Verizon Fios

Verizon also offered an inducement (they paid for a year of Amazon Prime), which they actually paid. Optimum offered a $100 gift card, which they never sent, and when I called to ask for it, they sent me to a couple of different numbers, all for no result. More vendors should offer clear pricing and good product, not gift cards and other marketing gimmicks. Who wants to spend time dealing with home wifi? No one. Everyone wants good service with a reasonable and transparent price, and good service when there's a problem.

Mr. Sam ** was so nice and explanatory and took care of the issue and refunded the monies and set up my new notifications and eased my worry about the account going into neg. He was pleasantly helpful and I hung up with a nice feeling of how they received my concern and handled it in a few minutes with no problem. Thanks to Mr. Sam ** who was the supervisor and also in future to call and ask for him if I needed. I highly recommend fios bc the other company I had been using wasn't as efficient and also more expensive than fios so a great thanks today and I won't worry about my checking acct now and will apparently receive the refund in only 2-3 biz days as opposed to the standard 7-14 days!! Wow thanks again Mr. **!!

While that was bad enough, it set off a cascade of additional FOUL-UPS and SHODDY WORK by Verizon that left me unable to perform my freelance job, cost me income & time, and caused me days of aggravation. Among other things, a Verizon rep also mistakenly DISCONNECTED my XFINITY CABLE service, leaving me without TV for a day and a half, which I need for work. It took three visits by Verizon techs to fix what previous visits got wrong. This caused me great inconvenience and disruption. I had to reschedule multiple appointments because I had to be home when the techs arrived.

I spent HOURS on the phone trying to resolve these problems and was regularly met with substandard customer service – including being repeatedly transferred from one Version department to another because the reps were ill-informed. Further, despite being assured that Verizon reps or supervisors would call me back on one matter or another, NONE ever did. Verizon’s response: “We don’t compensate for inconvenience.” And a Verizon corporate executive, after recounting her own problem with a cable company, summed it all up by saying, “That’s life.”

CHRONOLOGY OF THIS MISERABLE EXPERIENCE: April 15, 2022 – I called Verizon to simply update my auto pay information. I had changed banks and needed to change my checking routing and account number. I spoke to rep “Jerome.” Had a pleasant conversation, though he pushed hard to persuade me to sign up for Verizon cable. I listened to his pitch, told him it sounded good but wasn’t ready to make any changes. I asked if there was a way to contact him if I did decide to change cable from Xfinity so he could get credit. He said no. He proceeded to pitch me again. And when I said no, his tone changed. All of this can be confirmed by listening to the recorded call.

April 19 – As I tried to log on to work from home at 3 a.m. (I am a freelance news editor), I discovered my Internet was not working. I called Verizon and they scheduled a tech for April 20. (The Version rep I spoke to said NOTHING about my service being disconnected. WHY? Wasn’t that info available for the rep to see?) April 20 – The Verizon tech showed up and discovered my service had been disconnected by Verizon. The tech was decidedly annoyed that he had been needlessly dispatched to my home since there was nothing for him to fix. April 21 – I called Verizon to report this and was bounced around from department to department. I also suspected fraud in disconnecting my service. I requested an investigation into why my service was shut off. Rep AJ said it would be looked into. She said the disconnect order had been placed on April 15. AJ said she would get back to me on April 28. (She never did)

April 21 – I recalled that I had called Verizon on April 15 to update my autopay information. I suspected Verizon rep “Jerome” had either mistakenly put in an erroneous disconnect order or did so in anger because I wouldn’t sign on to Verizon cable. April 21 – Called Verizon to give this information to AJ, who was not working that day. Spoke to supervisor Ms. ** in “verification” and gave her the info and asked her to ask AJ to call me. AJ never did.

April 21 – Verizon informed me that my previous service could not be restored because Verizon was no longer supporting DSL. I would have to get FIOS. I expressed my strong disapproval. My DSL was functioning beautifully and my service was fine I had no interest in FIOS. I said I wanted to be restored to what Verizon had WRONGLY removed me from. And I said I wanted my service restored IMMEDIATELY so I could work at my job. Verizon rep said that was impossible. The Verizon rep said I would not be charged the $99.99 installation fee. That was hardly a significant concession. I was FORCED to switch to FIOS – or leave Verizon, which at this point I could not do because of my need to have uninterrupted access to high-speed Internet and my extremely overburdened life. OF COURSE Verizon should not charge me for the FIOS installation fee, since I had no choice.

April 22 – Verizon tech Robert came to hook up FIOS. But, due to a misunderstanding, he used the wire for my Infinity cable to connect to FIOS. That meant I had NO TV SERVICE, which I rely on to do my work. The misunderstanding came when I told the tech I had Verizon landline, DSL and cell. He asked if I had cable. I said no because, in context, I interpreted his question to be whether I had Verizon cable, which I don’t. But he interpreted my answer as saying I had no cable at all. Would’ve been far better if he had been specific instead of making the erroneous assumption that he did. Regardless, I was left without cable or TV, which I needed for my work.

