By Karen
My mother is Verizon’s newest enemy.
She had been clinging to dial-up Internet until she was forced recently to replace her old computer. The day we went shopping, a friendly Verizon representative was in Best Buy offering a FIOS upgrade of phone, TV, and Internet for $99.99 and $100 off the purchase of a PC. It was an offer my mother couldn’t refuse.
And she’s regretted it ever since.
First, the FIOS installation took over 7 hours. Then she kept having problems with Internet access. It turned out the installer wired some things backward.
Verizon has been shoving FIOS down everyone’s throat for months, but they still manage to make every home installation seem like it’s the first one they’ve ever done.
My mother had to wait a few months to get a “clean” bill, without any straggling days, to find out the true bottom line on her FIOS upgrade. Phone and cable companies always act as if taxes and fees are negligible pennies and refuse to quote them, but they always add a hefty chunk to the total.
It turned out she was being charged more than $99.99. So she called Verizon and, after waiting on hold for 20 minutes (much better than the 105 minutes she spent trying to cancel her old Verizon dial-up line), the customer service rep couldn’t explain the discrepancy, but had the nerve to say, “Even so, you’re still getting a good deal.”
At those words, my mother hung up and began composing a letter to the State Corporation Commission.
Bad service, bad billing, bad customer service. With Verizon, you get it all.
February 3, 2008 at 5:36 pm
I don’t feel that this is an entirely fair criticism of Verizon. I also don’t doubt that this is an isolated case. With every company, there is good, and there is bad.
Please see my recent articles on my FiOS installation.
http://fragzem.wordpress.com
-Fragzem
February 4, 2008 at 10:49 am
I just read about your FIOS installation. What I learned is that if every customer had your level of expertise and the ability to help Verizon every step of the way, installations would go a lot smoother – once Verizon shows up.
However, I don’t think being a technical geek should be a requirement for a FIOS upgrade.
It’s stating the obvious that every company has good and bad moments. I wrote later about how Verizon tried to address all my mother’s issues. Credit goes where credit is due.
January 7, 2009 at 2:49 pm
I found your entry because it appears you clicked on my post about Verizon. I especially enjoyed your last line; perhaps Verizon could advertise it as one of their “triple play offers” that we hear about endlessly.
I’m a tech dummy, so who am I to judge, but my mind simply reels at some of the problems Verizon brings. Perhaps you read in my entry about how in two separate incidents I was unable to phone my son’s house; he could call me, and I could call everyone else, but calls from my house to his wouldn’t go through. How is that even possible?
January 7, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Hi, plntpolice! If you read my follow-ups to this posting, you know that I was getting phone calls from various people at Verizon within hours, very eager to straighten things out. Funny how mentioning the State Corporation Commission gets their attention.
Anyway, we ended up with several “secret” phone numbers to people who could actually get things done and, more importantly, cared to. There have been a few other service issues with my mother’s Internet connection since I wrote this, and I’ve contacted these sources and they have always been responsive. That’s the good news.
The bad news is that it shouldn’t have to take “knowing somebody” to get good service.
I have yet to take anyone up on a Triple-Play offer because I am loathe to put all my telecommunications in the hands of one clueless and unreliable company, which they all seem to be most of the time. But for my freedom I’m paying at least double what I should be, so I’ll probably succumb sooner or later. Choosing between Comcast and Verizon (the 2 most viable possibilities in this area) is like picking your preferred method of execution.
But I will say this about Comcast, who now handles my cable TV. I’ve called them several times recently for clarification on price hikes and they’ve been very accommodating about offering little token perks in compensation. I’ve been their customer for probably 25 years, so I think it’s the least they can do.