Terrible Tech Support

PBR600RR

I am writing about a recent experience I had with FiOS Internet tech support. First of all, I would like to say that this experience was both painfully frustrating and entirely avoidable at the same time.

Below is a summary of the events that took place: (Please forgive me if I misuse any terms, as I am not intimately aware of the operations and tech support organization structure. I hope my description will still provide enough detail to understand my frustration.)

Friday Morning (5/8/2009):

• I notice the WAN LED on my router was Green and the Internet LED was amber.
• I decide to turn off the router and leave it off until I return from work.
• I return from work, turn on the router, and the Internet LED on the router was still amber.

Sat Morning / Afternoon (5/9/2009):

• I call Tech Support, and they dispatch a Field Tech to my residence that afternoon
• While the Field Tech was at my residence he replaced the ONT and replaced my router.
• The Field Tech trouble-shot over the phone with another group and found an issue with a cross connect
• The Field Tech had my internet connection temporarily working, but he reverted it back so the “real issue" could be resolved internally. Of course, reverting back meant no internet connection.
• The Field Tech informed me the issue would be resolved in the morning without any further action on my end.

Sun Evening (5/10/2009):

• Since the whole day went by and the issue was still not resolved, I called Tech Support for the status of my ticket.
• The person I spoke with wondered why the ticket was being routed to another group.
• Tech Support spoke to his lead who mentioned that "network configuration" required and another group had to take the ticket.
• Tech Support informed me that the ticket was in queue and weekends are under staffed, therefore issue was not resolved

• I was informed again that the issue would be resolved in the morning without any further action on my end.
• I run the Verizon FiOS Connection Wizard application I had downloaded previously from a previous connection issue. While a nicely prepared application, this did not help out in my case.

PBR600RR

Monday Evening (5/11/2009):

• Another day goes by and the issue was still not resolved, so I called Tech Support for the status of my ticket.

• I was informed that a Field Tech was dispatched to my residence earlier in the day even though I was led to believe the issue would be fixed internally and there would be no further action on my end.

• After trying to explain the events that already took place and what I was told by previous tech support personnel, I was then treated like I did not know what I was talking about. The aggravating thing about this experience was that it was extraordinarily obvious that no pertinent information was known about my issue. Apparently, no notes were taken from the hours of trouble-shooting the Field Tech and another individual(s) performed on Saturday. Especially since the issue AND the solution had been determined, I would expect the solution would be provided somewhere in the ticket so the next individual looking at that ticket would know what needed to be done. This, obviously, was not the case. So… I had to start from square zero with another tech who claimed “years of experience” in this field and proceeded to make me jump through hoops. Being that all I wanted was my internet connection to work, I jumped through them like a circus tiger jumping through flaming hoops. I had my hopes up since I was speaking with someone with years of experience. But I digress. The event description continues…

• While on the phone with Tech Support the following actions were performed:

• 1. The ONT was rebooted remotely
  2. I rebooted my router
  3. I took the cable connected to the router and plugged it directly into my pc
  4. The IP configuration was released both locally and remotely
  5. IP configuration renewal was not successful
  6. I connected the router directly to the ONT and the router still displayed an amber internet LED
  7. I connected a laptop directly to the ONT using a different cable.
  8. The IP configuration was released both locally and remotely
  9. IP configuration renewal was not successful

• I was then informed that a Field Tech needed to be dispatched to my residence to further troubleshoot the issue. Why? I was told twic the issue was internal...
• The fellow with years of experience was adamant the problem existed at my residence.
• Not an exact quote, but "I have my network person looking at the cross connect. It’s perfectly fine. Service looks good, issue seems to be at the residence - maybe a bad ONT?" Keep in mind a Field Tech replaced the ONT on Saturday.
• Years of experience guy scheduled a Field Tech to come to my residence on Wednesday 5/13 between 3-5pm.

Wed Afternoon (5/13/2009):

• A Field Tech called and asked if the issue was resolved.
• The Field Tech knew the issue was internal and not at my residence.
• The Field Tech called support over the phone to discuss the issue.
• Apparent that even phone support won’t listen to a fellow co-worker, they send him to my residence.
• The Field Tech arrives at my residence and says he's waiting for a call from someone who will be resolving the issue internally.
• We stand in the garage by the ONT and router (still in the garage from Monday evening) and briefly discuss how this issue has dragged out for such an extended period even when the solution has been known for days, and multiple other customers have had the same exact issue and had their issues resolved. This is just me; but I would think that with a known internal problem, a memo of some sort would have been circulated describing the issues and solutions. Again, back to the event description… While talking, we notice the internet LED turn green. The Field Tech says, “He just fixed it, I’m gonna get a call in a minute saying it’s fixed.”
• I take the router inside the house and set it up. The internet is now up and running. I walk outside and the Field Tech is on the phone with the individual who fixed the problem internally. He hangs up.
• I say, “You did an excellent job here!” He replies, “Good job, you fixed it!”

I have just tried calling Billing to receive credit for this service interruption, but apparently, all operators are busy helping other customers.

In summary, this issue did not have to extend for such a long period. If proper communication existed between the different service groups, this would have been a very minor interruption. As it was, it provided bountiful amounts of frustration and wasted time. I've had to use valuable personal time from my job to come home to meet with a Field Tech who didn’t even need to be here. That is time wasted x 2.

Regards...