Verizon Fios nightmare

[bob haller]

I had Fios for about 2 years. It featured poor service, noise on line to po int line was unsuable, battery failure, non responsive reps, endless callin g of tech support, after going thru many automated attendants, finally get tech support only to be told all reps are busy please try your call again l ater goodbye. I was under contract and as soon as it ended went to comcast with no problems. At the end I had one line still on copper. It worked fine, but I had moved unlimited calling on my cell phone and never used my 35 buck a month callin g package on my business line. Verizon FIOS pushing for customers reaches n ear abuse level and obviously I wanted no parts of FIOS! They started calli ng constanly like several times per day, clogging my business line answerin g machines with useless calls, visiting my home repeatedly at dinner time. I asked repeatedly to be remove from ALL SOLICITATION!

So I cancelled my outgoing call package on my business line, and verizon id iots cancelled my entire line. I caught the mistake instantly and they fixe d it within a hour.

However ba few days later the system burped and did it again! this time it took over 4 days to get my business line fixed, and honesly not one rep rea lly seemed to care:(

At this point I went all comcast! and sent registered letters to presidents office at verizon to never contact me again! I insisted verizon remove all the copper drop and fios equitement from my home. They resisted, but final ly removed it all

I got a solicitation call yesterday and today the disturbed my dinner again coming to my door..

HOW CAN I GET THESE IDIOTS TO JUST LEAVE ME ALONE PERMANETELY?

I am thinking of attaching a banner to my home verizon fios sucks!

[clare]

Move out of the country - the buggers will track you down anywhere you go in the USA like a bunch of terrorists.

[bob haller]

point line was unsuable, battery failure, non responsive reps, endless cal ling of tech support, after going thru many automated attendants, finally g et tech support only to be told all reps are busy please try your call agai n later goodbye. I was under contract and as soon as it ended went to comca st with no problems.

ed unlimited calling on my cell phone and never used my 35 buck a month cal ling package on my business line. Verizon FIOS pushing for customers reache s near abuse level and obviously I wanted no parts of FIOS! They started ca lling constanly like several times per day, clogging my business line answe ring machines with useless calls, visiting my home repeatedly at dinner tim e. I asked repeatedly to be remove from ALL SOLICITATION!

idiots cancelled my entire line. I caught the mistake instantly and they f ixed it within a hour.

it took over 4 days to get my business line fixed, and honesly not one rep really seemed to care:(

nts office at verizon to never contact me again! I insisted verizon remove all the copper drop and fios equitement from my home. They resisted, but fi nally removed it all

ain coming to my door..

fios was the worst example of sucky customer service I have EVER experience d

now I ONLY WANT TO BE LEFT ALONE!

[clare]

When you want service you can't contact a human. When you want them to get lost they stick like leaches.

[ChairMan]

First put a NO SOLICTING sign for your front door, then order one of these an block 1200 numbers

[David L. Martel]

Bob,

Your business nemesis, Verizon, has 18 mo. from when you stopped doing business to call your about their products. After 18 mo. their calls violate the "do not call list", if you have registered there. I allow my answering machine to take most calls.

Dave M.

[Frank]

If they happen to get a call through to me, I tell them I have a standing offer to them that I will take their $79 introductory triple play if I can get it for life.

I have a copper line converted to FIOS that I use for business and somebody pays for, otherwise I would ditch them.

I had a problem with Verizon years ago over a billing and they were driving me nuts. I inquired into magistrates office about suing in a state small claims court over violation of the federal calling law and they referred me to attorney generals office who got them off my back.

Comcast may have problems but they don't have that old telephone company mentality that they are the only game in town and customer service with the telephone company has always been awful.

[badgolferman]

I used to be a Verizon FiOS Network Technician at a call center back in

2007-2008 when the product was making its way into Virginia. During the interview process I was told I would be working as a technician at the central office, but on the first day of work I found myself at the call center!

