Re: Punished for On-Line Bundle Upgrade?
dslr595148
Community Leader
Community Leader

@bamboozled wrote:

Again, I receive a confirmation #.  About 1 hour later I receive a message on my VERIZON voice mail system from the salesman that something happened and my order was not processed. He does not know where I called from!!!!!!  How in Gods name did he get my number to leave me a voice message on VERIZONS voice mail system?


I will tell what I suspect the answer is: They have caller ID, which told which number that you called from.

Re: Punished for On-Line Bundle Upgrade?
NickFie
Enthusiast - Level 3

Tonight's update - the end is in sight.

Used the Verizon forum on DSLreports.com to ask about the tech visit. Reply was that my equipment should be adequate. Will have to find out what's going on with the scheduled tech visit next week.

Rebooted my laptop & got 35 / 35 test results. Turns out there aren't that many speed test sites that can support 35 /35. Though I got nearly 100 Mbps in both directions a few years ago on a Speedtest NYC site when testing both Windows TCP tuning & our company's upgraded Internet connection.

Most sites report there's a 45 Mbps link upstream from my home and results are affected by traffic congestion. Don't want to get too close to the Comcast bandwidth-sharing experience.

Also saw that the 35/35 bundle is now advertised for net $120 / month! Did I order too soon?

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Re: Punished for On-Line Bundle Upgrade?
NickFie
Enthusiast - Level 3

The $120 / month reflects $20 / month new customer discount. I got about as good a price as I could - $140 / month for the triple play bundle.

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Re: Punished for On-Line Bundle Upgrade?
NickFie
Enthusiast - Level 3

More good & bad news today.

Good news: The 35 / 35 Internet is working as advertised. Turns out my Mac OS X Snow Leopard systems have some TCP weirdness. Will take some homework to figure out how to disable timestamps, and how to get Ethernet to be full-duplex! That was a shocker - was convinced it was in my home network or Verizon's. Upgraded microcode, checked configs... Finally powered up my work laptop - Windows 7 x64 with 8 GByte and the little-known TCP tuning - and everything was clean.

Bad news: Voice response on Tuesday said there WOULD be a technician visit. Live agent said there wouldn't, everything was done. Finally did a chat today with a human. Her first take was no truck roll. Then - I need a new DVR. They think it's faster to have a technician deliver it. So the new DVR comes next week and I'll have my additional channels once I install it.

Frustration: MORE THAN 2 WEEKS TO COMPLETE AN ON-LINE ORDER! The agent in today's chat assures me there's a new and better website coming soon. I certainly see room for improvement.

Let's compare Verizon's on-line world with the best of all possible worlds:

Verizon:

Day 1: Customer enters order at end of day.

Day 2: Order sits in system for a full day with NO ACTION. No idea why, unless Comcast slipped some cash to the developer as part of their competitive program.

Day 3: Order starts processing.

Days 4 & 5: Weekend and nothing happens. I guess Verizon's computers need their weekend rest, just like humans. Do you think they play video games on their time off?

Day 6: Order shows some progress, but no details.

Day 7: Chat agent says Internet upgrade is done, though it only shows 60% complete. Bandwidth seems to be there. Voice response unit says there's a tech visit March 11 between 9am & 5pm, so BE THERE.

Day 8: Phone agent says no truck roll, and channels are available. I don't see them.

Day 9: Chat agent first says no tech visit, then yes, the tech will drop off the DVR for self-install on March 11. What kind of scheduling system needs 2 weeks to have a tech drop a DVR on my doorstep? They don't have trucks in the neighborhood more often? Oh - here's an idea. Outsource this to a specialist company. You know, one of those up-start package delivery companies. Don't know if you've heard about UPS or FedEx? I hear they do it in days, not weeks. 

Stay tuned. I expect I'll get the DVR and my on-line order will be complete a mere 16 days after I entered it.

Compare that with Apple - I ordered my daughter's laptop from Apple's online store Thursday night. They custom-built it in China and we got it the following Monday. If we had ordered on Wednesday we probably would have had it by Saturday - a custom-built device shipped from the other side of the world in less time than Verizon needs to simply start processing an order.

In the best of all possible worlds, my online order would have gone like this:

Day 1: I enter the order. The computer checks my home equipment against the new service requirements and tells me:

- Your ONT & Router are fine. We'll upgrade your bandwidth as soon as the order is complete.

- Your new TV package requires a new DVR. We'll schedule it for 2nd day delivery (the software tells me which day is "2nd day" since it knows the time, recognizes that it's after business hours & the box won't ship unitl the next day). You can install it yourself when it arrives. The new channels will be available as soon as the new DVR is in place & uploads the program guide. If you want to pay $5 more Verizon will ship it overnight. I look at the calendar and decide to pay the fee so I can have the DVR for the weekend.

