I have been a verizon customer for 3 weeks as of today and it has been a rough start.
SET UP: I scheduled my installation for a Thursday. Like most people, I work Monday through Friday 8-5 but I was told installations are not done on the weekends. This is a typical problem most people face with any company such as this, we all work through it, no big deal! But what really disappointed me was the best window they could give me was 8am-5pm. My employer was not happy with this window either. I called at 9am and asked if they could call me when they were on their way or with a tighter window because I work only 5 minutes from my house and could meet them there are at any time. I was told no, but after insisting they must be able to do something, the lady called the dispatchers and finally said I was the next house. She said she didn't know how long they would be at their current job, but I was next. So I waited. I waited until 1pm and still no one showed up. I called again and was told "I don't know why they told you that, you are actually the last house. They will be there sometime after 2pm." They finally showed up at my house at 4:30 and spent 15 minutes at my house. I was so upset to have been forced to take an entire day off work for a 4:30 visit that lasted 15 minutes.
INSTALLATION: So now that I think my house is wired for phone & internet, we hook everything up ourselves. We were able to get everything working when connected to the phone jack in our kitchen but the other jacks in our house did not work. We had our phone and modem on the kitchen floor with wires going 3/4 of the way up our wall. It's not pretty. With a need to put the devices elsewhere, I call verizon. I was told it would cost $150-200 for someone to come look at our other jacks. What?! Setting my house up should be something that was done on day 1. But this isn't the case and I was very upset. I talk to my husband and we have no choice but to cancel our service. I call verizon, explain my story, and the lady says, "oh, they will come and get you set up at no charge, hold on.' She transfers me to another lady and when I explain what I was told, the response was an abrupt "what, is she going to the pay the bill for you?!" The tone was extremely sarcastic and rude. I was just explaining what I was told, I'm sorry, I have no idea how everything works. Long story short (or maybe too late for that), I purchased a wire protection plan for $7.99/mos that would allow someone to come to the house to look at the other jacks. Another home visit was scheduled for this past Monday between 8-2 (a little bit better of a window but still pretty bad). Again, I don't go into work. I wait and wait. At 2:15, I call verizon. Apparently, they cancelled my appointment at 10am that SAME DAY and left me a message saying so. I did not have any messages or missed calls on my answering machine. (note - someone did call my pay-as-you-go cell phone, which was not active at the time, but did not bother to call my home phone, my very own verizon #). Had they called my home phone, I could have made it to work 3 hours late which would have been a major inconvenience but at least I would have made it there eventually! I have scheduled another appointment...this time with an 8-12 window...getting better, I guess, but frankly still disappointed because I've already spent over 14 hours at my house waiting for verzon when I should be working. Shouldn't peoples' time be more valuable than this?
MY FIRST BILL: I received an Email saying my bill is ready. I open it up and expect to see my $30 plan, $20 activation fee, $7.99 wire plan, and a pro-rated fee for the end of December which totals about $72 but my bill is $90.12. What now?! I call verizon again. Apparently I'm being charged $16.95 in taxes! That is 50% of my plan (over 23% of this particular bill). This has just thrown me over the edge.
Does service get better? Does Verizon make it right?
Sincerely,
A very concerned customer.
