I wish that the last 45 minutes I spent on the telephone with three--three!--people in Verion's billing department could be played to everyone in Verizon's customer support. It might give some sense of what it's like--what it's always like--to deal with Verizon.
Back in October I was induced by the offer of Triple Play to move my wireless, landline and online access to Verizon. When I closed the deal I asked the rep what my monthly bill would be, all in including taxes and fees. $110, she said.
So may first bill comes a month later and its $268. Baffled, I phoned the support number listed on the bill. Seemed like a sensible thing to do. But the person on that end couldn't see the wireless portion of the bill. observed htat that as the customer I only wanted what I was promised--one bill--and that I only wrote one check to Verizon it wasn't my problem that Verizon had organized itself into wireless and everything else. This made her impatient. She moved me over to the Wireless people, who could see the wireless portion of my bill. Except that it didn't correspond to anything on the bill Verizon had sent. So she said call Residential. But residential sent me to you, I noted. Nevertheless, she insisted. And I insisted that she stay with me on the call.
Eventually we got through, and the confusion about wireless versus the rest of Verizon started again. Finally the residential person figured out that, given the way Triple Play is calculated, my monthly bill should indeed be $110. Except when wirless is added. But wireless is included in Triple Play, I pointed out. "It is and it isn't," she replied. Literally that's what she said, "It is and it isn't."
After much go round, the two reps made it clear to my simple mind that, yes Triple Play is $110. But no, not in my wildest dreams would that ever be what I pay every month.
I was induced to bring all my communication services to Verizon by the offer of FIOS received in the mail--odd since when I called about it I was told FIOS wasn't yet offered in my area. So why send me a letter? Verizon did have a deal with Direct TV and the all in price, I was told, would be about the same as it would be if Verizon was the provided. Guess what? It's not.
And now this morning's frustration. If it weren't for Verizon wireless' superior coverage I'd be gone. As it is, I'm calling Cablevision.
