coold8
Premium
join:2005-05-15
Englishtown, NJ
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| A Fun Day with Verizon FiOS Customer Service
Dear Verizon,
I innocently called Verizon FiOS 2 days ago to arrange for a DVR to be installed for a TV I bought my mother. BIG MISTAKE! They arranged the appointment between 8 and 1 on December the 27th (today), and happily arranged my appointment for one coax drop, and the box install for a nice juicy fee.
I called out of work, waited here all day, and around 12pm called them to confirm they were coming, they said, yes we are definitely coming, just a little late. They did not arrive, and around 2pm I decided to make another call, I waited 81 minutes for a callback, and went out to go what I call, VERIZON GUY HUNTING!
I went to both verizon places I knew, to possibly get some answers. I knocked on the window of the verizon place on rt. 9, the data center, and spoke to someone at the guy near freehold raceway mall, who seemed to pleasantly agree that this did not shock him, and that is why he has cablevision at home (employee of verizon). As I was getting ready to pick up my other car from the body shop, I saw a infamous verizon truck, so, when at a light, I asked the car next to me to let me in, he agreed, I pulled through a gas station, and chased the verizon guy down! He mentioned that he would be happy to call the on call guy to see if he could come out, but apparently the on call guy was busy, and he was just like, this is out of my hands (a common occurring problem at verizon).
I finally received a callback, and spoke to a representative who told me they would put me on hold, I was on hold for about 45 minutes when I got connected to another person who was absolutely clueless as to what was going on, as if starting from scratch, including phone number, address, etc. So I started from scratch, and he told me someone would call me back with the status, and that all he can do is ask for a credit. He said the credit would be for one week of service ($30 or $40, for an entire wasted day). I said submit the credit and have someone contact me. A few hours later, someone contacted me, and said, hi, we need to reschedule for tomorrow morning. Oh, did I mentioned they single-handedly racked up 150 minutes on my Verizon Wireless phone ($60 in lost money, as I am sure I will now go over this month). When I mentioned to the guy, he offered me the $40 I spoke of, which of course would mean I was at a $20 loss to verizon, and his $40 credit did nothing because guess where it went? VERIZON!
Knowing not to fall for the same trap, I had been on the other line with my old friends at cablevision, arranging for a good price, ETF payment, and a quick reinstall on saturday morning (offered friday, I couldn't swing that). I said, no reason to reschedule, instead come pick up your boxes, as I am switching back to cablevision, who was very reliable, the lady gave me another number to call that was then closed to cancel!
Hell I gave it a try, but my god, I have never dealt with more disorganized, worse customer service, to get anywhere, you had to speak to another person and another person, it is just sad and pathetic. Shame on your Verizon, you really know how to take a great product, and drive it straight into the ground. Nice job loosing a $255.40 a month customer, kudos!
P.S. - Just because I was on a contract, does not really mean anything because Cablevision is paying people's early termination fees, which essentially makes your contract irrelevant.
Cablevision here we come! |
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knarf829
join:2007-06-02
edit:
December 28th, @12:57AM
| Thanks for sharing. This is relevant to me how? I think you need a blog or something.
I'm sure you'll be thrilled with Cablevision. Their customers seem to be a real happy lot. |
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HenryFarpolo
Premium
join:2003-08-31
Andover, MA | reply to coold8
I particularly like the part where you went to the "Verizon places", and knocked on the windows.
And, where you waited. "all day", and called Verizon at noon.
Creative writing aside, I echo Knarf's post. |
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ENFiOS
join:2007-11-09
MontCo PA | reply to coold8
Ditto - enjoy the cable company. |
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JeepMatt
Delaware Fios
Premium
join:2001-12-28
Wilmington, DE
 ·Verizon FIOS
 ·Comcast
| Actually
This is the FIOS TV forum, and the OP wrote another example of the fine scheduling and consistency that VZ offers! (It's amazing these posts still happen this long after the launch of TV service)
So while it won't affect most of the folks here, it may help influence potential ones.
--
"ONE team - ONE city - ONE dream!!" |
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msjd
@verizon.net | reply to coold8
well my install went perfect guy was there on time at 11am and out by 2pm with everything working fine. |
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wmhjr
join:2007-07-01
Finleyville, PA
edit:
December 28th, @09:33AM
| reply to coold8
The original poster has a valid poiont of view.
Verizon is still trying to run Fios TV like a power company runs electricity. I've found that their phone support and customer service is absolutely awful - however their techs and the people actually doing the work (at least around here) are great.
Fios TV is a consumer entertainment service. However, their customer service hours of operation are 8am-6pm M-F, and "maybe" a few hours on Saturday. Cablecos and DBS are 24x7. Wait times to get through to Fios TV are incredibly awful. Once you do get through, you "may" get somebody helpful. Contrary to cable or DBS, if you call to get HBO added on Friday night at 10pm, it won't be turned on in 15 minutes. The order seems to wait until Monday morning. In terms of actual customer service, Verizon lags behind every cableco I've heard of. Their phone support makes Comcast look wonderful! These are valid issues that deserve mention.
