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FiOS Complaints

Does anyone have any complaints about their FiOS service, at all? I am thinking of ordering it. Anything at all. TV, internet speed, customer service, billing, etc. Also, if anyone has the Triple Freedom bundle, could they tell me the actual price you pay, "hidden charges" and everything included?

Comments

stuland

Be advised that your verizon bill will be very hard to read for the first 90 days. Due to credits and such. My advise to you is stick with your original plan you sign up for and when all the free for so many days stuff disappears from your bill then sign up for what you want. So far I think the product is good but customer service lacks big time and there is no local office to go to speak to someone face to face. I thought my old carrier (Cox) was bad but they have nothing on the sales reps for verizon. I wish I would have stayed with cox communications and by the time you realize your mistake your 30 day trial is over and your stuck for the year or pay the $179.00 to get out of contract. If your plan is to switch and save then you will be very angry. The lowest bill I have paid so far is this months at $266. Everything is priced higher than advertised.

MIB

Is your contract still in play? Is the price you pay with or without it? Do you have the Triple Freedom Package?

KenAF

I have Verizon's "Flex Duo" plan, which includes 20/5 Internet and FiOS HD Extreme for $79.99/mo. I pay an extra 2x$2.99 = $5.98 for two CableCards (for my TivoHD), plus another $4 or so in local, state, and federal taxes. My total bill comes to around $90/mo.

If you get the "triple play" bundle with Verizon phone service, you will be inevitably be hit with the associated state and federal taxes. I primarily use my cell phone for outgoing calls, so I got Vonage's "Zero" plan for $4.99/mo which includes free unlimited incoming minutes but costs $0.038 per outgoing minute. My typical Vonage bill is around $8/mo with taxes, or about $100/mo total for FiOS TV, Internet, and Vonage phone service.

Message Edited by KenAF on 12-03-2008 10:31 PM

Justin46

MIB,

I am not sure what "hidden charges" you might be referring to, but I pay $170.83/month, total, taxes, fees, STBs and all, for FiOS Triple Freedom (Extreme HD TV, 20/5 internet, and Freedom Essentials phone), 1 HD DVR, 2 SD STBs, and Movie Package. Your taxes and fees would depend on where you live I think.

I am a 3 year plus FiOS user, TV, internet, and phone, and am overall very satisfied with the service. Sure along the way there have been some problems, all pretty minor, and all resolved except the quality of the Guide info, it is incorrect a lot of the time. When I compare FiOS to my previous TV and internet provider, Charter Cable, I am super, super satisfied with FiOS. FWIW...

__________________________________
Justin
Verizon FiOS TV, Internet, and phone
IMG 1.6.0, Build 06.89
Keller, TX

Message Edited by Justin on 12-03-2008 09:49 PM

beci5

My only complaint is the fact that they need to get thier software issues resolved on the receivers. Also the fact that every TV needs a set top box or digital adaptor,no dual tuner(dishnetwork) or ability to split signal. My bill is 105.99 plus aprox $10 taxes. I have Triple Freedom, MRDVR and SD set top box. No HD programing yet for me. Price point is good, but as stated cust serv leaves a bit to be desired. On the positive side is this forum that Vz monitors. I just don't like being the test subject for faulty or bad software or fimware releases on the set top boxes. No matter what serv you go with as soon as you start adding movies or set tops to other tv your package goes up. Hope this helps. Good Luck.

TimSykes

The big issue everyone has is phone support, being it a issue with a bill, or a issue with service. Fios has one of the worst phone support center I have ever called. And I am dell certified and have had to call into dell India a lot. But on the other had, you will get better support coming to the boards here if you have a issue, and calling phone support at last resort. There are even a few Verizon guys that are here everyday to help out will tech and other support issues.

Dal

For anyone looking to sign up for any products with Verizon, I would advise you to do some research on the company. Google Verizon complaints or Verizon billing complaints. You will be very surprised at what you find. I have been a customer of Verizon for over a year. I signed up for Verizon Triple Freedom in September of 2007 for $94.99 a month. Since then I have regretted it. Their billing system is absolutely horrible!! They continue to overcharge my account and double charge my credit card. DO NOT sign up for automatic billing. You can not get them to stop charging your account. I think the FCC needs to investigate Verizon's billing issues. My family is counting the days till the end of our contract with Verizon. I am even going to cancel my wireless with them. It's too bad because the wireless has been very good in every way but because I have had enough with Verizon I need to leave this company all together. Buyers beware! Please do your research, I wish I had done it before I signed up.

