Does anyone have a contact number for Verizon Customer Advocacy? I'm ready to cancel FIOS TV

[Tomd514]

I had Verizon FIOS TV installed as of April 11th and for two

months have spent in excess of 16 hours on the phone with Verizon FIOS technical
support trying to resolve issues with the FIOS TV service. In each case I would
work with the tech support agent to trouble shoot the conditions and ultimately
they would reach the limit of their capability and have to either schedule a
technician to my home or open a ticket with another Verizon FIOS
department (the "network group") for them to further investigate the issues with the FIOS service.

In these cases where the problems are referred by ticket to an anonymous
department, the typical outcome would involve no notification to me of
troubleshooting status or outcome. I would ultimately find out that either the
reason for the original contact was resolved by reattempting to use the feature
or more typically, the problem as still uncorrected or commonly would find
another feature disabled.

As described above, the most frustrating issue for me the
consumer is the fact that there is no continuity in contacting me when the
anonymous Verizon support groups are engaged. It's incredible that I cannot
view the status of my trouble ticket online as the potential for a follow-up
phone contact never happens. The only way I can determine if I should be able
to resume my service is to reattempt accessing the feature only to find that
it is still unavailable necessitating yet another call into FIOS technical
support.

I have worked in customer service for over 37 years and
cannot believe the inexplicable gaps in Verizon's commitment to supporting its
customers. I am requesting that someone with the visibility to review the
trouble tickets that have been logged for my FIOS service contact me to so I
can explain the frustration that I've been dealing with in trying to use the
FIOS services as advertised.  

[ElizabethS]

Hello Tomd514

We have some very knowledgeable users on this forum, who can perhaps help to determine the cause of your FiOS issues. Why not post a description of the problem here, and see if anyone can steer you in the right direction to seek help in resolving it.

Regards,

ElizabethS

[Tomd514]

Trying to avoid sounding rude, but part of my frustration is the apparent lack of a knowledgeable Verizon resource engaged in the primary and secondary lines of technical support. Having worked in a customer support role for many years I can't imagine how costly it has been for Verizon to have rolled out their broadband entertainment service with so many fragile facets. I can only speak to the number of hours of my personal time spent calling in to the technical support line each time a new problem occurs. Each episode has always led to a new problem induced by the last support person to touch my configuration. It will take quite some time before Verizon recoups the cost of their attempts to straighten out what's supposed to be my family's "relaxation" solution but has been nothing but frustration. Here are the most recent problems:

- STB not eligible for VOD / replaced two 7216's - typically support states they can
see my STB but it doesn't respond to their remote commands (VOD is currently working but I feel it's only a matter of time before as in the past the troubleshooting involved in the other issues typically breaks VOD).

- Multi-room DVR feature not working on QIP 7000 (non-DVR) HD STBs / have power cycled DVR,
other STBs and router dozens of times. Typically leads to opening ticket with
network group. Currently the non-DVR STBs display message that communication problem exists between it and the Multi-room DVR when the DVR button is pressed on the remote.

- Keep losing access to Remote DVR programming (both via web and VerizonWireless
mobile phone) This took multiple calls to resolve and once it was fixed, the
problem with the Multi-room DVR failures returned. Currently not working.

As I stated in the original post, the big frustration is that once the trouble ticket is forwarded to the anonymous network group the communications with me the consumer stops. I can't query the ticket for status nor have I ever gotten a call or email to indicate the service is restored. I have requested that someone in a supervisory position contact me to review this repetitive cycle of temporary function followed by weeks of troubleshooting and the new problems created each time. It would be good for Verizon and good for my family.

[Techman28]

Tomd514,

1st issue

 STB not eligible for VOD / replaced two 7216's - typically support states they can
see my STB but it doesn't respond to their remote commands (VOD is currently working but I feel it's only a matter of time before as in the past the troubleshooting involved in the other issues typically breaks VOD).

Can you run the diagnostic on the 7216 you have there and let me know what it says there.

2nd issue

Multi-room DVR feature not working on QIP 7000 (non-DVR) HD STBs / have power cycled DVR,
other STBs and router dozens of times. Typically leads to opening ticket with
network group. Currently the non-DVR STBs display message that communication problem exists between it and the Multi-room DVR when the DVR button is pressed on the remote.

There shouldn't be a Network ticket on this issue. The Normal cause is that the stb isn't seeing hub dvr and would be 1 of 3 things 1 the router 2 the cabling this includes the splitters and jacks 3 the box.  I haven't seen the history on your account so this information is from areas where it has been and fixed before.

3rd issue

Keep losing access to Remote DVR programming (both via web and VerizonWireless
mobile phone) This took multiple calls to resolve and once it was fixed, the
problem with the Multi-room DVR failures returned. Currently not working.

From time to time it will timeout so to speak and show its not available but it will normally come back up and online

[Tomd514]

Yesterday I attempted to swap out my QIP-7216 HD DVR (this is the fifth one in two months) to resolve the video display picture issues and also the inability to remotely program the DVR. Here's what transpired:

10am Followed all instructions to perform activation of replacement DVR. Both methods, web based and telephone, failed to successfully activate.

10:15 Called FIOS Tech Support for help with the activation. The technician I reached had the same issues that develop each time a feature needs attention: they have difficulty getting successful responses to their remote provisioning commands sent to my residence and they need to pass the trouble on to another technician. In this case the 1st level technician said he wanted to disconnect our phone conversation and that I would be getting a phone call from the next level support person within 15 minutes to continue with the activation.

11:30 After waiting for 1 hour and not getting any call back I called FIOS Tech Support and as usual was connected to a different agent who couldn't provide any status on why I hadn't been called. I had an appointment outside the home and asked that any further contact about the problem use my cellular phone. 

12:09 I received a call on my cell requesting that I reinstall the previous DVR so the provisioning systems could un-install it correctly in the database. I was already at my appointment and explained that I wouldn't be able to continue until after 4pm.

4:30PM I received a call from FIOS tech support that the DVR swap had been completed (interestingly without any onsite assistance?). When I returned home I found that indeed the replacement DVR was operating and that the multi-room DVR and Video on Demand was working. However, the remote DVR programming (either from the web or via cellphone) was not working. 

Today I called FIOS Tech support for help with getting the remote DVR service working and after 1 hour of troubleshooting the familiar scenario played out:

- The technician was not able to get successful responses to his remote commands. He activated a remote session to "drive" my PC so he could examine the Verizon router (didn't find anything improper).

- After he exhausted his capabilities he informed me that he needed to engage a SME and the "developers" so they can complete the activation of the remote DVR programming.

- He couldn't provide me any time estimate for the completion of the activation nor could he provide me any ability to escalate my issue to anyone other than his supervisor.

For the last two months this has been the typical scenario. I have asked that someone review all the trouble tickets associated with my service to determine if there is a root cause. Instead, Verizon tech support seems to treat each condition as unrelated and relies on developers to force the resolution but not discover the real problem consuming time for both Verizon and me the consumer. 

[Techman28]

I'm showing that its working

[Tomd514]

Yes it's back in service, thanks for checking. I have to admit I have been in this situation before and I'm hoping that something can be found that prevents the cascading effect of losing multiple features if/when something happens to one.

thanks again.