After minimal training on how to use the available tools, we were thrown into the call queue to answer to irate customers. Verizon is considered a telecommunications company, so they are bound to certain regulations imposed by the FCC, one of which is how long it takes to resolve customer issues. In those days our Call Average Handling Time (CAHT) was set at 14.5 minutes, now it's closer to 9 minutes. If you couldn't resolve a customer's problem from the time you took the call to the time you ended the call in 14.5 minutes on average then you would get bad grades and eventually be fired. Our supervisors taught us how to "resolve" the problem in order to get the customer off the phone quicker. The long call wait times, ineffective support, lousy field technicians, repeated calls, nightmarish billing system, etc. drove many customers away despite the superior product.

I finally left the company because my conscience was killing me, I seldom saw my family, the working environment was abyssmal, my health was suffering, and many other reasons. The pay and benefits were good, but I could never use them!

My experience at the place convinced me to never subscribe to FiOS despite the 20% discount I was eligible to receive. I have stayed with Cox ever since we moved to Virginia in 1998 and have always been happy with their customer support, especially the field technicians. By the way, as much complaints I would hear about Verizon FiOS service, I would hear double that from the former Comcast customers who switched over to FiOS!

[Dan Espen]

Personally, I love everything about FIOS. And despise Comcast.

I can't say why some people have a bad experience, but my experience has been all good.

When I do need support, I use FIOS chat. Typically you're dealing with a tech in a few seconds and I've always gotten good results.

Comcast was famous for jacking rates. All the time. I've had 2 2 year contracts, and one rate increase during a period when the first contract expired.

When I got the second contract I went for one of the higher speed quantum packages and got rates similar to my original rates.

[NotMe]

The 18 month period applies ONLY if you have not requested them not to call.

Since this is a business transaction you can request a salesperson visit to discuss your needs ... I did his with a pest control company and it took only three water hauls from them to stop calling.

[Art Todesco]

Funny thing, yesterday, the Chief of Comcast was on the news saying that the company has failed in customer relations and WILL work for great improvement. I know, talk is cheap ... let's see what they do? I only wish I had a cable company or FiOS in my area. I'm stuck with relatively slow DSL and satellite TV and they can charge anything they want.

[Mayayana]

| I only | wish I had a cable company or FiOS in my area. I'm stuck with | relatively slow DSL and satellite TV and they can charge anything they | want.

That's also true with cable and phone. A couple of years ago I called about it when my landline phone company jacked up the prices dramatically. I don't remember who I called now. Attorney General? FCC?. In any case, I tracked down whoever would be in charge of the price hikes. I was told they're not illegal. I was amazed. They have a virtual monopoly and yet no restrictions. I asked the man what purpose his agency served if they had no power to regulate. He seemed surprised that anyone might think they could regulate.

Things have changed a lot. Perhaps 20 years ago AT&T wanted me to go with them as long distance carrier. They quoted what the exact number would be on my bill, after trumped up fees and taxes. No more. I've found that with cellphones there's no way to actually know the real monthly bill ahead of time. None of it's in writing. I once went to 4 stores in one day and not one could tell me the reall cost. They all had plans starting at $39.99, but that number was meaningless. Similarly with cable and landline, it's become something like a used car lot. They throw out a random number and then the bargaining starts. I get a glossy FIOS ad about once per week in the mail. In giant letters it tells me I can have FIOS for 6 months for only $99/month or some such. In tiny letters at the bottom is a long list of extra charges, but without detailing what those charges actually are. No place do they even say what the real price of FIOS is -- what it will be after the initial 6 months! On the other hand, Verizon keeps sending those ads. So there must be lots of people either stupid or hungry enough to respond to them.

[Dan Espen]

This is nothing new with Comcast. This has been going on for years. Their reputation is so bad, they adopted the name Xfinity to try to confuse the easily confused.

You have my sympathy. I do like broadband.

[Dan Espen]

Wait around for a 2 year plan.

You will pay for each set top box. You'll go way over 99 including the set top box rentals. I have a FIOS DVR. Great device but also a monthly cost.

With all the extras, more channels, higher speed, I still saved money vs. Comcast.

