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No one listens - until it costs them money

So, I have just paid my Verizon bill for the last month....however....not the entire bill. Below is the letter that is going out with my reduced payment:

Verizon

PO Box 920041

Dallas, Tx 75392

July 12, 2013

To Whom It May Concern:

Enclosed you will find my most recent payment stub, along with my check payment. You will notice, however, that there is a discrepancy in the amount of my bill and the amount I am paying. Please allow me to explain.

For several months now, I have experienced a consistent problem with my service. Nearly every time it rains in Lakeland, my service goes out. I have no DSL at all. Once the rain slows or stops, I must reboot my DSL modem in the following manner:

Turn it off
Unplug the power
Wait 1 minute
Connect the power
Wait 1 minute
Power on the modem
Wait 1-2 minutes

I have complained about this endlessly both to your support desk and in the online forums. You have dispatched 2 technicians to my residence in the last 30 days (approximately 10 days apart), both of whom have determined that somewhere your equipment is getting wet in the rain, resulting in my loss of service.

I last paid my bill on June 14, 2013. In the 28 days since then, we have had 13 days of rain in Lakeland (per the Florida Forest Service), and I have been forced to follow the reboot sequence listed above 11 times. This is a failure rate on your part of 39.3% for the entire month, and 84.6% on rain days.

Since you are either unwilling or unable to locate and repair the problem, and since my time is worth something, too, I feel it is only fair that I be compensated for my time in correcting your problem. You will note that nowhere in your descriptions of DSL do you exempt weather. (As an example: ‘high speed dsl service for only $x.xx dollars per month – except if it rains). Therefore, I have now resorted to charging you $2.00 each and every time I must reboot the modem due to the rain. I believe this is a fair amount since the process takes 4-5 minutes each time.

I am still (at this point) open to discussion on this issue. You may, if you wish, have someone contact me concerning the problem, although you should be able to access the support and technical records on this issue. You may contact me at: 863-xxx-xxxx. Please note that I may or may not be able to answer your call since I work for a living, and I absolutely will never answer a call marked as ‘Restricted’. I do, however, have voice mail, and I will return your call if I am unable to answer.

Cordially,

Ken Bundy

Comments

[Deleted User]

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mrgooch1942

Well put. You have my sympathy.

somegirl

@kbundy47 wrote:
So, I have just paid my Verizon bill for the last month....however....not the entire bill. Below is the letter that is going out with my reduced payment:
<snip> ...You will note that nowhere in your descriptions of DSL do you exempt weather. (As an example: ‘high speed dsl service for only $x.xx dollars per month – except if it rains). Therefore, I have now resorted to charging you $2.00 each and every time I must reboot the modem due to the rain. I believe this is a fair amount since the process takes 4-5 minutes each time. <snip>

From Verizon's Terms of Service (Section 13.3):

VERIZON DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE OR EQUIPMENT PROVIDED BY VERIZON WILL PERFORM AT A PARTICULAR SPEED, BANDWIDTH OR DATA THROUGHPUT RATE, OR WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, SECURE, OR FREE OF VIRUSES, WORMS, DISABLING CODE OR CONDITIONS, OR THE LIKE. VERIZON SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR LOSS OF YOUR DATA, OR IF CHANGES IN OPERATION, PROCEDURES, OR SERVICES REQUIRE MODIFICATION OR ALTERATION OF YOUR EQUIPMENT, RENDER THE SAME OBSOLETE OR OTHERWISE AFFECT ITS PERFORMANCE.

So technically, yes, they have covered themselves for weather. However, you can probably get Billing to issue you a credit for the time you were without service if you call and ask politely.

Unilaterally deciding to not pay your full bill amount will most likely just cause them to terminate your service.

armond_in_nj1

@somegirl wrote:
... Unilaterally deciding to not pay your full bill amount will most likely just cause them to terminate your service.

Or just turn it over to collections with subsequent consequences for the OP's credit profile. His or her choice.

kbundy47

Personally, I would consider a failure rate of almost 40% totally unacceptable...would you buy a car if it had to be in the shop 2 days out of every week?

The issue is that they simply don't care about DSL customers, and are not willing to take the necessary steps to correct the issues.

Also note that I have given them the option to contact me, and talk seriously about this. I have spent hours with their support persons to no avail, and simply am out of patience.

kbundy47

It is long past the time when consumers should accept less than quality service for their money. I have not closed the issue, I am merely attempting to get them to listen and take some action.

cindy1212

Your case sounds like it needs review by the FCC, filing a FCC report is simple. I think more people neeed to file maybe then Verizon will take FCC complaints seriously.

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