In October I moved to a new house and wanted internet but no phone line since I use my cell phone as my home phone. I looked on the internet and found an ad for Verizon DSL which promised high-speed DSL for 34.95 per month (as I recall it was 19.95 for first month or two). This ad on the Verizon website stated that no phone service was required.
Since there is no phone line in the room I am renting and the Landlord insisted that his phone line not be touched (surprisingly he was having a problem with Verizon billing him for 2 lines even though he only had one) I called and ordered it with the specification that a new line be run to the house so I could run the rest to the room. I was told by the phone rep in the internet dept that this was no problem and given an install date in early November.
When the install date came and noone showed I checked my order online and saw that the install date had been moved back with no notification. When noone showed on the new install date and I found it had been rescheduled again (why you would reschedule an appointment without notifying one of the parties involved is beyond me). I continued to wait patiently and finally got a recorded call saying my internet was ready. I checked and found the line still had not been installed so I began calling and was told by no less than 4 people that the line was indeed there. I got switched from dept to dept until finally I got switched back to the internet dept where I started with all insisiting this phantom line was there.
Coincidentally when I was back at the internet dept a Verizon tech showed up to check a problem with the landlords phone line and he even verified that noone had been there or done anything which I relayed to the phone rep who still continued to insist it was there. I decided to give it a rest and begin again the next day.
Over the next several days I called and kept getting the same run-around with God knows how many different phone reps that I would rate from absolutely clueless to extremely rude and condescending. I was repeatedly asked if the light was on on my modem which I repeatedly told them was immaterial since I HAD NO PHONE LINE! During one of these many conversations I was asked this and I told the rep it made no difference since I HAVE NO PHONE LINE and he correcte me saying: I beg your pardon it has everything to do with it" in a VERY rude tone of voice. I refrianed from informing him of how much of an idiot he was but tell me how clueless can one be? I spoke with Supervisors in almost every dept and even they had no clue what was going on.
I finally managed to talk one of them into letting me speak to customer service and the supervisor said "so what you are saying is there is no line to connect to?". Eureka! Hours on end on the phone and finally someone who gets it (ya right)! I thought I had finally gotten through but sadly I was very wrong. She informed me that they were unable to run a new line for internet service even though she agreed it was the exact same line as a phone service line!
I ask how stupid is that? She then informed me I had to order phone service and DSL to get the line installed but I could call right after and cancel the phone line with no charges incurred (A HUGE LIE) so I put in a new order for the lower speed DSL and a minumal phone line.
This began another month of waiting, several more no shows and lots more phone calls which finally got me connected to a supervisor in the line dept who gave me a new date and PROMISED me they would show. I took another day off work to be there to hold thier hands through the installation. When afternoon came and they still didn't show I went oputside to go pick up some food and there was a Verizon tech installing a new line across the street.
I asked if he had a work order for mine and he told me no but it would be no problem for him to install it while he was there as he was not very busy that afternoon so off I went to call the line dept and get this done. I finally got a supervisor there who promised he would get something done and he sent a man out to install it that evening. At this point I was no longer mad just relieved to finally have this ordeal over with (NOT).
The install was finally done (December 15th over 2 months after my order went in). Two days later I got a bill for the non-existant line that some of them continued to insist was there. Soon after I got a bill for the real line that started billing my service several days before I even had the line! This began another round of phone calls, smoke and mirrors, and passing of the buck as the reps continued to try to keep from actually having to put forth some effort to resolve the situation but eventually I got the charges for the phantom line reversed and I got the date on the real line corrected.
The next day I called and requested that that the phone service be removed and the DSL be upgraded to the higher speed. I spoke with an extremely rude phone rep who attempted to get me to keep the phone service and when I refused threatened me with another month of no internet if I continued to demand it be removed. I then told him NOT to upgrade the speed and to leave it as it is until I could get some kind of resolution on this which of course he did not hear. He went ahead and upgraded the speed and I also got stuck with some phone packages that included call waiting etc etc for the phone line I DO NOT USE! I guess he showed me to take what they give me and shut the heck up!
I now feel I have been blackmailed into phone service I DO NOT WANT since I use my cell phone for my home phone. I have lost 2 days work (approx $160) and incurred approx $200 in overages on my cell phone minutes (I have never run over on it before this) sitting on hold, explaining this situation ad naseum to many many phone reps (8 times in one particular day that I counted) while they switch me off from dept to dept each claiming they can do nothing to rememdy the situation but they can connect me to — who will just connect me to — and on and on. I have been insulted, treated rudely and treated like I am stupid over and over. The smoke and mirrors customer service system makes it virtually impossible to speak to anyone with even a semblence of a clue. I have had promises broken over and over.
Basically I was misled by the FALSE ADVERTISING from the web and strung along by the pass-the-buck culture of Verizon. Apparently there is no complaint dept (or at lkeast the phone reps and supervisors will not admit to one) which is no surprise since they could care less how they treat people anyways. I guess that is what happens when you have a monopoly in this day and age. This kind of takes me back to when the government broke up Ma Bell because it was a monopoly and frankly Verizon is no different. On second thought Verizon is very different, Ma Bell had excellent customer service!
One thing I found is at least 50% of the phone reps have absolutely no clue what they are doing and most of the rest are just not intelligent enough to use reason or logic. They all seem to be trained in passing everything off to other depts who pass to another and another... I assume the plan is to run people around until they give up and pay whatever Verizon wants.
I have filed a complaint with the Public Service Board and be assured I will be sending copies of this letter to every consumer advocate, congressman and anyone else who may be interested in this situation as well as Comcast who may be able to use this in their very negative anti-Verizon ads.
If I do not get a satisfactory resolution I will probably choose to take the credit hit since I WILL NOT PAY FOR A SERVICE I DID NOT ORDER! I refuse to pay for it and I refuse to be forced to keep it and it just so happens that since I do not want a phone line there is indeed competition in my area for DSL service!
Alan
Trenton, New Jersey
U.S.A.
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