April 23, 2016
{edited for privacy}
Department of Cable & Consumer Services
County of Fairfax
Fairfax, VA 22035
Dear {edited for privacy},
Verizon Account Number: {edited for privacy}
I have received the latest bill from Verizon FIOS for the period ending April 15, 2015.
You will notice that Verizon has charged me a fee of $59.99 for “Terminating” the so-called Premium Technical Support, which I never asked for. They added this service on their own. This is outright fraud and these unauthorized charges ought to be promptly deleted and my account credited accordingly.
I am a Verizon Fios customer for phone, Internet and TV.
Ever since I switched to Verizon, the installation never worked properly—almost two years.
- The cable modem is intermittent, the WiFi is erratic.
- The battery back-up for the telephone has stopped working a long time ago.
- Verizon Fios e-mail system does not work the way it is supposed to.
- The three set-top boxes reboot themselves on their own at random intervals.
This prevents us watching television shows, especially news.
- The Verizon cable routing is underneath my driveway. When Verizon was doing this installation, I repeatedly told the crew NOT to route their fiber cable underneath the driveway, because the driveway was all cracked and I needed to repave it. No one listened and went ahead and laid the cable to my home underneath the driveway.
The cable needs to be re-routed so that I can repave my driveway.
When I reported these problems to Verizon, Verizon threatened to cut-off my service, and proceeded to charge me $14.99 for premium tech support on their own.
When I suspended the service for an emergency travel for two months, Verizon kept piling on charges after charges. When I called the billing department, they again threatened to cut off my service.
Understand that the relationship between the customer and Verizon or any corporation is an unequal one. They are sitting on top of a multi-billion dollar empire and you are a little creature that can be jerked around.
I wrote the President & CEO of Verizon a long time ago about these problems. Nothing happened. Copy of my letter to the Verizon CEO is enclosed.
Verizon needs to:
- Replace the cable modem or whatever so that the network works properly. Why can’t I use my own modem which is far better than the junk they are providing?
- Verizon needs to send a software person to my home so that I can show that their e-mail is not working so that they can fix their e-mail. If their e-mail and network is working properly, I would have sent this letter by e-mail instead of through the United States Postal Service.
- Verizon needs to credit my account with $59.99 for “termination the premium support”—an unauthorized charge they added to my service on their own. This is a repeat offense which I have mentioned to you in my previous correspondence.
- Verizon need to re-route the cable so that I can proceed with repaving my driveway.
- Verizon needs to find out why the three set-top boxes reboot themselves at random points in time.
In summary, you will notice that the Verizon service never has worked properly notwithstanding my repeated complaints ever since I switched to Verizon, while Verizon has been collecting payments from me for services that do not work.
I respectfully request your help in resolving these problems comprehensively.
Kind Regards,
Encl. Copy of the bill for period ending April 15, 2015 received on April 23, 2015.