So you are thinking of VerizonFios for your home? Think again. Here is what happened to me.
On January 16th I ordered the Fios "bundle" from Verizon, using their 1-800-get-fios number. I go through about five levels of voice prompts, no people, only to get a message stating "all circuits are busy, try again later". I try a half dozen more times that week, without success.
I then tried signing up using their internet site. You go through about a dozen prompts before getting a "page not found" error message. You try three or four more times only to get the same error or one that says "java script error".
I finally spoke with a Verizon technician who was working in the neighborhood and asked him if there was another way of contacting Verizon for setting up Fios in my home. He gives me a number to try. The number was busy each time I called, three times each day, for three days. I finally got through to a real person. This is six days from when I made my initial call.
The Verizon employee sets me up for installation five weeks from that day, February 22nd, between 8 and 5.
Now the fun begins.
On the evening of February 21st, I receive a call from Verizon (to my answering machine) stating that it was going to rain or snow the next day, so installation was postponed. The next available day was March 27th and they would be out between 8 am and 5 pm. So now it's going to be eleven weeks from my initial call in order to have it installed.
So I try calling Verizon for the next three days, going though all the voice prompts, four different people, and about two hours of phone time just to find out WHY? The fifth person I spoke with said he may be able to get the installation moved up a few days, but would need a supervisor's permission. Sorry, but they are all on calls right now. He took my number and promised one would call back within an hour. So I wait and wait for two more days. No call.
The next day I called the toll free number, went though all the voice prompts, three different people, waited on hold for 20 minutes and spoke with a customerservice tech who had no idea why I needed to wait another five weeks but would try to find out. After 15 minutes on hold he comes back on the line. He said he was sorry, but five more weeks is the best they could do. The reason, Verizon has been "overwhelmed' with installation in Maryland and New Jersey.
So I'll *** another day from work in March and hope it doesn't rain.
So do you still want VerizonFios? I might save my money and time and go back to a dial-up modem.
1. Written by Verizon Customer, on 10-06-2008 15:13
Feeling defeated and shoved aside seems like one thing their customer "service" department can do 100% of the time. I think based on how many issues are being discussed on the net regarding this, something should be done. Like current and past customers forming some sort of outlet as a whole to scream back at this company to start treating customers with more respect and if not suffer the loss of business.
I have verizon for my phone and internet service and most of the time it's fine, but I absolutely hate calling them. The voice-prompt system is utterly ridiculous, and it takes a million years to get simple things resolved. You're transferred from one department to the next, and told different things by different people. That's why I don't feel comfortable doing fios with them, because I know should I need any customer service, they will give me the run-around. I'll stick with comcast or do dish for tv, thanks.
We had our Fios internet for over a year, and wanted the TV service when it became available. Scheduled installation, waited for the tech that never showed up, then called the number listed above, only to get the run around numerous times. They had our township listed and not the mailing town, so our order was stuck in limbo since they couln't find us...even though we were already a customer. So after 6 weeks or so, and numerous hours on the phone getting transferred, hung up on, promised phone calls back, we have our fios tv, which is better than comcast in quality, a lot more channels, and lower cost.
Moral of the story...you are damned if you do and damned if you don't.
I think I might just do a puppet show for the kids behind the entertainment center...
well let me begin by saying i know exactly what you dealt with because i'm an ex verizon telecom employee and had to get all these angry customers/prospective customers trying to reach any department, but were transfered a million times. My reasons for no longer working there are in the works with the union.
However i was so sick of the "customer services" that verizon offers their customers. the people that make them who they are.
People, there is NO CUSTOMER SERVICE department for verizon. It is now the sales department/billing. However when they get to us, we are "forced" to basically transfer people out and just not help them if they are not going to "buy" anything. as my supervisor told me one day "if they are not going to buy anything, then get them off your line." all this because i spent too much time with customers on the phone - helping them out.
I got all those customers stating: "you are the 5th, 7th, 10th person that i've been transfered to & i have the names of the different people and the different departments, please do not transfer me again". i would have no choice if it was a fios cust, because i dealt with "copper" cust. but I felt such outrage as an employee to hear the frustration in their voice and to know that i'm being pressure to just transf them out yet again.
what i've seen them do to customers: from refusing to give customers credit they deserve or promos discounts they were offered to the pressure they put on their emplyees to sell, sell, sell . . . this company should not be in business.
the telephone company that we use to know back in the 80's, & 90's is no longer there. this company only thinks about themselves. we "the customers" are the ones to make them "rich" and are the ones keeping them in business. If we stop using their services, maybe they will become aware of their error in killing the true meaning of "customer service department" and that the modo "sell one more" is not the only way to make more money, but keeping customers happy is.
all this is just a few of the horrible things i've seen as an employee of verizon, no ex-employee.
We had been thinking about getting verizon fios for awhile since we still had dial up AOL. I have had cablevision for many years and really have had no problems with it. I decided to get the triple bundle package for 95.99/month especially since they were advertising a free 19 inch HDTV which I will use in a spare room. We had it installed on 2/6/08 and everything went well. We had a multiroom DVR which worked well and the internet was great. We had ordered the verizon internet security suite which I installed on 2/10, but becuse it caused numerous problems with my computer including causing it to turn off and go to a black screen I called tech support and after uninstalling, reinstalling and having the same problem, I uninstalled again and everything was fine with the computer. I called billing the next day 2/18 to cancell the VISS and she said she did. The next week I am getting pop-ups telling me that I ordered VISS but it is not yet installed. I called billing on 2/27 and said I had called to cancell but I am getting pop-ups. She said the system is down but she would be sure to make sure it was cancelled when it came back up. March 18 and I am getting a very large pop-up saying to install my VISS again. I billing again and she tells me to call tech support who is very nice and we go through "my account" and manually cancell it on the computer. Now the status says cancelled instead of "active" so I feel as if the problem is really over with. Ha Ha! Needless to say I am still being billed for the VISS and my bill now does not give me the bundle price and is charging me as if I have each service separately. My April bill is $178.00. I call billing on 4/8 and speak to Yvonne. She says she has never seen such a messed up bill and after being on hold tells me she has to send it to an "account specialist" and it would take a few days to fix. She told me she would call me back on Friday and gave me her voice mail number if I wanted to call her. Wow! This seems like progress. I went to work and when I came home I tried the voice mail number. To my surprise it went to "the fiber solution center" and said leave your name and number if you want to order fios or direct tv. My heart sank, why would she offer to give me a fake number, she seemed like she was really trying to help. I waited until Friday and she never called. I even left a message for her at the "fiber solution center" and she did not respond. Why is it so hard to resolve a problem here? Why do they act so nice and just lie?
