It will be easier just to copy and paste the letter i sent to ivan seidenberg chairman and ceo of verizon, it pretty well explains it all:
Monday, July 25
Verizon Communications
Corporate Headquarters
Attention: Ivan Seidenberg, Chairman & CEO
1095 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10036
Dear Mr. Seidenberg,
I am writing to you directly because after the experience I recently had with your customer service representatives I doubt seriously if they are capable or intelligent enough to help me. Since you are the CEO of Verizon I am gambling that you are capable and intelligent enough to understand what I am about to relate to you.
Every year I attend, during the month of June, Laconia Bike Week at Weirs Beach in New Hampshire.in May I contacted your company, which carries the local service contract for that area, to hook up a temporary line at the location where I would have my mobile unit. My mobile unit is a fifth wheel RV that was built exclusively for tattooing and piercing at events and shows. I requested that the service be turned on between 8:00am and Noon on Thursday 06/09/05. The reason that I had requested this date and time was because I knew that I would be at that location to show the service man where to install my line. The area where I set up is on the grounds of a drive-in movie theatre, it is an outside event, the grounds are very large (approx. 3 acres) and there are several phone boxes in the area. For whatever reason your company decided to change my service date to 06/06/05 without notifying me of the change. If I had been notified I would have told your company to leave the install date as I had requested.
When I arrived at the location (I traveled from Kansas), on 06/08/09 I discovered that not only did they hook up the service when I was not there to show them where it should go but they also had not left any indication as to where the line was located. After 4 hours of exhaustive searching I found the line over 300 yards and across a drive from where it had to be hooked up. This was bad enough but what next transpired in trying to get your company to correct their foul up was a day and a half nightmare.
Between 06/08/05 and 06/10/05 I made 17 separate calls to your customer service representatives trying to get them to listen and correct their mistake (see enclosed copy of my cell bill). What I received from your customer service representatives was excuses, runaround's, rudeness, stupidity and lack of understanding. The following is a list of just some of the comments I received from your customer service representatives;
It's not our fault you weren't there when the line was hooked up. This comment came after explaining that I was traveling from Kansas and that I had scheduled for a time when I would be there.
We would never install a line without the customer there. When I explained that they had she said, I don't think so!
Here's one of my favorites; When explaining that this situation was running up my cell minutes, that it was costing me money in lost income because I had not been able to go out and get my licensing for the show taken care of due to the fact I was dealing with this all day long, your customer service representative said, Well isn't that just too bad. Then hung up the phone on me.
I was told that the situation would be resolved and that they guaranteed that a technician would be out by 5:00pm on 06/08/05 to correct the situation. When the technician still had not shown by 5:00 I phoned your local office and was told that all technicians had gone home for the day and they might be able to get me tomorrow. When I stated that it wasn't acceptable and that I had been lied to your customer service representative said, So what do you expect me to do about it?
I waited all day on 06/09/05 for a technician to show up. No one ever showed and all that day I continued to be treated the same as before by your customer service representatives.
You mean to tell me that there is more than one phone line in the building you are in? Came out of the mouth of one of your representatives after explaining to them that I was at an outdoor show. Once I got her to realize that we were not in a building this gem came out of her mouth; You mean to tell me that this event takes place outside?
One of your customer service representatives told me that I should just Deal with it. She went on to suggest that I run a 300 yard phone line across the drive and over to my unit. When I told her that what she was suggesting was not only impractical but an impossibility she said that I should have thought about that before having them install the line where I did. Get the feeling that she wasn't listening? I do!
I was told by another of your representatives that it would be 2 weeks before they could correct the line. When I explained that the line was a temporary hookup and that the correction was needed now not 2 weeks from now because the show would be long over by then she said, We're busy, perhaps you should have made arrangements sooner than you did. I think 3 weeks in advance at a certain time and on a certain date was enough advance notice!
These are just some of the comments and attitudes I had to deal with from your customer service representatives over that 3 day period. My phone was finally hooked up in the right location on the afternoon of 06/10/05 over 24 hours past the originally scheduled time. One of your customer service representatives also told me that the $60.00 service charge would be removed from my bill due to the inconvenience I had been put to. Not only is the $60.00 charge still on the bill but I ran over my cell minutes because of the trouble that your company caused me by not doing what was requested and what should have been done in the first place. Here is how it breaks down;
Total due Verizon per billing: $83.03
Minus Service Charge: -$60.00
Minus Extra Cell Minutes: -$12.85
Minus Other Charges Incurred: -$10.43
Total Due Verizon: $00.00
Total Due Me: 00.25
Since it appears that you owe me 0.25 cents why don't we just call it even. You can clear my account and you never have to be concerned with me dealing with your company ever again! I have owned my business for over 29 years now and if I treated my customers the way your employees treated me I would have been out of business a long time ago. The only one of your employees that treated me with respect and strove to do their job was the technician who came out to correct your companies mess up. I do not hold him to blame in this, he was just following the orders given to him by his supervisor. Please rest assured that I will let everyone I know including the over 1200 people I tattoo and pierce a year that Verizon is not a company that they want to do business with. I feel that it is only proper to advise you that I am running for a seat in the Kansas House of Representatives. If I am elected I will be hard pressed to ever cast a vote in favor of any venture Verizon may wish to pursue in Kansas based on my experience with your company. Hopefully you can get your employees to start doing their jobs in the future and treat your customers with the courtesy and respect they deserve.
Sincerely Yours
James xxxxx
PS: Before I was able to send this letter I received another bill from your company for a whole month of service? How is it possible that you bill me for a whole month of service at, I might add, the ridiculously high rate of $78.01. I ordered the phone disconnected for June 20 that is 7 days into your billing period. Based on the service I received from your company and the fact that the phone was only connected for of your billing period I feel that it is out of line for you to expect me to pay a whole months billing. This was a temporary hook up and your company was informed of that at the time service was established. If you were to do the right thing in this situation you would wipe all my billing clean with your company and show no adverse marks against my credit reports.
Cc; Better Business Bureau
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As you see this letter was sent on July 25th. We still continue to be billed from Verizon. Each time we get billed we send the bill back with a bold, "CLOSE ACCOUNT, NO PAYMENT DUE" marked across the face of the bill. We also send a copy of the above letter along with the below added explanatory header:
"exactley what part of the following letter that i sent back in july do you not understand? Was i not clear? Are you truly that stupid? I was contacted a couple of times by a mrs. Gonzales who not only would not return my calls each time she called but did not return the extra 10 calls i made to her. Since your ceo does not seem to understand this let me try one more time to make this as clear to you as i can i am not paying for service that i did not receive nor for the little bit of poor service that i did receive! You are to clear my account with your company immediately and clear my credit report of any negative marks you may have placed against it. If this is not done immediately i will file suit against your company. I am tired of dealing with this! Take care of it now!!!"
Verizon still has not responded and still continues to bill us adding more and more charges each month. This has become very stressful and my wife and I are at our wits end. If there is anyone out there that can help us with this ite would be greatly appreciated. THANK YOU!
James
Independence, Kansas
U.S.A.
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