Nortel

I agree that Verizon has had some growing pains with FIOS. I have a triple package and it took a good 4 months until my billing was correct. However I was always able to get customer service to help. In terms of cost, the set top boxes are the big extra. The actual product is good and we are very happy with it.

Tireman

Verizon should have stuck to phone and internet because Fios TV is terrible they really don't understand us TV customers and IMO don't care to

KenAF

@Tireman wrote:
Verizon should have stuck to phone and internet because Fios TV is terrible they really don't understand us TV customers and IMO don't care to

I think the TV service is excellent. Now, I can't say the same thing about their DVRs, and more specifically, the guide data provider.

MIB

And the price for the Triple Freedom Package in California, with 10/2 internet, Essentials TV, and Freedom Essentials Phone would be what? And is anyone's internet speed really as advertized (if it's 20/5, is your real speed 20/5)?

Tireman

Ok Kenaf you're right,

I wasn't specific, the TV picture quality is good. The DVR and guide are terrible, and I feel as if customer service doesn't care if I miss a favorite show or sporting event because of them. I guess one of my biggest gripe is that I was over charged for keeping replacement DVRs longer than what Verizon says I should have, but nowhere did it say I had a certain amount of time to return them, all of a sudden a got an outrageously high bill. When I called in to find out why, I was told I should have returned them sooner even thou I was led to believe that I would be getting different DVRs and one of the replacements was defective. No matter how much I explained my reason for holding on to them as long as I did Verizon didn't care. I was really hoping that Verizon would understand and say OK Mr. Customer we understand you wanted to watch all the recorded shows on them, we'll credit the difference just return them ASAP. Instead they only gave me credit for one and there's still charges on that bill I don't understand. I'm a very patient person but since I've gotten Verizon TV I've spent way too much time talking about it with them on the Phone, and now I'm here typing about it. sorry about the long rant

CSimpson

@MIB wrote:
And the price for the Triple Freedom Package in California, with 10/2 internet, Essentials TV, and Freedom Essentials Phone would be what? And is anyone's internet speed really as advertized (if it's 20/5, is your real speed 20/5)?

My bill for the Triple Freedom Package in VA (Extreme HD, 20/5 internet, Phone) comes out to $161.94. And my 20/5 services REALLY is 20/5. I just checked shortly after I upgraded from 15/2 -> 20/5 yesterday.

speedo123

@MIB wrote:
And the price for the Triple Freedom Package in California, with 10/2 internet, Essentials TV, and Freedom Essentials Phone would be what? And is anyone's internet speed really as advertized (if it's 20/5, is your real speed 20/5)?

I've got 10/2 in Florida, but my Network Magic program says I'm running at 6850/1830. When I called Verizon to find out why I was running that much slower than I should be, their test said I was running at around 9300/1950. Verizon says my Network Magic program must not be reading correctly. Hmmm? Network Magic was always accurate when testing my old DSL line speed. So, I don't know what my real speed is. And if you use the Verizon speed check program, you may still not know what it actually is. The bundle here for the three services is $99, but with equipment costs, it ends up at ~$130. Still, the total is about $50/mo cheaper than I paid for Verizon phone and internet (DSL) and DirecTV. I get better picture, better phone, faster internet and no TV blackouts during our frequent Florida thunderstorms at a lower price. If only Verizon would fix their DVR glitches, Guide problems and offer bigger hard disks, it would be unbeatable!

conehead98

i havent had any guide issues. if i do i reboot my router and that usely fixes updates the guide. the fios tv is the best i have ever had. the picture signal and strength are great. there compresion is the best. as far as coustmer service. i have had no issues with that either.but in every company coustmer service you will have good and bad. i sugest you call verizon. tell them the pakage you want.they will price it out for you monthly so you know what it cost after the free months etc etc are over. i have had fios internet and tv over a year now. and havent had any major issues with it

cprgolds

The result of your speedtest for my 20/5 service depends on a lot of things besides your theoretical connection speed. I am in Portland Oregon.

If I run speedtest.net with a server in Olympia Washington, in get:

If I run it with the closest server, I get:

And the Network Magic speedtest gets me:

So I wouldn't back on just one set of results and sugggest you try speedtest on more than one server.

CharlesH

Also, try other speedtest websites, even I'm personally more biased towards Speedtest.net, its getting much more popular then it used to be so it gets bogged down during popular times of the day.

