Vent about Verizon "service"

[sk8belle]

I changed my phone and Internet service to Verizon on Sept. 2. I won't even get into the kind of ordeal placing the order was in the first place, but let's just say it took the majority of the day to get it settled. As a part of the order, I took Verizon up on their offer for high-speed Internet for $14.95/month. Should have known it was too good to be true.

They just pushed back the ready date for my Internet access to November 2. That's right. Two months after I placed the order. And according to Verizon, it'll more than likely be pushed back again. Why? Because it turns out they sold me a service that wasn't even available in the area when I ordered it. Not that they bothered to mention that at the time of my order.

The only good part is that they aren't yet charging me for the service. It's just frustrating to constantly have the service pushed back and the inability of their "customer service" to help me. You'd think that when a customer calls, irate about the lack of service, they'd do something to appease or calm them. All they do is keep apologizing, which at this point has become meaningless. This is just one of the many problems I've had with them, so much so that I'm already thinking of changing my service to another company, even if it's more expensive, just to not have to deal with Verizon's terrible "service".

 

[Christine]

I guess it just depends where you live. I've had so much "good" luck with all my service providers from the supposed EVIL AOL to Comcast and now with Verizon.

When I ordered Verizon, I was peeved that I had to wait a week for my service date. With Comcast it was the same day I ordered. But then, Verizon actually notified me that my service date would be ready before they had originally told me. Everything has been wonderful so far.

I hear all these horror stories that everyone has with different companies and I guess I have just been VERY lucky.

 

[sk8belle]

Christine:

It does sound like you've been lucky. It looks like you and I are in the same general area. If I may ask, was it the new high-speed Internet access you ordered from Verizon that you had no problem with? If so, I find it curious that they were able to hook you up, but have all sorts of problems with mine.

AOL will be my next battle after this one. Not looking forward to it. :shudder:

 

[mtblujeans]

Hmmmmm.......I was thinking about switching to Verison cell service. How is that working for you?

 

[AllyandJack]

I've had nothing but problems with Verizon. My house was new construction and getting the phone line was a huge ordeal. They came and installed everything, but I didn't have service for nearly 2 weeks. Then, I get the bill starting from the date of installation!

When it rains, we have problems. When it snows, we have problems. Their people are rude and will feed you the "you didn't buy a maintenance plan" line with the threat that if they find the problem is with "your" equipment, you'll be charged.

Sadly, they are all we have in our town. They keep trying to sell me DSL. I won't get it. They can't even manage the phone service where I am. They actually got better....I called the utilities commission in my state. They came out and found a fried squirrel on the line that they supposedly checked last time I called. I think the threat from the state got them moving.

Good luck!

 

[Christine]

Christine:

It does sound like you've been lucky. It looks like you and I are in the same general area. If I may ask, was it the new high-speed Internet access you ordered from Verizon that you had no problem with? If so, I find it curious that they were able to hook you up, but have all sorts of problems with mine.

AOL will be my next battle after this one. Not looking forward to it. :shudder:

I ordered the service that was $24.99 at the time. The introductory rate was $19.99 per month. I have had it for 6 months and, so far, I'm still at the $19.99 per month. It is my understanding that you can now "downgrade" to $14.99 per month (their lowest speed level).

Basically, it all depends what kind of lines you have if the DSL is easily available where you live. My boss lives about an hour from me and they don't have Verizon DSL yet, but will in a few weeks.

 

[sk8belle]

Thanks, Christine. I guess I have to decide if it's worth waiting and/or if it's worth the aggrevation of dealing with them.

Hmmmmm.......I was thinking about switching to Verison cell service. How is that working for you?

I have their cell service as well. For the most part, it's OK. I can't get service in my office (and I work in the middle of DC), but other than that it's pretty reliable. One advantage is it works just fine in Disney which, under my plan, doesn't qualify as a roaming area..

 

[mtblujeans]

Thank you!

 

[Christine]

I have their cell service as well. For the most part, it's OK. I can't get service in my office (and I work in the middle of DC), but other than that it's pretty reliable. One advantage is it works just fine in Disney which, under my plan, doesn't qualify as a roaming area..

Cell service is a funny thing. I have Cingular and also cannot get it in my office building. But lots of people can and most of them have Verizon. But not all of the Verizon customers can get it in their office. A lot of it has to do with the phone you have, I think. Although, when you ask, they will tell you that all of them "receive" the same. But it's just not true.

