I've been fighting with Verizon for years with no luck. The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities is about useless, and since I have ended service, the response from them and the BBB is that I am no longer a customer. Aren't they observant?
As with many other customers with perpetual problems, I am in a rural area. Verizon does not service the area properly and lies. Most of the techs have been descent, and have clued me in on how awful the company is, but I have grown to distrust them too.
The phone would go bad when it rained, they would send someone out for a temporary fix, and then it would happen all over again. I started asking for credits, but on the last bill they charged me 91 dollars for service. I refused service, but they claimed they performed it and that the problem is in the house. The 91 dollars is a diagnosis.
Everyone knows the problems are on the lines, but they persist on lying like sociopaths. They charged me before for work not performed and credited it, but this time I got an argument. The same day of the charge, I called the police because the tech was argumentative and did not leave the property. He was told to leave by the police, and I cancelled my service shortly afterwards.
These 91 dollars are not for service, they are for spite. A nationwide class action law suit needs to be started against this evil company. I am more than interested.
Here is my last complaint to the BPU:
"1. The phone service has been inadequate and criminal. Customers are expected to pay in full each month, no matter the quality of that service, unless you complain to the BBB and specifically request reimbursement. The customer service of Verizon has been designed to filter problems, rather than address them.
2. The company is prepared to leave certain customers without in order to create a facade of adequacy. They are not willing to invest in quality for all customers in a problem area.
3. The problems are related to moisture. The nature of repair in the area is designed to hide the problem, and substantial fixes would require regular maintenance or line replacement within a certain area.
4. It is possible to give specific dates for poor or non-existent service, and examples can be provided, but considering the above mentioned strategies for maintenance, it is adequate to say that any period of moisture is a service problem for any number of residences in the area.
A) June 1 and counting
b) May 5,8, 9
c) March 29
d) October 24
e) June 12 and 25
f) November 28-30
g) October 8
h) September 1,27, 28
i) June 25
j) May 27 and 28
This is just a small example of effected service. It is difficult to find the time to keep up with Verizon's chicanery. It can be stated with accuracy that precipitation inevitably effects service.
5. An attitude of acceptable subpar service in rural areas is rendered by representatives of the company. The rural excuse is utterly demeaning. Having lived in other rural and wet regions of the United States, a stark contrast can be made to this pathetically provincial excuse. Thirty minutes from Wilmington, 1.25 hours, from Philadelphia, two hours from NYC and 2.5 hours from D.C. Accentuates the importance of the area and does not negate or delineate in any way shape or form its rural character. It is ridiculous that such an area receives sub-par service.
6. The problem is related to the age of the lines and the corporation's unwillingness to maintain the important necessities of infrastructure. Their actions are an assault on the public trust.
7. Verizon's business practices are the result of economic bigotry. It is well know that Verizon is slow and unresponsive to areas of lower income in the inner city and countryside and is surreptitiously unwilling to provide its obligations of service, although the fees are the same whether you live in a wealthy or poor area.
8. Company policy is maintained to prevent complaints rather than address them.
A 1-800 number is provided in order to filter complaints away from the BPU and only temporary fixes are made.
9. There is evidence of collusion between government entities and Verizon.
A) Complaints to the FCC and the BPU are not taken seriously and are rerouted to an undecipherable maze of government bureaucracies.
B) Legal complaints require a $25.00 fee that will be lost in legal oblivion.
C) Verizon has been given rights in New Jersey and metropolitan Philadelphia without providing adequate service for existing operations.
D) Local political units are often unresponsive and supportive of Verizon.
E) The FCC refers complaints to the BPU, yet renders it powerless.
10. Alternate services are available but impractical.
A) Cellular service, air phones, and satellites provide adequate service in the area. However, these services are cheaper to maintain than traditional service yet are more expensive and unaffordable for consumers.
B) FIOS is a wish and concrete attainability is a mirage. Its installation has created its own issues evidenced by an entire page dedicated to problems at the consumer affairs web site.
11. Verizon's hierarchy requires an unnecessary and costly chain of command that requires a home inspection first, leading to the inevitable repair of faulty outside lines causing:
a) Pressure on representatives to make faulty home diagnostics in the name of sales.
B) Wasted time and resources that can be contributed to real fixes.
C) An April 4th bill showing charges for service of 100 dollars for services refused inside the home exemplifying gross incompetence, unbridled corporate avarice and arrogance.
12. It is the 21'st century. Water proofing is not magical but an every day reality, however, not a part of Verizon's maintenance.
13. Enrollment in the combined billing options for land and cell use led to convoluted and incorrectly executed billing agreements exemplifying gross incompetence.
14. Verizon has no respect for private property. I have had representatives come in the house for five years. This stopped when false charges appeared on a bill. Some representatives understand the issue and do not insist on entrance but others do. It has been consistently fixed in the past on the outdoor lines, but now the game is to insist on entrance. This is a gross violation of property rights.
15. This is a safety issue. I have missed phone calls from the police, doctors and
hospitals. This is an issue where apology and reimbursement cannot be commensurate with the frustration Verizon has caused.
16. Because of no phone service since June 2, and growing corporate intransigence, I have cancelled all phone service. Closing was met with the usual arguments that Verizon customer service presents its customers, and it took me two phone calls to complete, costing me more time with this savagely unfair and morally bankrupt corporation.
In conclusion, there is no excuse for the service Verizon gives and there is no acceptable apology. The only adequate outcome would be admission of guilt and a more than temporary fix. I seek financial restitution for those effected by Verizon's incompetence, waived court costs and to inform government entities of another situation where they have failed to protect the citizenry from corporate malfeasance resulting in the detriment of our infrastructure."
David
Salem, New Jersey
U.S.A.
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