List of speed test sites:

http://speedtest.net/

http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

http://myspeed.visualware.com/

If you are having an issue with speed check out this thread,

http://forums.verizon.com/vrzn/board/message?board.id=FiOS_Internet&thread.id=1417&view=by_date_ascending&page=1

Message Edited by CharlesH on 12-30-2008 03:19 PM

dvhart

As has been stated numerous times, Verizon FiOS phone support has got to be the worst in the industry. They don't handle non-verizon-phone customers well at all (difficulty finding your account). Level of service varies greatly on who you speak with (and which call center you get routed to). They constantly blame issues on other departments within Verizon or their contractors - fact is, if this is the only number I can call, it is your fault. Very few of the reps are willing to do anything other than read from their standard answers screens, but I have had a couple that were professional and bent the processes to solve my problems.

Most recently, they disabled my TV service when I returned an STB I no longer used. I had downgraded to FiOS TV local and plugged the cable directly in to my HDTV with a QAM tuner. I had the box disconnected for several days with the TV working, then dropped the box off to save myself the $15/mo for their terrible DVR. The rep promised me the service would continue without the box on my bill - by the time I got home, the service had been disconnected. It took me 2 hours on the phone to get them to reconnect, and then they refused to do it without adding an STB to my account - despite the fact that I don't need it. TV is working now and I don't have an STB in the house - I suppose one will show up in the mail someday... Nice to be paying for it though for no reason. Like shredding a $50 bill once a year.

{link removed}

Message Edited by CharlotteS on 12-30-2008 03:58 PM

MIB

When I got FiOS, the installer left me a Spanish "FiOS Welcome Kit". I do not read Spanish at all. I called them thrice already. Each time, they transferred me to almost every department they had, then I was back where I started. When I e-mailed them about it, they told me to call them. I still have a Spanish welcome kit and am guessing how to use all the FiOS equipment. Does anyone know how I could get another one?

CharlesH

I would be glad to send you out a welcome guide.

Send me a Private Message with your name, billing telephone number, and a brief description of your problem.

** Don't know how to send a Private Message? ** (To send a Private Message, Click on my name to the left, then click on "Send this user a private message" )

speedo123

@CharlesH wrote:

** Don't know how to send a Private Message? ** (To send a Private Message, Click on my name to the left, then click on "Send this user a private message" )

After sending a PM, is there an easy way to get back to the forum and post you were on prior to clicking on the Sendee's name?

Diode2

I've had FIOS for 6 months. Billing and Customer services is the worst. Not even sure if savings are an advantage - given the time you have to spend resolving billing issues. I've spent 13hrs - it's like a full time job. I am considering going back to Comcast and using Vonage. Unfortunately Verizon gets you with at $175 penalty for cancelling within a year. 6months and counting. Keep you phone and TV with seperate companies.

OCF

I have had FIOS internet for some time now, and it works very well. If you have an issue you need to resolve through Verizon, good luck to you. Calling for assistance is a nightmare, the folks are friendly enough, but almost powerless to help. You would save a lot of time by recording your telephone number and account number as you will need to repeat them, to the many people you will be shuffled off to after you unsucessfully negotiate the robotic operator.

I just had a case yesterday where my FIOS was suspended by finance for no apparent reason. It was impossible to resolve that evening after I returned from work and discovered the problem. 2 hours later and 5 people that could not help. Checking by latest bill I noticed that verizon had acknowled my last payment (my payments have been current for many years) and my current bill was due the 24th (this was the 18th) . I finally got ahold of the right person in finance (the next day) who in fact, confirmed that I was not past due and there was no reason for finance to have suspended my account. No reason, no explanation, and still it tool talking to 2 more people to get the situation resolved.

I want to point out that the people I talked to were very friendly but powerless to help. As a whole I would rate the Verizon Customer service system as Incompetent, seriously. There isn't even a place to enter a formal complaint. This is apparently it, a forum. I will investigate an alternative service ASAP and not look back, good luck to you.....

With alternative Phone systems charging less than half the price of Verizon, and a shamefully inadequate customer service system, I predict that Verizon as a company does not have a bright future.

lite

Shortly after I signed on for fios I changed my mind (still during the free tial period) and decided I didn't want the internet security suite. I contacted the internet [people and was told it would be removed from my account. Lo and behold 3 months later I get 5:99 added to my account for it. I {please keep your posts courteous} was told I never called about it, she removed it then but I was responsible for the months bill. My bill is so much more than I was told after all the added fees. The phone service offers none of the services Cablevision offered. I have my phone # unlisted FOR A FEE, I don't have call fowarding unless I want to pay for it (included in Cablevision's package) . 411 calls are free with Cablevision, not so with Verizon. Fios has a FEW more high def channels most notably NFL network. Cablevision will pay my early termination fee if I go back. If they get the NFL network I will go. I still can't believe Fios doesn't have MSNBC! Fios has until Cablevision gets NFL network to get their acts together. If and when Cablevision gets NFL I am gone gone gone.