- Minutes later I get an e-mail when the order hits the provisioning system. It advises me my bandwidth has been upgraded. It also suggests I power-cycle my broadband router and includes a link to Verizon's speed test site so I can confirm.

Day 2: E-mail arrives telling me the DVR shipped. E-mail includes a tracking number and link to the "how to wire your DVR" page.

Day 3: DVR is there when I get home from work. I install it and everything's done.

You tell me which scenario is more likely to:

a) Increase customer satisfaction and referrals.

b) Relieve chat & telephone agent workload.

c) Accelerate billing?

I'll be back next week to tell you if the DVR came and if everything works. Unbelievable!

Re: Punished for On-Line Bundle Upgrade?
NickFie
Enthusiast - Level 3

The saga continues, the story changes.

My wife e-mailed me mid-day: Verizon FiOS called to say:

  1. The technician is coming Thursday, March 11. Sometime between 9am & 5pm. This is not news. I haven't worried because I was told I didn't need to be home, the visit was simply to drop off a new DVR. If I hadn't been chasing order status so hard last week I would have been completely blind-sided by the call - this was the FIRST outbound notification by Verizon. I used the online "Check your order status" function. The percentages are creeping up, but the detail is as empty as ever.
  2. I must be home to meet the technician. My wife knows how particular I am about tech stuff - it's my day job, after all - and doesn't want to get in the middle. This is (bad) news - my employer's been acquired, the reorganization is wrapping up with terminations and my new group's first meeting starts at noon on Thursday! The final word last week - see previous entry - was that the tech would simply drop off a box for self-install.

Chat was down again - they must have seen me coming. I called Verizon FiOS and was shuffled from:

  1. Automated voice attendant. The sweet, disembodied voice verified my ID, then told me: (a) My set top boxes were reprogrammed for my new service 3 days ago, power-cycle them if there's a problem (this was a low-quality replay by her teched-out cousin); (b) tech visit is scheduled Thursday Mar 11, be there or be (back at) square (one). I asked to reschedule the visit and was transferred to...
  2. Sales. The agent decided she couldn't handle the question of what would happen during the tech visit & whether my presence would be required, so I was transferred to...
  3. Tech Support. The agent got my info, looked some stuff up, couldn't say what would happen during the tech visit, assured me that I had to be there, finally spent 20 minutes trying to reschedule the visit before conceding defeat and transferring me back to...
  4. Sales. The new agent had a such a bad headset microphone that I asked her to call me back. The voice wasn't much better after that, but she did schedule the visit for Friday afternoon Mar 12 - only 1 day later. She also couldn't tell me more than something along the lines of, "complete your order."
I expect Friday's tech visit will be successful. That will mark 16 days between submitting the online order and fulfillment. As ranted above, I've ordered a custom-built Apple Macintosh laptop and received it from the factory in China in about 1/3 the time.
There is a silver lining for Verizon in this - several colleagues have approached me about Verizon FiOS after reading my out-of-office notices as they appear, disappear & reappear on their calendars. I tell them all - shop online, then call the sales office & work with a human being. It's better for all concerned.
Re: Punished for On-Line Bundle Upgrade?
NickFie
Enthusiast - Level 3

16 days later and my bundle upgrade is finally complete. I worked from home today - gotta get some value from the 35 Megabits per second, and had to be on hand to meet the Verizon FiOS tech.

My group's manager is a firm supporter of the company's FWP (Flexible Work Place) program, paricularly since we get involved in complex problem-solving that won't wait until 8 am or wrap up by 5 pm. More effective work from home means more complete equipment. Yesterday I got a second IP phone at the office and brought it home. Getting it working behind the Actiontec FiOS router was pretty easy with my VoIP colleague walking me though the steps. Now I can make & receive office calls without first firing up my company laptop & starting the VPN. Once the phone was operational I restored full security on the router. Next up is a larger monitor.

The FiOS tech came at mid-day. He and I concluded that his mission was to replace the old HD DVR with a current model that could cope with all the channels I now get. This should also resolve the problem we had where, once or twice an evening the HD program would blank out for a few seconds - a symptom of a DVR asked to do more than it could.

First step was to measure signal level at the ONT and the cable connected to the DVR. Then, disconnect the old DVR & connect the new one. Finally, run software on his USB stick to relay signal measurements from his meter to the VZ mother-ship and then activate the new DVR. That step took a while, with apparent software load, cross-system authorizations, package enabling, program guide checks, more uploads... I suspect this reflects a lot of anti-hacking safeguards.The tech was like the rest of the Verizon people - courteous, knowledgable, efficient and willing to answer my questions.

After the tech left I configured the DVR to our taste - keep the channel number on display, 1080i video signal. That produces a slightly sharper image than 720p on the plasma TV. I connected a hard drive to the Firewire port on the DVR but got nothing. Will try the eSATA connector next.

