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fishacura
join:2008-01-25
Phoenixville, PA

fishacura

Member

Service Experience - Returning STB

Here's a comical experience....

Returned a box to verizon. Arrived there on 1/7. Called on 1/23 to ask why it was still on the account and was told I'd have to wait until my next billing cycle for it to come off. Next billing cycle comes around on 2/1 and it's still showing. I call back again on 2/5 to ask what's going on. Person asks how many boxes I have and I tell him 3 (used to be 4 before the return). He says he shows 3...so I ask well then why am I being charged for 4???

Now the fun part. I'm on hold on and off with him for 40 minutes (yes you read that right...40 minutes). He says some of their "systems" show that I have three boxes and some of their systems have four boxes. He needs to fix some things. He's on and off with me every 5 minutes saying "please hold on". Sounds from his comments as if he is literally typing and re-typing these box serial numbers into various systems. After 40 minutes I tell him I have to go and can he finish up without me. He says yes.

So today when I look in my account and go to the "manage equipment" tab it shows 3 boxes....but when I go to the tab to add new equipment, it shows that I have four boxes.

The funny thing is, a day earlier an Xfinity guy came around and I told him I'd "never go back to Comcast because their service was horrible". LOL, did I speak too soon? More to come...hope this gets fixed soon!!!

matcarl
Premium Member
join:2007-03-09
Franklin Square, NY

matcarl

Premium Member

For a company that is so far advanced, we all know how much their inventory and billing system sucks. A box should be a quick in and out of the system, the cable companies do it, but for some reason Verizon has probelms with doing this. I've been there too with box returns, the whole experience is unbelievable how they can't get these simple matters taken care of after all these years. It's inexcusable and does make people want to leave.
fishacura
join:2008-01-25
Phoenixville, PA

fishacura

Member

Agree....and you can see from my post I am not one to drone on and on with a rant and am very accepting of issues as they arise. That being said, to have a client (any client) on the phone for 40 minutes while you are supposedly transposing Serial Numbers from one system to the next is odd. What is disappointing is that there's just no ownership of the issue. Something happened, I get it and accept it. But once it happened, someone should concierge me through its resolution. "I am going to see your issue through and I am going to call you personally no less than every few days until it is resolved" That's all it takes to build customer loyalty.
billhere
join:2011-10-21
Santa Monica, CA

billhere to fishacura

Member

to fishacura
Shortly after I signed up for FiOS 16 months ago my bill indicated that I had seven set-top boxes. I called and they corrected the bill fairly quickly -- they asked for the serial numbers of the two boxes I had. Next month it was seven boxes again on the bill. It took four months and a letter to corporate in New York before my billing was finally straightened out. Fortunately I never had to go through a 40-minute call but I probably spent more than that time over the four months before the bill was corrected permanently.
Gerryex
join:2006-05-19
Land O Lakes, FL

Gerryex to fishacura

Member

to fishacura
My old TV had a CableCard in it and when I changed over to my current TV without a CC I called to have it returned. This was quite a while ago and I'm not sure if the stores could take returns. Anyway they send me a box with a prepaid shipper label and I send it out. I track it and in a few days its signed for by a Vz employee. The next bill its still on it so I call, they take it off, give me credit and say its fixed. The next month its there again. I call again, they take it off, give me credit and say its fixed. Next month its still there.

This cycle went on for at least 3 or 4 months until I found the phone numbers for the Executive Cust Service (posted on this forum!) and gave them a call. It took them about 3 more months for a total of about 8 months to FINALLY remove the CC from my account.

Granted this was a while ago and I think thing are a little better but there are still way too many instances when their billing / inventory system shows its limitations. For such a high tech company where the actual quality of service (TV, internet, phone) is quite good, their administration leaves a lot to be desired!!

Gerry
knarf829
join:2007-06-02

knarf829 to fishacura

Member

to fishacura
Knock wood I've had all sorts of routers and cable cards going back and forth and none of this.
watice
join:2008-11-01
New York, NY

watice to fishacura

Member

to fishacura
when you say "was still on the account" what EXACTLY do you mean? VZ notified me (or people here did, don't recall) that the boxes would take a while to come off as a listed STB on the FIOS portal page. Took months (more than 6) for it to come off, I'm assuming the box had to be activated on someone else's account? Regardless, the box wasn't "still on my account". It was simply listed online. The STB was not listed as part of my paper bill STB rental charge. Are you being charged for a STB as you said, or are you simply going off by what's on the website (excluding the bill of course)?
fishacura
join:2008-01-25
Phoenixville, PA

fishacura

Member

GREAT question. Well this past month I was still charged for a 4 box package (even though I only have three now). That was before the call. Now I still show a '4 box package' online but it remains to be seen what my next bill will say. I would find it hard to believe it would show anything different than the package it says I have online...

