Verizon Fios

A couple of weeks later I got an unexpected bill for $60. I contacted Verizon, and after a few hours of runaround found that I had to visit a store to get this handled in person. I went to the Verizon store at Westgate Mall. The manager there was very helpful. He put me on his phone in contact with a support person who said the charge would be cancelled. Then I left the country for seven weeks.

Yesterday when I returned I found three bills from Verizon for $60 and a letter from a collection agency. This is my first, and certainly the last time I will have anything to do with Verizon. I strongly recommend that you do not trust anything they say about the quality of their service. Recognize going in that their support is poor and they will lie to you.

I also found out that my FIOS account would not be prorated from the cancellation. I canceled 9 days into my new billing cycle and was charged for the whole month. Ridiculous since Verizon Fios had no issue charging me for a partial month when I started service. I requested a partial refund for the month and was denied and they will try to credit my account for the Disney Plus which I never asked for or agreed to implicitly. Please watch out as unwanted services may be hidden in the fine print somewhere.

I dropped the device off and figured that was that. It was not. I let Verizon know we would not be moving forward with their services. I then start receiving NONSTOP emails and calls from them stating that I owe them $54, but they never state for what. I spoke to representatives of Verizon 3 separate times, each time for 30 minutes. Each time I was told, "Oh don't worry about that, you don't owe us anything." The last representative I spoke to I had send me an email stating that I do not owe Verizon any money. He did. I said do not contact me again. He added me to the Do Not Call List. Verizon continues to call me and leave automated voicemails every other day (for months).This was a NIGHTMARE of an experience. Only choose Verizon if you want to be taken advantage of and harassed. Verizon WILL try to rip you off. You've been warned. Use another service provider.

What is downright ridiculous about this is Verizon is a huge telecommunications company, with the key word being TELECOMMUNICATIONS. So, to operate with such a poorly constructed website is very very very, oh let's just be honest here -- it's garbage, shows terrible or nonexistence quality control efforts, and a general air of an attitude of not giving two fooks. Couple this with the hoops one must jump through to locate and speak with an actual person (one that has a good understanding of the English language) is plainly unacceptable. But... Here is the crux of this lousiness.

ATT, Verizon, and Rectum Time Warner (Spectrum for the corporate apologists out there), are all guilty of exactly the same business practices. They have websites that functions barely at best. They make it incredibly difficult to speak to a customer service rep and have computer prompt systems that will drag you through hours of pressing this or pressing that. All will promise you the world and then upon you accepting will just hand you a teaspoon of dirt leaving you to rot. Oh, and as far as ATT and Rectum go, be prepared to suddenly have mysterious amounts due appear on your bill, or sudden upgrades and additions added to your account unaccepted or informed of by you. And forget about having those amounts removed either.

Oh! But the professionalism of their marketing and promotional materials, the splash screens, the spam emails and paper junk mail are all tip top in appearance. They are splendidly crafted by the best marketers to take full advantage of human psychology, the prevalent need by the many for a friend, a trusted soul, and a sense that a company has your back. They are just full of "we just want to be your dedicated servant and best friend" that is until you sign the dotted line. Then you will be jettisoned, and left adrift to die in the vastness of outer space, or dropped down the rubbish chute to the anus of the company were all the rest of us suckers are left to die.

As for the internet service? Well... to be honest I don't think it is all that much different than when I had Rectum, but is much better than ATT. Fios is supposed to be very fast, but the download speed suffers from chronic constipation. The modem is in constant need of restarting, which by the way is a much longer process than the ordinary Rectum modem. You can get up and do your dishes and come back to the 'puter and still be waiting for that little blue light to stop flashing. For all that, you may as well take up the old past time of crocheting lace doilies.

To be brutally honest and realistic, these big telecommunications companies in our country over these past two decades have managed to lobby their cronies to weaken consumer rights and protections, while increasing their own. So, much of what they do is now either allowable, or easy to get away with, and would be like traveling to Jupiter in a bathing suit to fight in any attempt to rectify with the remaining rights we still have left.

We've descended a long long long way from the days of Ralph Nader and what little protections Democrats were ever to secure from the pro-wealthy component of both the Republicans and those oddballs within their own party. Makes one want to pack their satchel and move to the E.U., or just scrap the whole tech thing altogether, build a shack far far far away from the illusion of modern technical progress and wait for death to overtake you. Because that is just about what it is like dealing with these multi-nationals anyways.

Since the internet was slow, I was provided a new router by Verizon and I had to return the old router. So, along with the old router, I returned all the equipment provided by Verizon to a designated Verizon store (Store ID: **). I received an email on Oct 28, 2022 confirming the return of all the equipment. On Nov 1st, 2022, I received an email from Verizon to return the Fios Router Serial#: G402120071843385 by Nov 21st, 2022, which I had already returned. I called the Verizon customer service and spent 1.5 h to convince them that the router has been returned.

Portion of the email from the Verizon dated Oct 28, 2022. However, the Verizon made a mistake of mentioning the wrong router serial# in the email confirming the receipt of router as shown in the table above (G402121112308844). It was not my mistake at all. This router is actually the new router that Verizon provided me in place of the old router which I am still using. So, it is impossible for the same serial number router being at two places. I thought Verizon will fix their mistake and everything will be fine since I am a Verizon customer for decades. To my surprise, after couple of weeks I see a bill of $175 for not returning the old router. I called customer service multiple times and spent anywhere between 1.5 to 2 h every time I called. Each time I was assured it has been taken care of, but in fact it was not taken care of but was put in the dispute basket. On Dec 6, 2022 I received an email from Verizon with the following message:

Since January, I have been getting calls from Verizon for payment and threatening to suspend my account if the payment of $175 is not made. Last time when I called Verizon customer service, I was told it has been finally taken care of, but I continue seeing $175 bill on my account, although every time I called, the charges disappeared for a week. I have been circling from digital help, customer care to finance department of Verizon for help, but it appears there is no communication among them and every time I have to start over from the beginning.

Today, on March 15, 2022, Verizon suspended my account and I am without internet and not able to do my job. I called customer service today at 10:19 am. She showed interest in going into the bottom of the problem. She assured that I shall get the credit of $175 pending approval from her supervisor. In the meantime, in order to restore the internet services and function, I made a payment using my credit card at 11:48 am, and I received a notification from Verizon at 11:50 am that the internet service has been restored (See below).

I called Verizon three times since 12 pm today and I talked to 4 different customer service representatives (1 technical, 2 customer care, 1 finance). Customer care said my account is still on hold. I should contact finance department. I was directed to finance and he said (at around 2 PM) that I will get service in 15-20 min. I waited 1.5 h and then called customer care again, who was very rude and said (at 4 PM) there is a system problem and you will have internet in 1 hour, but it took longer and at 6 pm I have internet. The bottom line: consumers need to make an organized effort to pressure corporates for better services and to stop harassing consumers.