 

At around 9.20, I decided to call again because I wanted the problem to be solved, otherwise I could just cancel my order. This time, the agent I talked to was Scott, and his ID was {edited for privacy}. He told me that my installation fee was waived and there would be technicians coming to install it for me on 22 (today) and they would call me before. No one ever called or came. I tried to install the internet myself - did not work. So I decided to call them again, but the waiting time was too long. I came to Starbucks to chat with a live agent instead. The chat window started at 7.13 and Terry, the live agent, just kept me hanging after I told him about the issue. 

I'm gonna cancel my order with Verizon even before actually using any service from them. It's such a pain and waste of time. I don't care whether the network is strong, the TV service is great or what, it's just doesn't worth it. 

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Re: Verizon discount deal is misleading and the agents promise things that never come true
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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Re: Verizon discount deal is misleading and the agents promise things that never come true
Verizon_Support
Customer Service Rep

Thank you for reaching out to us over the forums, CarrieDao. We're glad we could assist you in getting this resolved. We'll go ahead and close your case now. Let us know if you need anything else by creating a public posting in this thread.

Best,

Art

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Re: Verizon discount deal is misleading and the agents promise things that never come true
CarrieDao
Newbie

Even though the forum team told me the installation fee would be waived, it is included in my bill this month. This is what I see in my bill for the service charge for the day the technician came to install the service for me. Please advice.

Change in Service and Partial Month

9/2Labor First Half Hour
91.00
9/2Labor Additional Half Hour 3 @ 46.00
138.00
9/2Video Outlet 2 @ 54.99
109.98
 
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Re: Verizon discount deal is misleading and the agents promise things that never come true
Verizon_Support
Customer Service Rep

We have re-opened your private support case.

- Jose_VZ

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Re: Verizon discount deal is misleading and the agents promise things that never come true
Verizon_Support
Customer Service Rep

Hello CarrieDao,

Sorry for all the hassle and frustration. Although we are glad you were about to get things settled to your liking. If you ever need help with anything else please let us know in a new public thread.

Thank you,

-Jeramy

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Re: Verizon discount deal is misleading and the agents promise things that never come true
CarrieDao
Newbie

Final brief on my case to people using this forum: The forum team couldn't get a credit for me for the installation fee. I posted a follow-up reply to this thread on Oct 2, then Oct 4 but no one replied, so I had to open up the old live chat link in my private case. Even though you can see from my print screen image above that Paul C. said they "should be able to get you a credit for it," someone named Jose told me in the live chat that "'should' doesn't confirm that we can waive it for you." After he confirmed that the fee was not going to be waived some days after that, I called Verizon to disconnect the service and told the lady on the service disconnect team the reason. She seemed symphathetic and waived the fee for me, plus the guy who transfered me to her told me that if I cancelled the service, I would be charged the penalty fee as the 30 day trial had passed (even though I wouldn't know this issue until now as the fee did not show in my first bill), so I ended up continuing the service with Verizon.

Couples of lessons learnt here for anyone who need to deal with the same situation:

1. You should always be real careful and note down the time you contact them, the name and ID of the customer service rep so that in case what he/she promises you are not delivered, you can come back to Verizon with questions. I didn't note down the name and ID is the lady in the service disconnect team because I didn't even care and was determined to cancel my service. She actually turned out to be the only person who delivered her promise, proactively sent me a follow-up email and asked for my number so that she could follow up next week. It was not the same case for most of other reps that I talked to.

2. Always clarify with them about what they promise you. After all the times they told me a technician would come then no one showed up or let me know, I called them to cancel the service the first time, and the customer service guy who talked to me a technician would come the next day, and he would give me a credit of $20 each month for the first year for all the hassle I went through. As I thought I had clarified about the installation fee being waived with the forum team, I did not raise that topic. So I took his offer. When the fee showed in my bill, I contacted the forum team and what they told me was according to their elite team, they could not give me the credit and waive the fee. I don't know where this misunderstanding comes from as I don't recall he saying anything about the credit as a compensation for the installation fee - if he had said anything like that, I would be financial literate enough to understand that the NPV implication of getting $20 per month for 12 months vs. having to pay them $240 upfront and would never accept such offer. (they kinda break down my fees into labor fee & video outlet and said that the $240 total credit is for the labor fee as the video outlet fee can not be waived). Anyway, the fee in my bill is around $350, and I just did a quick research on google to see how much the typical installation fee for Verizon Fios is and get this FAQ in their website http://www.verizon.com/cs/groups/public/documents/adacct/frequentlyaskedqsaboutfios.pdf where it says installation is free (Q7) and this one in the forum http://forums.verizon.com/t5/FiOS-TV-Technical-Assistance/125-upfront-fee-for-triple-play-install/td... where someone was charged $125 for installation in 2009 (pretty outdated, but I don't think the same fee could rise from $125 to more than $350 in 4 years). Anyway, my point is: always clarify with them so that there's no misunderstanding, either from your end or their end.

 

I hope the advice can help someone to save time and avoid some hassles that I had to go through. One of my friends said Verizon service is pretty good and low maintenance so I woudn't have to deal with the customer service so often once I have it. Hopefully he's right and this will be the last time I have to log into this forum to complain about something.

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Re: Verizon discount deal is misleading and the agents promise things that never come true
ralfgui
Newbie

Before service was installed on my place, Verizon Connections confirmed my corporate discount. I even have the chat records, but until now I don't see any discounts on my bill. And the answer that I got from the chat is that discounts are not retroactive- meaning it won't take effect until they process that on my account even though I already have the confirmation before they installed the service.

I did setup my account online because of the corporate email that I received from Verizon Connections:

"$84.99 IS YOUR EXCLUSIVE ONLINE PRICE AFTER VERIZON CONNECTIONS $10 monthly DISCOUNT... orders by phone do not qualify for the above offer..."

I was transferred from one chat to the other but they can't resolve the issue. And here's what I got when I asked for an email to reach from the chat:

{edited for privacy}

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