Message Edited by Jonathan_K on 03-20-2009 12:48 PM

nodrog

Beware the billing. For me, they provided services I did not ask for and specifically said I did not want, and then proceeded to charge me for them. Plus I have an ongoing technical issue due to an undisclosed incompatibility with one of my TVs (see my post re intermittent signal interruption). Otherwise, however, the service is pretty good, and the online chat is quite handy because you get the responses in writing, precluding the apathetic phone tech syndrome. Best of luck.

PIPESMOKER

I think the Fios TV service is great also. I love the way I can get the user guide on my lap top and when I find a movie I want to record I just click the record button. No more scrolling forever with the TV remote to find something to watch. I do it all just by sitting at my lap top.

ubrgeek

Their regular TV service is great. Their non-HD on-demand is the worst quality I've ever seen. It's like watching UHF.

PIPESMOKER

Would that be the same quality of signal I would get watching the subscriptions on demand area?

It's not renting on demand but it's still in the on demand section? Just wondering because I get

great quality with my fios no matter what I watch.

JKoch

I have called customer service numerous times and thought they had good customer support until yesterday. I think they should have someone in their business office over the weekends, because people that work 2nd shift like me have problems calling during their normal business hours, so what if a problem arrises over the weekend with like adding service, who do you call? I also downloaded the Verizon Help/Support...Believe me don't download this program it will screw up your microsoft outlook, at least I am a little more smarter then the guy on the other end of support and did a system restore and now am able to receive my e-mail through outlook. I was on the phone 53 mins with this person and they did not help me at all? I then figured out what to do on my own. Thank God for system restore. I think he went over the same steps 5-8 times not thinking I knew what he was talking about, but if he knew what system restore was, that phone conservation would have taken 2 minutes. I have been around the internet for the last 10 years, not sure why I called Customer Support, but obviously the guy at customer support didn't know either.

Hopefully noone will encouter the same problems that I did..

PIPESMOKER

I have very rarly had any problems what so ever. every once in a while we will have a few of the higher end channels out but they usually have them up and running in a short amount of time, and that's not very often. Have never had any phone problems or internet problems. If it is a internet problem it is always something on my end with my lap top. Our Fios TV and phone is very crisp and clear. I have read others talk about their billing and it is very hard to read, you just have to look at it a line at a time to make sure you are being charged correct and we have never been over charged. Their CS has always been good to me, but I don't call them often except for the wireless CS (I don't have Verizon wireless, but I am manager of a account with a couple of phones on it) and their wireless CS is great. They have taken care of every issue I had the first time and were always nice and polite. .

I do subscribe to their extra level of tech support for a few dollars a month. But they will go in and remove bugs and even remove a virus if you get on on your computer. They take care of computer problems that reg. Tech support doesn't handle. And with me not knowing how to fix anything with a computer I use the service several times a month, so it's worth the 12 or 14 dollars a month or however much it is. They don't try to explain to you what to do, they connect to your computer and they do all the work you just sit and watch them type on your screen and such. It's a great service if you have the few extra dollars a month and know nothing about computers. They have even went in and cleaned mine up and reset some settings so my lap top would run faster.

I am much happier with Verizon than the cable company (with internet) that we had before. We did have our home phone with AT&T and we went ahead and moved it over to Verizon and bundled it with everything else we already had. We can do many more things with the phone and voicemail than we could with ATT. And every time it rained our ATT lines had lots of static on them.

Overall my wife and I are very happy with Verizon.

PIPESMOKER

What do you not like about the guide?

