They need to be a little more honest in their slogan. I recommend the following addition: This is Fios. This is big failure.
In August and September, they installed the community lines so my apartment complex would have the option for fiber optic through Verizon. September 20th, a rep came to my door and spent about 2 hours signing me up. The next available appointment was over three weeks out so I took Wednesday, October 13th. (Yesterday.)
Three weeks is a long time and I just kinda didn’t think about it until Saturday when I got an automated voicemail message confirming my appointment. They called back on Monday as well when I was at work with the same confirmation message. I was dreading the 4-6 hour install and a little concerned about the cost. After all, I had a little time to cool down from the excitement three weeks prior when I signed up.
So Monday after work I called Verizon to see if there was a better plan/rate/deal/etc. so my bill wouldn’t go up over my current cable bill. Had a hard time getting through the endless menu options because they all wanted me to put in my Verizon phone number. (Um, hello? Not installed yet. Don’t have a phone number or account number.) Finally reached a person who rudely told me I needed someone else and transferred me.
Fine. So I talk to “Chris.” Chris was, I think an extremely heavy smoker woman. The voice was so deep and gravely though I can’t be certain. Let’s just go with “female” for pronoun simplicity. Anyway, I explained to Chris I was having some second thoughts and I really didn’t want to face a monthly increase in my phone/tv/internet bill by switching to them. She said she’d take a look and I gave her the order number.
Chris tells me the order was canceled. Um, no, I didn’t cancel, I tell her. She says, yeah it was canceled last Tuesday (the 5th.) Uh, no, definitely not me. I haven’t talked to anyone since the rep came to my door September 20th. She tells me it’s odd because there’s no customer name and no customer service rep’s name on the cancellation – she says it looks like the system canceled it but she has no clue how or why. She tells me she’s never seen that before and isn’t sure how to fix it. Until she un-cancels it, she can’t make any revisions or changes.
I assure her for the third time I really didn’t cancel and remind her that the automated system called me on the 9th and the 11th and asked why it would confirm my appointment if it was canceled back on the 5th. She has no idea. She tells me she’ll send a screenshot to her supervisor and try to get to the bottom of this. She’ll research and get back to me. She asks for a contact number. I give her my cell – the same number that I gave them when I signed up and the same number the automated system called.
Having no other option, I completed the call with a promise she’d get back to me the following day. (Tuesday the 12th.) Big surprise, Tuesday comes and goes. I have no idea what department she was in and I have no contact number to reach her.
Wednesday comes and my appointment was supposed to be between 11am-2pm. 11am…12pm…1pm…2pm….all go by. The whole day goes by. No tech arrives. No calls.
So let’s sum up.
– I wait three and a half weeks for my appointment
– I get a confirmation on both the 9th and the 11th
– I call on the 11th and am told I canceled on the 5th
– I didn’t cancel
– They promise to research, fix the problem and call me back
– No one calls
– No install tech shows up
If this is how they treat a potential customer they’re wooing into switching to them, how shitty must their “customer service” be when you’re actually a customer??
I’ve written up a letter I’m going to mail to the Corporate Offices. I’m done talking to the idiots on the phone. I’m also of course, blogging it to warn other people away from Verizon Fios awful customer service and total install fail.
A side note: I called my cable company and told them Fios was offering me a better deal (*snicker*) and got them to give me a free increase in internet speed from 10mbps to 20mbps plus Showtime and The Movie Channel free for two years. No price increase, just more stuff. Sweet. MUCH better customer service from my Bright House rep today. In the time it took to make dinner, he upped my account and had it all live and ready to go. At least someone did their job this week!