And now Problem #2. I was told by the service rep and the installer that I would get a letter in the mail for the "free" tv in 3 weeks. I waited and no letter. I called and was told that they are behind and it would be 4-6 weeks. I called back at 5 weeks and was told to wait for my bill to go through. I received my first bill and paid it and called again. This time it was a 2 hour on hold, being transferred, being told about "terms of sevice agreement", talking to tech support, being told a supervisor would call me and no result. I called again and was told to call a reward center which said I was not in their system. Called again to billing and told to call reward center again. Explained everything to the reward system service rep and he put me into their system and give me a reference # (yea - proof), and says in 4-6 weeks I would get a letter. I never got a letter and called back the reward center. The girl said if you did not receive a letter, you can not call here, call the eligiblity number. ARGH! I call the number she gave me and the woman said that I had done everything right and that there was an error on their part and she was going to fill out some forms and have the TV sent to my house in 6-10 weeks. When I asked for an order number she had none. Somehow I do not believe a TV will ever come to my house, nor will any letter. I feel as if this was just a ploy so I will not call back for 6 weeks.
Problem # 3. Finally, I recieved a letter explaining about their go digital campaign and a number to call for free digital adapters if you call before April 30. I called on Saturday 3/29 since I have 3 TV's without a box. I was told I could get 3 free adapters. She put me on hold while she went in to order. I was on hold for 20-30 minutes (this total call took 2 hours), she came back and said there was a lock on my account and that they could not get into it and to call customer service on Monday and that 3 people including a supervisor had tried. I asked to speak to the supervisor and she said that they can not see that I have fios TV, only the phone (no internet either). Well they seem to know that I have them for billing because not only am I charged for them but they are not giving me the bundle price, but they are charging me separately for $178.00. She tried a few things and finally said she would call me back either the same day or Monday by 3pm. She never called! I called Tuesday 4/1, and started from scratch. This girl put me on hold 30 minutes and came back and said I will get 3 digital adapters coming by UPS in 3 to 5 days. Wow! Yea! 2 weeks went by and nothing came, I called again and had to explain everything that had happened so far, she put me on hold (this call was 1hour 45 minutes), she came back and said they can not get into my account and that it only shows I have phone service, but that she did believe that I had fios TV and to call customer service. I asked for a supervisor and got Emily who I had to explain the whole story to again. She was very enthusiastic and really wanted to resolve the problem. She put me on hold and called customer service. They can not see my internet or "video"account either. They told her to call tech support which can see everthing (finally some validation that I exist), but they are unable to order anything from their screen. The tech support tried to help her but to no avail. Still they can not order the digital adapters because they can not get into my account. Emily goes to her supervisor and comes back to tell me they will have scrub or wipe out my account and then put it back correctly and then everything should be fine (Oh my god! This seems like it cause even bigger problems). She tells me that Clemente her supervisor will call me back by 3pm and everything will be fixed. Well 3pm and no phone call. I went to work and I called and asked for Emily. I had to explain to the woman who answered the phone everything again. She put me on hold and came back saying that Emily said she had done whatever she could do for me and that Clemente was in a meeting and would call me at my job before 9pm. He never called but the nice woman who took all the messages did and told me they were working on it and not to call until next Thursday, and that they can not order the free adapters until this problem is resolved because they can not get into the account. SCREAM! I spent hours on the phone for digital adapters and nothing! I am only able to spend so much time calling because I work 4pm-12am! There has to be someone who can take care of this. It seems that if this problem is fixed then maybe I can get the free TV, my bill be be correct and I would be able to get the adapters. The adapters should have taken a phone call of 10 - 20 minutes tops. No one wants to take care of anything there and they refuse to give me a name of a higher manager or executive to talk to. They just push it off to someone else and then you have to call again and start from scratch. I feel like I have accomplished nothing and I have no proof that I called countless times and spents hours and hours with no results. I am still at square one! Can anyone help me! The only address I was given is a customer relations office in NY, but with no one to address it to and no phone number. At this point I just feel defeated. I don't know what else to do. I have called so many times. HELP! My email is This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it if anyone has any suggestions
customer service is worst than comcast, i beleive the proper planning was not done prior to implemeting the program, the do not have enough people to support the new customers and its sad they have chose to do busniess this way, the product is good but the service is FU#* up.
Umm... What? I'm a FiOS installer in NJ. I can tell you that we will do a triple play install in just about any weather short of an electrical or ice storm. I can also tell you that, yes, we are VERY overwhelmed with orders here in NJ. Some areas have as much as a 2 month waiting period, so I think you're 5 weeks (which is about the average), isn't that bad. Sure, cable can get to you quicker, but that's because so many people are jumping ship to Verizon, they have an abundance of techs that need something to do.
I will agree with you on one thing, though. The voice prompt phone system does suck. Then again, so does any corporation's. ***, I've called hospitals with similar problems.
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