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julesism
join:2001-12-12
North Little Rock, AR
Ubiquiti Unifi Security Gateway
Ubiquiti Unifi UAP-AC-LITE

julesism

Member

recently added cablecard, reps not helpful with acct changes

Hello. I recently added a cablecard to my account. I am quite pleased with how FiOS TV is working with my SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime in WMC7 (2 xbox360 extenders) and MythTV (spare HTPC).

Expecting the worst when it comes to account changes and Verizon, I bite the bullet and begin doing my homework. I'd like to send all my STB's back. I currently have 1 Whole Home HDDVR and 2 HD STB's, 3 boxes total. While I'm at it, I’d like to drop down to Double Play since I never use the digital phone line currently in my Triple Play bundle. Looking at my bill, my base bundle is currently $129.99. Add the 3 STB's, CableCard, discounts, and taxes\etc, and the bill comes out to ~$164. My discounts (29.99) are going away next month.

I tried to make changes online while signed into my account, but it just does not seem to work right. I can't even find where I can drop to a double play and remove my STB's, not to mention the constant page errors. It's very confusing to me.

The local store reps cannot help. They state they cannot downgrade my service and I must call, so I call...

The phone rep I spoke to was worse than a car salesman and was not interested in helping me since I want to remove services and equipment. For a split second, I consider cancelling my account. It felt like he was trying to "bend me over" but I was not budging.

I shake the phone call off and decide to try a chat agent. The chat agent states he/she cannot remove my phone service and that I must call. I told the chat agent I had called and was not happy with the phone rep I spoke to. I asked if he/she had a different number, perhaps "level 2" or retention. The only number the chat agent could provide me with was 1-800-VERIZON.

So now I come to you fellow DSLReport folks for advice\feedback. I'm not on a contract but I'm a bit frustrated with my experience today. It feels like I am on a contract/in prison since I have not found anyone willing to help me. I'm able to build a month-to-month bundle that I like online WITHOUT signing in. It's Ultimate HD and 35/35 internet for 109.99 no contract. I can even add a SD STB free for life (would be perfect for my Slingbox). Add the CableCard and its $113.98. This would be perfect, but I imagine it's only available to new customers :/ I'd be happy with something close to this if I could get someone on VZ's side to listen/help. I've had FiOS for 2 years now. I've made changes to my account before. I dropped TV for a few months (late 2010) and went internet only but added TV back (spring 2011). It took 3 billing cycles/statements to sort everything out.

Any advice or contacts any of you may have to help me with this would be greatly appreciated. Sorry if that's too much info or if I come across upset. Thanks in advance.
julesism

1 edit

julesism

Member

Today is a new day so I call in. Rep says I am under contract. I am staring at a hard copy of the Residential Network Order Form from last spring when I went to my current Triple Play bundle. It clearly states "No Contract No ETF". Come on Verizon.... le sigh

*UPDATE*
Finally spoke to a polite rep in retention. She was able to add on a "Valued Customer" -$10 for 12 months, bringing my base from $129 to $109. I have an existing 24 month -$10. Hopefully it does not go away when I return all the STB's. This is very close to the TV\internet double play bundle new month-to-month customers are getting that I was hoping to get. I would like to do away with the phone. It probably has extra fees\taxes that I could live without, plus the fact that I never use it. Also, the free SD box for life for my Slingbox would be nice. Maybe TJ can help me with that. I reckon I'll shut up now
Sparky19053
join:2011-10-03
Feasterville Trevose, PA

Sparky19053

Member

With Verizon no one can be sure but I just ported my landline over to an old VZ phone in preparation of canceling FIOS all together. I was under a two year agreement and prepared to pay the cancelation fees. A few days after the port was completed I check my account online. They automatically downgraded me to double-play. A few days later when I called to cancel everything they gave me a better offer if I agreed to port the same number back and stay a VZ customer. The deduct to remove the phone is only about $15.00 a month so don’t plan on a big change in the monthly bill. It’s the equipment that expensive and that is what I was going for,,, free stuff.
BTW, I see you are moving to cable card. I’m looking forward to the release of the Seton Q and Echo products later this year. When this stuff is released I think VZ and Comcrap will see a lot of the tech savvy users retuning their rented equipment, me included.
c17chief
join:2001-12-27
Lake Jackson, TX

c17chief to julesism

Member

to julesism
I didnt change my package as I have double play already that suits me, but I did see options to do so. I too ditched my boxes a good while back for a cablecard and the HTPC route. That was almost painless to do. Made the order online for the new cable card AND boxes to return the cable boxes. What I received was cable card in a big box for it, but not big enough for even a single cable box, and a single shipping label to return the cable boxes. I had hoped to receive everything I needed like doind a regular box swap, so I could simply hand it off to the UPS guy the next day when he came around. I ended up just taking the bare cable boxes to a UPS store, and they seemed to know just what to do with them before I even probed them about it. Everything went fine with that in the end, no billing issue or anything.