Verizon Tech Scheduling

These guys seem to believe their advertising. Believe it or not, their products are no better than anyone else and their service stinks. Below is an approximate schedule of every call I made or received to attempt to move the ONT box from the back of our house to the side:

Call#	Approx Date	Purpose
1	12/1/2008	Request technician come and move box
2	12/2/2008	Call back from verizon to choose date for tech to visit
3	12/5/2008	Visit from tech. Tech determined I needed to schedule a visit through his supervisor to have work completed
4	12/26/2008	Called supervisor to schedule ONT box move. He suggested I call toll free # to schedule the move.
5	12/26/2008	Called toll free number from above. Person suggests I call different toll free number to schedule the move.
6	12/26/2008	Call new toll free number and put in request again. Told to expect call in 24 hours to schedule visit from tech to perform service.
7	12/28/2008	Received call from Verizon. Indicated I put in a maintenance request and need to call back with a new service request. I refuse and suggest they call me back from the proper department.
8	12/28/2008	Received call from supervisor I contacted in call #4. He indicated I should call back with a new service request. I refuse and suggest they should figure out who does the service and call me back.
9	12/30/2008	After not receiving a call from Verizon, I call back supervisor from call #4. He indicates the he received the "same run-around" that I received. He promised to come on Friday to complete the work.

To be continued on Friday....

Verizon FiOS update

They still blow, but not quite like Paris Hilton.

The savings are not what they promise (I know, I should be shocked that I got lied to by a company).

The sound and video is always the slightly out of sync. Not enough to be unwatchable, but enough to just make you want to complain.

Internet access from our desktop machine sometimes drops unexpectedly.

On the good side, the wireless access works very well and it quite reliable.

Why didn't i listen to myself?

I just got Verizon FiOS installed yesterday and couldn't hate it more. I didn't care that the speed of the service was going to be slower than my existing cable high speed internet service. I made a decision to go "all-in" with Verizon based on the fact that I felt my land-line phone service would be more reliable and that I would save about $10/month versus bundling TV, Phone and internet with Comcast. My big concern was that historically, Verizon has been a thorn in my side as customer service is concerned.

Here is a common Verizon customer service interaction:

1. Place call to verizon
2. Get message saying your request can only be handled between 8-6PM. Please call back then.
3. Call back next day
4. Place request
5. "our system that handles that is down today. your request will go into effect tomorrow."
6. Check tomorrow to see if request has been acted on
7. Problem still exists
8. Call to say problem still exists
9. "we have no record of you making that request. Please call back between 8-6PM to speak to someone who can handle your request."
10. consider poking myself with a sharp stick (less painful than contemplating dealing with Verizon again).
    

So much for the FiOS "one number for all your needs" service plan. You call that and you get the same old crap as above. You tell them you aren't happy about it and you get a typical Verizon answer: sorry about that, (but you can go fuck yourself).

Verizon blows sheep. They suck. I hate them. I should have never turned off my Comcast connection. It took over one month for them to even make it to my house to install the damn thing and then it takes one day to completely piss me off.

I will keep posting to let you know how my experience progresses. I put the over/under at 3 months before I pay the cancellation fee and switch everything to Comcast.

Cheers!

UPS junk mail

I just received some junk mail from Verizon today via UPS. While I did actually read the header of said junk mail since it was a UPS letter, it seems a tad excessive to market using them instead of regular mail, TV, or radio.

I have had a grudge against Verizon for the past 5 years since they screwed me over on a connection charge they said they would waive and did not. Now they have built a new fiber optic system and plan to have cable TV service, high speed internet, as well as phone service. Their cell phone customer service was among the worst I had ever encountered. I have to wonder how they feel they can provide adequate customer service for a whole new set of products, when they do not adequately service the products they currently have?

Personally, it will be a long time before you see me sign up for their new services.