Verizon Service is like an SNL Skit

damich444

I just felt I needed to share my recent service experience with Verizon. As background I have FIOS TV, Internet, and phone. My Internet plan had been 35\35, but my actual speeds had been closer to 6-8 Mbps download, and 1 Mbps upload. After trying to trouble shoot I decided that maybe the Quantum Gateway router would help. This is what has ensued to date...

- Sunday I went on the website and saw that there was an offer to upgrade to 50\50 service for $15 a month and get the free 'advanced router' with it. Great

- Chatted with a Verizon support person just to confirm that the 'Advanced Router' was the actual G1100 router. He said yes it was.

- Tuesday received my new router. Unfortunately they sent me the same MI424WR Rev1 router I already had.

- Chatted with Verizon Support - they said I needed to call 1-800-verizon

- Sat on hold for 15 minutes with them as the automated voice suggested I go to the website. Finally spoke to someone who was very polite but said I needed to talk to someone else.

- Finally got to the right person who, after about 30 minutes because his system was slow, said yes, I did in fact get sent the wrong router, and that he would have a new one sent

- A bit later I checked my email to discover that the new router had in fact been ordered. Unfortunately my new 'summary of charges' indicated that I was now being charged $199 for the free router.

- Got onliine and chatted with an awful person who said sorry there are no offers for free routers and that I must have been confused. I explained that two days ago the offer did in fact exist,that I had an order #, confirm email, etc. She asked if my confirm explicitly said that I would get a free router. I explained that in FIOS confirms it does not break this out explicitly but in my 'new summary of charges' there was no charge for the router listed, which would imply it was free. She said there was no offer. I said I found it surprising that Verizon employees do not have access to offers made to their own customers. She asked me if she could help me with anything else. I asked if she had Xfinity's #. She ended the chat.

- So then I called back in, eventually getting to someone named Byron. I explained the whole thing. He said yep, that offer DID exist. Surprise! And that the guy I had talked to earlier had incorrectly processed it as a 'new buy', resulting in the charges. He said he'd make a note of it and all I had to do was call back when my actual bill came and explain the problem and they would credit me. I said..so Byron...I have to call you to get you to stop charging me for something you said you would give me for free, even though I'm telling you right now that you messed up and you are agreeing with me. He said yes. There was no way to actually just fix it.

So...in summary....**bleep**!! What a bumbling, incompetent company. I don't blame the individuals...but the obvious systems limitations and lack of focus on the customer experience is quite frankly shocking.

Bull4271

This sounds just like my experience with Verizon "support" (and I use that term loosely).

Of course, after my initial 2 year term was up, the plan I had was no longer available. Instead, I was offered an "upgrade" to a faster router and more channels for the low, low, low price of an additional $50 per month. Since I wanted the faster router, I took the offer.

A few days later the router comes and I set it up but it doesn't work. Keep getting a "limited access" message and no internet. Ironic how a supposedly faster router fails to provide any internet access isn't it?

Added into this is the fact that the installation instructions direct you to the Verizon website if you have any issues with the router. Well, if the router doesn't work and I can't access the internet, how do I access the website to get help with the non-working router? You can't make this up.

I reconnect my old router, go to the website and get Verizon "support" on the chat line. After explaining the situation repeatedly and being told it would all be fine, Verizon sends me a new router. Guess what? It wasn't the upgraded router that I was supposed to get. No, it was a replacement model for the original one. So now I have 3 routers: 2 slower ones and 1 that is supposedly faster but doesn't provide internet access so we'll never know just how fast it is.

I get back online with Verizon "support" and this time I force myself onto a supervisor. I explain the situation again using every possible sarcastic remark I can come up with. He calls me and confirms the issue and promises to send me the correct router. In the meantime, I'm getting emails from Verizon telling me to return the old router or I'll be charged $650 for it. My response to that was not something I can share in a community forum.

I finally got the correct router and it appears to be working. How a company that is in the telecommunications industry could be this inept and still remain in business is beyond me. This comedy of errors which is further exasperated by Verizon's insistence on using off-shore "support" who can barely understand the English language is ridiculous. The saddest part of this is that Verizon's competitors are no better. In fact, this company ranks at the top of the customer satisfaction lists in comparison to their industry peers and while I'm sure they celebrate this fact (and adverstise it to potential suckers..........I mean customers), read the fine print. When your rating is 60-70% of your customers are satisfied and you tout that as being the best in the business, it's not really saying much. Being the best of the worst is not something to strive for.