[Mayayana]

| > No place do they even say what the real price of FIOS | > is -- what it will be after the initial 6 months! On the other | > hand, Verizon keeps sending those ads. So there must be | > lots of people either stupid or hungry enough to respond | > to them. | | Wait around for a 2 year plan. | | You will pay for each set top box. | You'll go way over 99 including the set top box rentals. | I have a FIOS DVR. Great device but also a monthly cost. | | With all the extras, more channels, higher speed, I still | saved money vs. Comcast. |

I assumed FIOS was more expensive, being fiber rather than cable. Fortunately for me, I don't need either of those. I get over 40 stations with a simple in-room antenna and have no interest in "blockbuster" movies, network dramas, or sports.

I do have cable for Internet. RCN. They're not notably better as far as I can see. They generally keep pace with competitors. But landline and cable Internet don't seem to be so prone to flim flam tricks as cable TV and cellphone services are. Perhaps that's just because the services are simpler, with less options.

[Frank]

Neighbor across the street and one next door recently switched from FIOS to Comcast as they could not get them to budge on costs. PITA but when initial offer is over and price goes up you have to renegotiate. Comcast appears to be much more flexible than FIOS.

[bob haller]

FIOS ROAD TECHS ARE GREAT! Nice guys, extremely knowledgable, occasionally hamstrung by their supervisors.

Telephone reps, hard to reach endless automated attendants, all designed to prevent you from talking tpo a human being.......

I think verizon should sell off their fios areas, and remaing copper and go cell only...

incidently if you want a bargain rock solid price for cell service go prepaid. no contracts, no hassles and ome offer no extra charge internet like sprint.

[badgolferman]

Service appointments were always in four hour blocks. 8-12 or 12-4. The customer would have to take the entire day off to get repair done to their FiOS system. We would hear stories from the field technicians themselves on how they would creep up to the door and lightly tap on it. If no one answered within 30 seconds they would leave a Not Home sticker on the door. Granted not everyone of them were like that, but everyone of them were unionized and embodied the typical stereotype of a union thug.

[bob haller]

every single road tech was nice friendly knowledgable and helpful:)

too bad all the supervisors, and phone reps were abusive, blamed interior wiring , blaming me for everything that doesnt work.

In my case after 3 months the noise on the line was finally traced to a bad router in their central office.....

[trader_4]

I agree with the cable part, but there sure are other choices for the vast majority of people for phone. Besides the old POTS copper system, VOIP is available to most folks. And while the cable provider has their own phone service, you're free to use any of the many other VOIP providers out there and there are a lot of them. A lot of people have moved to using just cell service too.

A couple of

IDK where you live, but AFAIK, in many places the old POTS system is still price controlled by regulators. Sounds like in your area, it's been deregulated. But, even where it is regulated, you can expect prices to rise dramatically. The number of lines is rapidly declining, has been for years now, as most people move to other alternatives. Some of those costs are variable, but most are not. You have less customers each year to pay for the massive existing infrastructure. Here in NJ, in some of the hard hit Sandy areas, Verizon declined to restore the copper service to the towns, because of the cost. That was the first time that;s occured. I don't think it was unreasonable.

Unless you have unlimited everything, which those "starting at" plans don't have, it depends on how many minutes you use. In the cell phone companies I've dealt with, it hasn't been totally clear what the bill would be, but it's not exactly a total mystery either. There is usually about $5 in taxes, fees, etc that are added on. I'd bet that $39.99 plan would be about $45, assuming you stayed within the mins/MB usage allowed. And they do make it clear how much it is for additional usage beyond that. Most providers most popular plans now include unlimited voice/text, big data blocks, so it is becoming simpler.

Another factor as to why they can't tell you an exact amount is because even they don't know. Some of the govt fees they get hit with vary from month to month. The variation isn't that much, and I agree it would be better if they just averaged it out and bundled it in.

I'd also note that while 20+ years ago the phone world was neat and tiddy, how much did it cost to call from NY to LA, or from NY to Paris for an hour? Yeah, there may be some minor issues, but the vast majority of people are a lot better off, paying less and happy.

I don't think you have to be hungry or stupid to respond to them. Most of these companies have 6 month or 1 year reduced cost deals. And the vast majority of people want cable, phone, internet. So, what's wrong with getting a good deal for a year? And many bounce back every couple years, from one to the other, when they requalify for the low rate again. You can certainly find out the higher cost once the promo ends from their websites.