OTOH, their techs have thus far been more than reliable and helpful. The product does seem to be better - once it's working and hopefully if it continues to work.
More poeple need to be vocal about this problems like coold8. The more people that provide feedback of that type the more likely it is that they will change their customer support.
I find it interesting that instead of people taking Verizon to task people instead attack the guy trying to pay for the service. The guy who lost a day at work because of Verizon. Is this a consumer forum or a fanboy forum? |
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coold8
Premium
join:2005-05-15
Englishtown, NJ
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| reply to HenryFarpolo
In response to your clearly biased message:
I went to Verizon places because previously, I went to cablevision, walked in the door, and was able to speak to somebody (it is called Optimum store), not true at verizon. I was at my house until 2pm, when they said they would come between 8-1. Verizon openly admitted they missed the appointment at 5pm.
The reason it matters for you, is the day that you go to get a additional DVR installed, and you find yourself in the same situation as me, I am not saying everyone is having this problem, however I did, and therefore I am just posting my story. |
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knarf829
join:2007-06-02
| reply to wmhjr
said by wmhjr  :Fios TV is a consumer entertainment service. However, their customer service hours of operation are 8am-6pm M-F, and "maybe" a few hours on Saturday. Cablecos and DBS are 24x7. Wait times to get through to Fios TV are incredibly awful. I've spoken to the Fiber Service Center people late in the evening and on Sundays. I've gotten through to a helpful live human being quickly each time. Whether or not they've always been accurate (I got inaccurate answers before signing up - none after), they've always been available and at least tried to help. I don't know where you come up with this stuff.
said by wmhjr :Once you do get through, you "may" get somebody helpful. Contrary to cable or DBS, if you call to get HBO added on Friday night at 10pm, it won't be turned on in 15 minutes. The order seems to wait until Monday morning. I called to add the Movie Package in mid June on a Saturday afternoon. The package was activated within two hours.
said by wmhjr :In terms of actual customer service, Verizon lags behind every cableco I've heard of. Their phone support makes Comcast look wonderful! These are valid issues that deserve mention. "Lags behind every cableco" according to what metric? Comcast has the worst Customer Service that I've ever dealt with. But my personal experience with them is every bit as limited a sample as this guy's installation experience, and my personal experience is not relevant to anyone else but me just as this guy's is not relevant to anyone but him.
said by wmhjr :More poeple need to be vocal about this problems like coold8. The more people that provide feedback of that type the more likely it is that they will change their customer support. I don't think "poeple" need to be more vocal. Anecdotal evidence such as this and my personal experience means nothing. In fact, from my perspective, I hope they don't change their customer support because I've always found it better than Comcast.
said by wmhjr :I find it interesting that instead of people taking Verizon to task people instead attack the guy trying to pay for the service. The guy who lost a day at work because of Verizon. Is this a consumer forum or a fanboy forum? Even if it's a bit of both, it's not a blog. The best posts are relevant to others, not slam pieces. I'm hardly a "fanboy" and have even gotten slammed for being too tough and vocal on issues where I think Verizon is wrong (IMG issues in particular). Either way, it doesn't make this one guy's experience representative of anything or relevant to anyone but him. |
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nerv
@verizon.net
| reply to coold8
Slightly relevant to this, I called a few days ago to order one more STB for my house and expected to have to make the familiar appointment and have to clear my schedule all day. I asked the lady on the phone if there was any other way to do it and she told me that as of a week ago, they now can ship STB's out to you and receive them instead of needing to get picked up. Not a bad deal, but...this of course can't be used for the initial installation. |
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ENFiOS
join:2007-11-09
MontCo PA
| reply to coold8
FiOS is all new technology for the old "phone company" so they're going through growing pains. We were all interested in the latest and greatest or we wouldn't have tried them in the first place. There's quite a difference between the cable company's run of shared coax up the street and Vz's running a new fiber network and fiber to every home. If Vz is at fault for anything, it's trying to "rush" things out to the public before they're truly ready, but it's dog-eat-dog out there and in order to maintain or grow their base, they had to make the move. They're constantly hiring FRC folks and know there's an issue there, but hold times continue. The billing and provisioning systems are all new and have their problems, but they're doing everything possible to keep up.
I welcome the competition because it will eventually bring better service and prices, but Vz's just not there yet.
I do think, however, that knocking on a door to their data center is going a bit too far. There are thousands of Vz buildings around the country, but not everyone is involved in FiOS or even customer service.
If there is one thing that Vz needs to do better and quickly, it's communicate with their customers about bugs and planned fixes. Simply letting me know they're aware of problems goes a long way with me. I can wait for the fix, but if I don't know they're even aware of the problem then I don't know they're working to correct it. I think they need to maintain a well-publicized board of their own with known bugs, not rely on others to get the word out.