 

[lulubelle]

We moved about 70 miles to a new county in May and the local phone service is Verizon. So, I called them to set up service and took them up on a package deal including DSL. What a nightmare! The phone would work one day and not the next, you call and after speaking through many voice commands you finally get an operator. Then she makes you repeat all your stats again. They would schedule a tech to come out a few days later, he would call the day before coming and if you were not there to answer the phone he would leave a VM and your service "ticket" was put on hold and you had to call the service # and get another sheduled appointment for someone to come out. This happened three times and we were without a phone for up to a week at a time. The problem was always local contractors cutting the line or something (new construction area). With the DSL, you have to wait over a week to get the installation "kit" in the mail. Then after you install it, you wait another week for your "effective date". Then when it still didn't work, you wait another week for a tech. I lost my temper with them many times and they just apologize over and over, not really addressing my valid complaints. I am really sorry we have them and are committed for a year. I wish we would have signed up with a provider through our Direct TV people. Their service is wonderful. Sorry to rant, but I saw the original post and believe me - I feel your pain!

 

[Mom2Ashli]

I signed up for Verizon DSL in September. Service hook up went very smooth. Yes I did have to wait a week for my service date but that was not a problem. And knock on wood * * I have not had any problems with it at all. I have the $14.95 per month service and it is a lot faster than the dial up we had a while ago and I really can't tell that much difference from the Cable modem we had.

Sorry you are have bad luck.

The service area is strange. I was able to get it but my neighor two doors down can not get it.

 

[ChrisnSteph]

Geez, I could vent all day about Verizon! I had problems getting DSL hooked up at our last house. Brand new development, but in a populated area, and we knew the DSL box was 100 yards from our house. Verizon told us over and over that they couldn't provide DSL service because we didn't have it in our area. What?! We went round and round with them for three months. One day we decided to call and act as if we'd never called before, inquiring about DSL service. Lo and behold, the answer we got was "no problem, our computers shows that you have service in your area, we'll get you started!". When the guy came out, he's had no clue why they told us we couldn't get it to begin with, since the box was just down the street. Fast forward to now, we're in our new home just two blocks away from the last house, and they're doing the exact same thing to us. This time we're fed up with them - and the DSL service was spotty when we did have it - so we went with Adelphia cable. They were super friendly on the phone, and I had my cable in 3 days. Adelphia has also been a hassle to deal with on the telephone service side, and they're always rude on the phone - they're awful!

 

[Fire14]

Be glad you can have any high speed internet at all. I live a mile and 1/2 from being able to have it and have no idea when I'll ever get it.

We have verizon for our phone service and have not had any issues that I'm aware of.
I have verizon wireless which in one sense is actually another company here and have been happy with customer service and phone since I got it.

 

[Blondie]

Our switch over to Verizon's DSL was a nightmare in the beginning. It took at least 2 months to get everything straightened out. Three change of email addresses later, and hopefully this time it's okay. We ended up having to change our phone number and when we realized we were still being charged for the DSL on the old number we cancelled it--on the old phone number account. What they did was cancel the DSL on our new phone number as well! Then we got the generic "you're line will have to be tested to see if DSL is available in your area!" Um....excuse me, but we just had it on a different phone number at the same location! Didn't matter.

We'd wake up in the morning with our fingers crossed wondering if our DSL would be working or not, many times it was not. We placed many, MANY calls to "tech support" sometimes we'd get someone who knew what they were doing, most of the time, not. Unplug this reconnect that, etc. Round and round it went. Our username and password kept expiring and nobody there knew how to fix it, at least not a first.

It's been almost 3 weeks now and we haven't lost DSL.....yet!

My DH said one more time and we're done and going back to an old-fashioned MSN dial up. We were with them for almost 3 years and never had a problem.

Other than that, Verizon's phone service has been great. But getting DSL was another story entirely!

Here's a funny video clip that was similar to what we were going through:

Internet down!

 

[sk8belle]

lulubelle - Rant away! I can certainly sympathize. Also, thanks for reminding me that I should check my contract with Verizon if I do decide to switch companies due to their lack of service. I'm not sure if I'm committed to any length of service with them.

Waiting a week to get the service - that seems reasonable to me - but this is going on now for two months, possibly more if they delay the activation date again, which is just ridiculous.

It sometimes feels like we as consumers are almost held...hostage, for lack of a better word...by these companies, be it Verizon, AOL, or some other one. The service is terrible, and when you try to complain either nothing happens or it takes forever. And then when you try to change companies, there are so many hoops to jump through, obstacles are thrown in your way, or the company continues to charge you for a service you want to discontinue despire repeated requests to suspend it. It's so darn frustrating.

 

[TomD]

Be glad you can have any high speed internet at all. I live a mile and 1/2 from being able to have it and have no idea when I'll ever get it.
.

Same here. Right now we have Starband but I am going to switchover to wild blue. For the same $ I am paying now I will be 3 times faster on downloads and light years ahead on uploads