Does anyone know how to get through Verizon's shield of 'customer service' and actually get a problem resolved? There's no means of direct access that I have found that can get past the technical support gate keepers to anyone with enough authority to think outside the script or actually look at a customers history and recognize something is wrong.
I have had DSL/High Speed Internet Enhanced service for 4 or 5 months now and have experienced probably 6 or 7 periods where I lose internet connectivity for about 2 to 5 days. The first couple of times I was nieve and believed it was because I live in the boonies and there had been some (mildly) bad weather, which could have knocked out local service. But it's been a reoccuring theme and I've discovered that the problem isn't infrastructure in the boonies, but the tie in to the internet at their central offices that is the problem. And each time I've always had 'dsl' connecitivity, but the 'internet' LED on my modem would be off.
Each time I call I'm forced to go through the same routines over and over. Here's a synopsis of how it goes (though the full routine eats up 30 minutes to an hour of time):
* Please turn equipment on/off (never mind I've already done that, connected to the modem's management interface, looked at settings/status long before I even considered calling Verizon)
* conveying the modem's model number (don't they have a record of this anywhere?)
* waiting while they perform a line test
* hearing 'there's no outage in your area, arguing that it isn't my equipment or on my end, hearing 'oh wait.... it turns out there is an outage in your area',
* hearing 'i'll contact the mysterious outage team (that you shall never directly speak to)' and call you back with a prognosis',
* (optional step) Receive a call back that says 'they're working on it and it will be back online in a few days.
* (optional step) Have it actually working in a couple of days.
Then I'm good to go for another 2 or 3 weeks.
On the previous round of outages I spoke to a 'supervisor', who actually called me back and let me know that he recognized this was a recurring problem and he had traced it to a router that had repeated failed. He assured me that I would be switched to another router immediately so it would not occur again (he actually 'promised' this won't be an issue going forward, not that I believed anything a verizon employee said to me at this point). He also mentioned the router was going to be replaced too. And he promised to pro-rate my bill to componsate me for all the days I didn't have service.
Fast forward two or three weeks, and he's proven wrong. Not only did I not get the discount in compensation for no service (not to mention rediculous amounts of time on the phone), the service was also down again. This time they called the day after I filed my initial repair request and reported it should be working, but to call 1800 verizon if it isn't. Since I wasn't home waiting on their call, they closed the ticket because of 'no customer response' Of course it wasn't actually working, so i called and opened another ticket. Now they claim it will be resolved tomorrow (about 6 days after I first called).
Now I understand equipment fails, lines get cut, etc. and I don't expect 100% uptime. But a nice, HONEST response explaining the situation and a recognition that a failure once or twice is fine, but 6 or 7 times is a chronic problem and should be escalated in priority would be great. And please don't placate me by telling me you're 'very sorry for my inconvenience' and that you will 'get it resolved for me'. I don't buy it at this point. Verizon has lost all of my trust. If there were a better alternative, I'd switch in a heart beat.