CHubbzs

Their customer service is good depending on who you get and what kind of mood they are in at the time. I signed up for Verizon when they had a sign up bonus (which was one of many gifts offered at the time). When I got on board all the really cool stuff had passed. I believe my offer was an AMEX card worth $250. DID NOT SEE THE CARD!!!!! NEVER GOT IT!!! I had a neighbor say that when she signed up she had the same problem and she did not get her gift either. I have had problems with Verizon day one, from order till months later. Long story short....ordered services online....one of their techs came out hooked everything up (so we thought)........had some of the services we asked for but not all (signed up for the triple freedom)....a month passed was not billed for services ( begin a good person, called to let Verizon know this so it could be corrected).......another month passes by no bill and services shut off completely.....called Verizon again rep to me that on their records it showed no service connection for my address......????......had to completely do a whole new contract with them (this is three or four months later)......told I would get credits for services not used....now back to what I said above....did not get gift....did not get credits.....well not the ones I was promised. Til this day I am still paying for their mistake. They dropped a $300+the month that was due bill in my lap and wanted it all. I should have stayed with the other guy.....all this heartache over wanting a cheaper bill and all I have now is a bill that is more than what I used to have.

MIB

May I remind you all that this forum section was created by me, MIB. It is not officially associated with Verizon. Although, they may or may not read what you write. Otherwise, your comments will basically go unheard.

ubrgeek

Par for the course. You'd think a thread like FIOS Complaints would get some attention.

[Deleted User]

Rest assured, all constructive comments and suggestions are read by a Verizon representative.One of the objectives of this forum is to gather customer feedback.

As long as the posts are relevant and respect the Verizon Forums Terms of Service, keep them coming. Feel free to start a new thread if your question or comment does not fit into an existing thread.

Jonathan - Moderator

ubrgeek

Thank you, Jonathan. One question - Does this qualify as one that would be read?

[Deleted User]

They all qualify, this one included 🙂

PIPESMOKER

My wife had a problem with her computer not sending or receiving email yesterday. The fios tech support person and I use that term loosely, spent over 40 mins on the phone, and ended up saying he didn't know what the problem was, it had to be the computer. So I called the Premium tech support and asked him to look at it, as the fios tech said it was the computer. He said it was really a fios tech problem but he would be more than happy to look at it for me since the problem was not resolved with regular fios tech support. He logged into her lap top and looked at it for about 30 seconds and said it was the firewall. He went in and corrected a couple of settings and her email started working right a way.

maricsm

Within the first month of service there have been continuous problems with Verizon FIOS TV and Internet. On April 27, 2009 the internet went down again. Tech support (by phone - and getting through to a live person is another challenge) decided the router had to be replaced. "We will send it UPS and you will have it in one to two days." Yes, it came in one day but to the billing address in Virginia rather than the service address in Pennsylvania. After another lengthy struggle to talk to a live person in tech support on April 28, and having them repeat back to me the service address in Harrisburg, PA, they assured me that UPS would deliver a router to the correct address "in one to two days." Well, now there are two routers in Virginia and still no service in Pennsylvania!

After struggling unsucessfully to get a live person who could starighten this out, I called the original salesman, John {edited for privacy}. He gave me another phone number to call - but all it did was put me back into Verizon's horrible voice mail system.

Message Edited by Jonathan_K on 04-30-2009 06:33 PM

bubscon

We had FIOS Triple Bundle installed in February 09. A few glitches with getting the free 6 month DVR and then getting one that worked correctly, but overall am pretty satisfied with the product.

The customer service on the other hand is horrible. No one seems to know what they're talking about. They tell you things just to get you off the phone. We've been trying to get our cable buried since it was installed. It's 3 months later and it's not done. Over the last few weeks we've been calling every day. We stayed home all day on Saturday becuase we were promised that someone would be out to bury it. Still nothing. Then they said someone came out yesterday. When we got home from work, it's still not buried.

They said they've elevated our complaint - whatever that means. We'll try calling again and again.

My feelings are if it's not buried by the time my one year contract is up, I'm going back to Comcast. I'm tired of listening to my neighbor complain about the cable. It runs across her yard into mine. I told her to try calling Verizon to see if she gets anywhere!

[Deleted User]

Moved to FiOS TV Entertainment to start a new thread

Papawolf1

Save yourself a heart attack, go cable! Been on FIOS since 14 march and yet to get a bill that is correct. Also got denied my $150 cash back because one time they removed it from my account when fixing the bundle problems. Now they can't get it back and refuse to offer any new options. I want to have them sweep the circuit boards off my sidewalk where I am about to throw my equipment but I am affraid to even ask them to disconnect. With the way I have been screwed with the service what will they do when I disconnect.

As far as bigger better faster, they are slower than my cable connection was and I pay for the "fast" service of 20/20 MBPS. Cable was rated at 5 and it was faster, but my heart can't take the call to attempt to get that fixed. If you want to feel like a hostage in your own home go ahead and connect. Consider yourself warned....

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