I've now got the HD Ultimate + Premium Movie channels that are part of the 35 / 35 package. Our daughter & her husband came for dinner and we figured out that, for this lap at least, my FiOS package is more complete than his. After dinner he started figuring out how to get their bundle upgrade. I suggested that he shop online, but order on the phone.

So, I'm finally a happy customer. Just regret it took more than 2 weeks instead of 2 days.

Case closed.

Re: Punished for On-Line Bundle Upgrade?
NickFie
Enthusiast - Level 3

Oops - still being punished.  Now we're billed for 2 DVRs, but only have or want one. During the Friday Mar 12 visit the tech replaced our old DVR with a new one to resolve periodic lossof HD signal and provde access to all the channels in our new HD Extreme package. The tech ensured he left with the old DVR, double-checking before saying good-bye. Unfortunately, the paper work wasn't looking, and there are now 2 DVRs on the bill.

Just used the e-mail feature to ask Verizon to straighten this out. We'll see how long it takes - it hurts me more to pay extra every month than it hurts them to have a few extra dollars in their corporate pocket..

Stay tuned for the resolution. Nearly 3 weeks later we've got the package & features, but have to get the billing straight. My guess is by the end of this week.

Re: Punished for On-Line Bundle Upgrade?
NickFie
Enthusiast - Level 3

Verizon got back to me. Takes a few days to process the DVR return, will not be on the bill. I'm willing to believe that.

Now the case is finally closed.

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Re: Punished for On-Line Bundle Upgrade?
NickFie
Enthusiast - Level 3

Still being punished, after all.

  1. I've had two DVRs on the bill since the new one was installed and the tech made very, very, very sure he left with the old one. Twice I've been assured that "everything is OK now." After the second reassurance, my bill is down to 1 DVR. But I don't have credit for the period of over-billing.

  2.  Last month's bill included a termination fee, though I explicitly went for a bundle upgrade. STILL NO CREDIT FOR THAT.

My satisfaction is spiraling down. The Verizon people are nice, but I don't like spending this much time with them trying to get things straight. Though Comcast TV & Internet had a fuzzier picture & slower speed I never had to spend so much time resolving account problems.

Re: Punished for On-Line Bundle Upgrade?
NickFie
Enthusiast - Level 3

After the problems described above, I acted last Friday.

Action:
  1. Called a Verizon human. 
  2. She reviewed the bill, then assured me that I would receive credit for the full period of DVR double-billing.
  3. She also said that I would get credit for the termination fee, after a manager reviewed & approved. BTW - she said there was a period when the system was applying the termination charge for all bundle upgrades. This was a surprise - a systematic screw-up and nobody went back to correct customers' problems? You wait for them to notice, ask for a correction, and then mess it up anyway? Is this another aspect of the "Make Comcast look good!" program? One of the most effective in a while.
  4. The agent asked why I hadn't converted to Verizon Internet Phone. I told her it wasn't offered when I did the upgrade. When she assured me it would save a few dollars per month, I told her to make the switch.
  5. The agent also asked if I wanted to consolidate my Verizon Wireless account. I declined, said I would consider it when all the billing issues are resolved. Maybe Thanksgiving at this rate - and who's likely to be the turkey then?
Good news:
  1. The system now does regular e-mail updates. I knew the order was going through, the target date and when it was completed - very early the following Monday morning, as promised.
  2. There are some nice features with the service. I had Vonage for a while years ago, this reminds me of that.
Bad news: My International calling plan got upgraded. No warning, no question. We have a daughter in Cambodia, my wife calls France a lot, so we got Verizon World Plan 300 - excellent rate and enough minutes to cover our activity.
Call me paranoid, call me experienced, call me bruised. Whatever the cause, on Monday I checked my account online and discovered that I now had the Verizon World Plan Unlimited. More minutes than I need, more cost than I want.
Action:
  1. Used the e-mail option on "Contact us." Next day's response was a version of "We care about you and take you seriously. Tough noogies, sucker. We only offer World Plan Unlimited with Internet Phone plan."
  2. This confused me, since all 3 World Plans are still offered on Verizon's site. The Internet Phone page even links directly to the info.
  3. Went online. More frustration - There is NO WAY to manage my phone service configuration online. Lots of promising links, but I was going in circles.
  4. Called a human, again. She looked into it, then assured me she would take the plan back to my original 300 minute level, and that I would continue to get the discount. Time will tell.
So I started the bundle upgrade in February, now it's late May and I'm still futzing with Verizon to get things straight. My June bill will be another mess, maybe July will look normal.
The best I can say is Verizon certainly has exhibited tenacious dedication towards their customers. I just wish it weren't dedication to repeatedly dropping the ball on my order. I blame the systems - every human I talk with is knowledgeable, courteous, dedicated to solving my problems and efficient. Yet somehow more problems get created than solved.