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so far, so sad

I got my shiny new fios tv set up and activated tonite. It only took 199 hours because the help is less available than water on mars. I never received any email or mail telling me what package I ordered and have no idea what I'm SUPPOSED to be getting....but regardless, I only get the channels I got with my antenna. Every other channel is 'unavailable' or some **bleep** about not being available.

The customer service if you get ahold of someone.....apparently only possible during work hours......is great. The other 99.9% of the time it sucks. You cannot chat, call, email, or otherwise get help outside of the little guides written for 93 year old brain dead invalids.

How the hell do I find out what I have? Why are no channels 'available' to me? What a joke man.....don't tell me I have to activate every single channel on the very attractive long list that I can only see the names of!

I'm assuming programming the remote to your tv is for when you don't have a box......why would I need to do that?

Comments

tlb7

First...just in case you are not aware...this is a USER forum and while there is some Verizon support (generally in the form of asking you to check your private messages for the forum), it is users helping users...

You didn't give us enough info to try and help you so, a few questions:

1. From what you've said, it sounds like you did a self-install rather than a Verizon tech coming to your house to do the install. Is that correct?

2. Which set top box do you have?

3. Do you only have FiOS tv or do you also have FiOS broadband? If you have FiOS broadband have you tried logging into your Verizon account to see if there is any (useful) info there?

4. Have you tried live chat via verizon.com?

markheuer

1. From what you've said, it sounds like you did a self-install rather than a Verizon tech coming to your house to do the install. Is that correct? YES

2. Which set top box do you have? THE HD...NOT SURE WHAT MODEL# (AT WORK NOW)

3. Do you only have FiOS tv or do you also have FiOS broadband? If you have FiOS broadband have you tried logging into your Verizon account to see if there is any (useful) info there? I HAVE HAD MY FIOS ROUTER FOR 5 OR 6 YEARS NOW....I SPENT 3 HOURS LAST NITE JUST TRYING TO DETERMINE WHAT I PAID FOR. I RECEIVED NO PAPERWORK, INVOICE, DESCRIPTION OR ANYTHING EXCEPT SOME LAME EMAIL TELLING ME HOW LUCKY I AM TO HAVE FIOS TV

4. Have you tried live chat via verizon.com? I ACTUALLY GOT ACTIVATED VIA THE CHAT SCREEN AND THEY WERE VERY HELPFUL....ONCE ACTIVATED, WE 'LOST CONNECTION' AND FROM THEN ON LAST NITE THE CHAT WAS "UNAVAILABLE".....I SPENT AT LEAST AN HOUR ON HOLD (MULTIPLE PHONE CALLS)AND SENT NO LESS THAN 5 EMAILS WITH NO REPLY (TO THIS MOMENT TODAY).....THE SUPPORT SYSTEM IS A COMPLETE FARCE...ITS LIKE THERE'S ONLY 4 PEOPLE WORKING THE ENTIRE COUNTRY.....GUESS I WAS LOTTERY LUCKY TO GET THAT ONE GIRL ON THE CHAT...

TONITE I'LL PLAY AROUND SOME MORE, BUT AS IT STANDS, THE ONE (OF 3) WORKS GREAT EXCEPT IM NOT GETTING ANY CHANNELS I DIDN'T GET WITH MY ANTENNA (AND CONVERTER BOX).....ABOUT A DOZEN HIT AND MISS CHANNELS....LOCAL STUFF. IT LOOKS AWESOME AND I CANT WAIT TILL IT WORKS....I COULD SEE ALL THE CHANNELS I COULDN'T WATCH AND WAS UPSET NOT TO BE ABLE TO WATCH ANYTHING...

tlb7

Thanks for confirming that you'd done the self-install. After watching what my sister went through when trying to self-install a new stb when she bought her HDTV, I made sure that when I had FiOS tv installed about 2 weeks ago that the install was done by a Verizon tech--I switched from Comcast tv to FiOS tv.

I do find it very odd that you did not receive an email with at least some info about the addition/change to your account. I received a "confimation" email about 3 hours after I went through the online process to add FiOS tv to my existing FiOS broadband and phone and the email had the order number, installation date and services ordered--I placed the order about 1am so that might be why it took a bit longer than I'd been led to expect for the order confirmation email to arrive. On the day I had the install done, about 2 hours after the Verizon tech had completed the TV installation, I received another email confirming activation.

It could be that because of the self-install, they don't send out the sorts of emails I received although I would think that they would send the first order confirmation email. I don't know if it makes any difference but I don't use my Verizon email account and have another email account set for any notifications sent by Verizon.

Basically, what I would suggest is that you get Verizon to send someone out to your place figure out what the problem is and to get the install done correctly because between the phone (always a pita) and live chat (sometimes useful), you might well be wasting your time trying to fix it yourself. I'd probably use live chat to set up that appointment.

Hope that helps...keep us posted...

Oh! Had one last thought. I have belonged to dslreports.com for eons and among the forum sections, there is a Verizon Direct subforum--you will need to register at dslreports.com to use it and then go to the Verizon forum and you'll see a tab for "Verizon Direct" subforum--and if you post there (it's private, no one but you and the Verizon techs who support that subsection can see your posts), you may be able to get advice on what to do and/or who to contact about the issue. I've found them very helpful in the past. I know you are probably really frustrated--I certainly would be--but if you do decide to join dslreports and post in the Verizon direct subforum, I find that the less pissy-assed I am the better...'-}}

One other last idea...'-}}

One of the first things the Verizon tech did for my tv install was to disconnect the Comcast tv "cable" and then he connected that cable to what I think is the FiOS ONT--it's in a closet on the patio outside my condo that has my heat/ac. I wonder if maybe you need to do something like that to disconnect your OTA cable (?) and connect to the ONT?

markheuer

Turns out the reason I had so many problems was that one of the 3 boxes I 'bought' was bad. Had the box been good, I would not have had any problems at all. I had to drive across town to replace the box, which was simple and quick, but now I'm out $10 in gas and untold hours of time. I know these things happen, but when they happen in my business, we geenrally offer a consolation of some sort.....they did not offer anything.....discount, reimbursement, etc...just a very very poorly run customer service. I got all my cables run and everything works perfectly now. If I was Verizon and knew one of my customers was going through what I went through, that customer would have received a free year of service.....but that's me.

Incidentally, I'm new to HD.....is it possible to split the (HDMI or Component) signals on the output side of the box? Seems to me, once the signal comes into my home, I should be able to split it and use it on all the tv's I want to....$30 per tv??? really? Is this a masterfully crafted scam that we all fall for or does each tv NEED a box?

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