More Fiber
MVM
join:2005-09-26
Cape Coral, FL

More Fiber

MVM

said by fishacura:

I would find it hard to believe it would show anything different than the package it says I have online...

Any why would you assume their billing systems and online systems are in sync?
fishacura
join:2008-01-25
Phoenixville, PA

fishacura

Member

said by More Fiber:

said by fishacura:

I would find it hard to believe it would show anything different than the package it says I have online...

Any why would you assume their billing systems and online systems are in sync?

:)

I know it shouldn't bother me.....I know I can always call each month and say "credit me" until it's resolved. I have the UPS proof and all that, I just get worked up about silly things like this. It's like it hangs over my head thinking somewhere down the line someone will call looking for $400 for the box.
fishacura

fishacura

Member

Never let it be said that I don't report back when things get resolved. Got my bill today and the STB issue has been remedies. Now....check out the date of my original post and you tell me if this is a reasonable turnaround time lol!

matcarl
Premium Member
join:2007-03-09
Franklin Square, NY

matcarl

Premium Member

You're original post was less than a month ago, I'm sure I speak for most everyone when I say that is pretty darn good.
billhere
join:2011-10-21
Santa Monica, CA

billhere to fishacura

Member

to fishacura
I'd say that's very good! It took four months before my bill was straightened out but that was over a year ago.

I also notice that I am not on hold when I call Verizon now nearly as long as I used to be a year ago.
fishacura
join:2008-01-25
Phoenixville, PA

fishacura to matcarl

Member

to matcarl
said by matcarl:

You're original post was less than a month ago, I'm sure I speak for most everyone when I say that is pretty darn good.

Actually it was 6 weeks ago...but if you read the OP the box was returned on 1/7, issue resolved on 3/6. If that's "pretty good" houston we have a problem lol!
PJL
join:2008-07-24
Long Beach, CA

PJL

Member

[BQUOTE=fishacuraActually it was 6 weeks ago...but if you read the OP the box was returned on 1/7, issue resolved on 3/6. If that's "pretty good" houston we have a problem lol!
[/BQUOTE
Hmm...depending on the billing cycle. It took longer than it should, but if it didn't get processed by the OP's February billing cycle (probably by the end of January in this case since they got the bill around the 6th of the month), it would then take until the March billing cycle so show. I suspect Verizon was working off a backlog of all the year-end/holiday off time installs and exchanges. Just a thought, I could be wrong.

I always take the billing cycle date into account when I make changes. I usually make changes immediately after the billing date to give the maximum time possible for Verizon to get it right.
fishacura
join:2008-01-25
Phoenixville, PA

fishacura

Member

Well there is the little issue of keeping me on the phone for 40 mins lol. Agreed billing cycled had a little to do with it but it's clear this is not an easy process for many people. They get a box back on 1/7 they should be able to tell the customer by 1/10-1/15 "yup...you're good". It shouldn't take until 3/6.
PJL
join:2008-07-24
Long Beach, CA

PJL

Member

said by fishacura:

Well there is the little issue of keeping me on the phone for 40 mins lol. Agreed billing cycled had a little to do with it but it's clear this is not an easy process for many people. They get a box back on 1/7 they should be able to tell the customer by 1/10-1/15 "yup...you're good". It shouldn't take until 3/6.

I'm not disagreeing with you, but the you didn't get the "yup...you're good" until you got the latest bill. Someone might have been able to tell you that ahead of the bill, or at least they should have been able to tell you.
fishacura
join:2008-01-25
Phoenixville, PA

fishacura

Member

That's my point PJL...until my latest bill they could not confirm anything for me nor did certain portions of my online account show the box as returned. But we are in agreement that they SHOULD have been able to do so well ahead of 60 days of receipt of the box.
PJL
join:2008-07-24
Long Beach, CA

PJL

Member

said by fishacura:

That's my point PJL...until my latest bill they could not confirm anything for me nor did certain portions of my online account show the box as returned. But we are in agreement that they SHOULD have been able to do so well ahead of 60 days of receipt of the box.

Well it seems Verzon's e-commerce computer systems are smarter than it's employees! The systems just don't provide status to the humans.
fishacura
join:2008-01-25
Phoenixville, PA

fishacura

Member

I think that's been an ongoing problem for them....internal systems/people really don't communicate well with one another. I remember going to one-bill being extraordinarily painful and one rep. telling me "wireless is completely separate and we don't know what each other is doing most of the time". Funny.