April 22 – That tech, Robert, also screwed up when he set up an online account for me. When I tried to go online on April 25 to sign up for auto pay, the username & password he set up did not work. So I had to call Verizon to straighten out another mistake by Verizon. Verizon customer service rep Nitu ultimately fixed my access. More needless time and effort spent by me due to Verizon’s mistakes

April 22 – Same tech, THIRD mistake. Robert hooked up FIOS by plugging in to an outlet that is controlled by a light switch. When I turned off the light that night, the FIOS equipment made noises and shut off. More noise from router when I turned the light on. Clearly, this was the wrong place to connect the router, etc., and no doubt would have harmed the router.

April 24 -- When I called Verizon customer service to complain, rep Naveen actually said this: “Why didn’t you tell the tech about the light switch?” I am the customer. I have NO KNOWLEDGE about electric matters, nor should I. It is the TECH’S role to know how to do HIS JOB. But this rep actually tried to put the onus on the CUSTOMER?

April 24 – When tech Robert installed the router and other wires, he left the cables & wires in a tangled heap. (I have a photo which I will provide.) The router’s cable was short and Robert did not come prepared with longer cables & wires. Instead of going back to his truck to get the proper equipment, he just jerry-rigged the set up, including connecting to the outlet controlled by a light switch – which was clearly visible. April 25 – Tech D’Angelo re-installed the router, etc., with longer wires and checked to make sure everything was working properly. FINALLY, it was.

May 11 – I called Verizon to register my detailed complaint and to request a response from Verizon. I was connected to Matt, a supervisor in billing. I asked to whom I could send this long chronology and request for Verizon to address what it has caused. Matt told me there was no way to email my complaint. He also said that Verizon didn’t have anyone who could address complaints such as mine. I was surprised. So I then advised him that I have the name and email address of Verizon’s senior vice president for customer relations and offered to provide it to him. He did not reply. He asked me what I want.

I said I want Verizon to tangibly acknowledge that its actions in this episode are unacceptable and that the company will demonstrate it believes in making up for its errors by providing compensation to those customers who have suffered financial hits due to Verizon’s mistakes. I said it is common practice for companies with integrity to do just that. Matt asked me how I know that. Apparently, he is not well-informed about the consumer practices of the best companies. I asked for three months of credit for my services. He told me the most Verizon would grant me is $50. I asked him what he would think if my experience with Verizon had happened to him. His reply was extraordinary: He said he would re-evaluate his choice of companies. While likely an honest reply, it served to effectively let me know Verizon would be fine with me going to a new company. I suggest you review the recording of the conversation.

May 19 – Nancy **, Verizon Senior Vice President, Consumer Sales & Service, called to reply to the email I sent recounting my experience. She, of course, “apologized” and offered me a $50 credit and said Verizon does not compensate for “inconvenience” (Understandable, since the company would go bankrupt if it did.” She recounted her own bad experience with a cable company and, essentially, equated it to my experience, and shrugged it all off as just “life.”

IN CONCLUSION: For the record, I have found NO IMPROVEMENT in speed or anything else w/ FIOS. Days upon days of disruption, aggravation, lost income. With no benefit as a result. That’s the bottom line of this miserable episode. All I have received is a symphony of Verizon’s “apologies.” If my life were not unduly complicated at the present time, please know I would abandon Verizon ASAP and sign up with another company now. But I am stuck until I can.

UPS Tracking showed it was delivered to the front door 3 days before we moved in. Called customer service and was told I need to file a police report and they are charging me for both routers if they send a new one. I told him to forget it and cancel my order and service (of which they turned on on the 18th also, 3 days prior to us moving in!). He gave me a hard time about cancelling and finally cancelled but said they were going to charge me for both routers plus a month of service. THEY ARE THE WORST CUSTOMER SVC EVER!! I was considering switching all cell phones from AT&T to them as well after being a loyal AT&T customer for 4 decades. I WILL NEVER USE VERIZON for anything.

So basically, Verizon Small Business Essentials took money from me and shut down the service I had just paid for within a few hours without any proper explanation or refund. I used the service exactly as intended, that is, to send emails. So violation of terms should not be an issue. I called at my own cost the Verizon international help telephone number on Saturday May 28, 2022 and on Monday May 23, 2022 but after a long time with their customer representatives, they still could not resolve the problem. If Verizon is interested in resolving the problem, the Case reference number they gave me is: **.

Tony.

I guess Verizon has to save where they can so they can keep paying the the CEO his $19 MILLION a year in salary, compensation, and bonuses (according to 1salary.com for the year 2020). I'd love to be able to dump Verizon, but unfortunately there are only two alternatives to Fios in our area and they are every bit as horrible as Verizon. I would NEVER recommend Verizon Fios or anything else connected with Verizon to anyone because all you're going to get is less and less service at the same price.