Unfortunately I am in a Verizon "service" area for telephone & DSL. I could never get my computer to stream video even though it was made for streaming videos. I had Verizon DSL and called Verizon to see why this was.
They told me that I needed more broad band for better streaming. So I increased my upload and download speed - at a price of course. After increasing the band width my computer ran like it was on dial-up. I called to find out why this was happening.
I originally had DSL in dry loop and used Vonage for my phone service. I was told that since I was using Vonage that it was affecting my upload and download speeds - so I should up grade to higher speed DSL. I did. My service got worse - I had several "technicians" out to try to trouble shoot the problem.
For more than a year this went on - me paying a premium for high-speed DSL, having technicians come to trouble shoot. I was notified that Verizon was going to dismantle their "dry loop" service and that I had to have a phone line to accompany the DSL.
This meant that to save money I had to drop Vonage - so I had my two number ported over to Verizon. Or so I thought... Vonage ported the numbers to Verizon. BUT Verizon summarily "lost" them and placed them in a "holding" area used by Verizon to give to new customers.
It took me more than a week to get a verizon manager to locate my numbers and have them ported to my new lines. This is where I realized that I seemed to be being ripped off by Verizon and their service plans.
At one time I had at least 7 technicians to my home in less than 2 months. I was told by one of the technicians that the DSL package I had been paying for for well over a year was not compatible with the old-time COPPER WIRING (of 22,24 and 26 guage); mine was the lowest and could NEVER support the bandwidth sold to me and paid for by me for all that time.
After all of the problems with the DSL (paying a premium for useless services), transferring my Vonage numbers to Verizon and forced to pay a higher price for their telephone service this is what happened next:
I canceled my DSL service and moved it to Time Warner. The service was canceled but they kept billing me for it.
The two lines I had ported over from Vonage - one never worked properly. It would work for about a week and then drop out with no dial tone or a continuous loud buzz. Another technician was dispatched to fix it and I had to fight with them NOT to charge me for this. After the technician left it worked for about another week and 1/2 but then dropped out again.
I called and canceled that line. What happened next is that the line was canceled but at any given time during the early morning (2:00 A.M.), afternoon and evening (10:00 P.M.) the Verizon line would call and ring into my home. When picked up there was either clicking or nothing.
Again I called Verizon and they told me that the line was canceled - and of course I said that it was because I CANCELED it! I had to beg and plead for them to come out to fix this problem. Of course they would fix the problem for a PRICE. I begged and pleaded some more and they said they would waive the fees.
I got a notice in the mail afterward stating that the charges were - Repair: $85.00 and 1/4 hour of service: $21.00 or $106.00!
I called "them" - spent another 45 minutes back and forth with billing and technical (each department kept telling me that the other was responsible for assisting me). Finally got to someone in billing who was able to go to my "notes" (which now is more like a book) to let me know that the amount had been credited and was just issued. REALLY! Was I supposed to know this - do we have to be psychic in order to understand why Verizon will send a "change order" declaring a payment will be due on the next bill? But know that several days later a "credit" will be issued?
Oh, the real question is "Can I really trust a company that has already made me pay for a service that was not in place in my area or that billed me for months of DSL after it had been canceled?"
Now remember, my time spent on the phone getting through the Verizon robot and attempting to speak to a real person and then actually speaking with a real person became torture. Especially when after speaking with a Verizon employee in the billing, and technical areas took its toll not only on my time but stressed me out so much I felt like a nervous breakdown was at hand.
And now for the final blow... I went online to pay my bill last month and as I was making the final click for payment a pop-up came up which I inadvertently clicked... IT WAS A POP-UP FOR PREPAY!
I immediately called Verizon - finally got past the robot - and to billing "customer service".
They checked for me and told me that they didn't believe that I had clicked on auto bill pay - BUT if I somehow did there was no way for it to be automatically billed because with auto pay if there is a balance forward it cannot deduct from your bank/credit card.
Because Verizon bills a month in advance of any services I choose to not pay the entire amount and am willing to pay the small late fee. So I always have a balance forward.
GUESS WHAT? Verizon took money directly out of my bank account at the end of that month. One "customer service" person said they couldn't put it back. I called into the financial services department and begged one more time to someone else and they acquiesced. Caveat - it wouldn't be back into my account for at least 3 - 5 days.
That person sent me to another department to resolve making a payment until all was corrected - waited on phone for 10 minutes - got to the next person and I was told they don't make payment arrangements - it was the department that transferred me to him.
He then made notes and transferred me back to the other department from whence I came. The next conversation with that department went like this: "Name, account number" "You're all paid up why are do you want to speak with me?" I hung up on him. Do you blame me?
Here in where I believe is the problem: Verizon will do any and say anything to get your money - especially if you aren't willing to spend an exorbitant amount of time getting past their robots, trying to get to a live human being, while attempting to define which department is correct for your problem when they aren't sure themselves.
After all of the pain and suffering to be a Verizon victim of extremely poor quality of service in every aspect of their business, they have said that I can get $60 back for the over-billed DSL service but because there were no notes listed in the "book" that was compiled because of their poor service that is all they could give back to me.
REALLY, after spending my money on a service that they knew they didn't have in their repertory for more than a year and ALL of the time I wasted trying to have SO many problems resolved over the phone... That's all they could do?
No, that's not all, I went to my online bank account - they got into that bank account and after telling me I wasn't signed up for auto pay the took my money anyway... BEWARE of Verizon. It may be best to switch now to another provider as I believe it can only get worse. It will not only save you money it will also save your sanity!
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