In any case, I LOVE MY FiOS!! It can only get better (channel and features) as time goes on! |
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coold8
Premium
join:2005-05-15
Englishtown, NJ
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| reply to coold8
Maybe I need to clarify,
I already have FIOS with 2 DVRS and 2 Standard Boxes, the DVR WAS AN ADD-ON BOX to my current service. There needed to be a coax drop to the room tat the box was going, so a tech did need to come out (I don't know how to drill through walls and do coax drops etc.). Not that it is extremely relevant but figured I would clarify. |
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bd986
@fema.org
| reply to ENFiOS
I have had mostly positive results with the techs showing up at my house. Especially when adding the DVR feature to my service  Since my initial installation (which went very well back in May of 2006), I have had a technician out to the house about 5 times now and they were right on time.
However, earlier this year I had one issue when I was getting quite a bit of tiling on primarily the channels we pay extra for. I had a tech scheduled to show up from 8-1 on a Friday. When nobody showed up, I began contacting Verizon as to the whereabouts of the technician. Kept getting promises (even a call back from a supervisor) that someone would be there that day. When 8:00 PM came and went, I called to ask what was happening and they said the tech wouldn't be out that night. Duh! I ended up scheduling for first thing on that Sunday morning.
Here's where it gets interesting. Around 6:30 PM on Saturday night I had a knock on the door. It was the technician from Friday night's scheduled call. Don't know what time machine he used. He seemed completely oblivious to it. When I pointed out the tiling problem he indicated he was new and didn't know what to do. When I told him that we were scheduled for Sun morning, he went out to his truck and started making some calls. About 15-20 minutes later, he called the house (still sitting in the truck outside) and said that he was going to defer to the tech scheduled the next day. When Sunday came, I had a knock on the door around 9:30 and a tech was there to swap out the ONT, which fixed the problem. So COOLD8, maybe you just needed to wait till Saturday for your Friday appointment |
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BlueConnect
join:2004-04-02
FFX, VA
| reply to coold8
A persons experience with Verizon may be as different as the locations we live. I called this past Thursday night to report a problem with one of my HD STBs, after wading through the automated phone system I was put in queue to speak with a live person. Twenty minutes later I was connected with a rep and was able to get on the repair schedule. The problem is, the first opening is for the following Saturday afternoon. To me, this is an issue. I must say that with Cox I’d just take the STB to the local office, get another STB and be on my way. Hopefully Verizon will eventually get to the same point. |
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knarf829
join:2007-06-02
| TIP: Say "Agent" to skip the phone menus and get to a person. That person may not be the exact right person to handle your specific problem (the phone system doesn't know what problem you're having, you skipped the system), but that person can get you to the right person. |
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BlueConnect
join:2004-04-02
FFX, VA
| I use the 'agent' bypass most of the time, the extended wait times are after being put in queue/on hold waiting for an agent to answer. I'm on hold as I'm typing this. Trying to cancel the appointment. A few more minutes of waiting time on hold and I'll give up. This system will have wasted my time, the techs time when he arrives and no one is here. Then there is the impact to the next customer. Big improvements are needed. Did I mention I'm a Verizon stock holder. |
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knarf829
join:2007-06-02
edit:
December 28th, @01:36PM
| said by BlueConnect :I use the 'agent' bypass most of the time, the extended wait times are after being put in queue/on hold waiting for an agent to answer. I'm on hold as I'm typing this. Trying to cancel the appointment. A few more minutes of waiting time on hold and I'll give up. This system will have wasted my time, the techs time when he arrives and no one is here. Then there is the impact to the next customer. Big improvements are needed. Did I mention I'm a Verizon stock holder. I'd definitely recommend knocking on the windows of the first red and white van you see (even if it doesn't belong to Verizon) until you get a response from inside. Based on what I've read here, that's totally acceptable behavior and not the least bit obsessive.  |
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frankpf3
verizon.net
join:2007-08-09
Huntington Station, NY | reply to knarf829
For once I agree with knarf. Good Post. |
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frankpf3
verizon.net
join:2007-08-09
Huntington Station, NY
·Verizon FIOS
| reply to coold8
You have to open up your own dimensional thinking. Like posted above, Verizon is having growing pains. I went with Fios because I can see the potential it has for now and for the future. Five years down the road, I feel pretty good that they will ultimately be the superior product by far.
it is the future of broadband media access for the home consumer. |
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jvanbrecht
join:2007-01-08
Bowie, MD
| reply to coold8
You know.. I keep reading all these horror stories, and even my friend down the street had a horror story (but that was cable card related).
I tried to create a horror story.. when I had directv installed, I also had a comcast technician coming out to install the internet, I refuse to touch comcast TV (thats another story). I scheduled the appointments for the same time.. hoping for dualing installers, but alas, the dtv guy was on time, the cable guy was 8 hours late... |
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