Looks like everyone here agrees Verizon Customer Service sucks - add me to the list...

[jillybean720]

A snapshot of my life while dealing with Verizon over the past few MONTHS:

• Back in MAY, I placed an order to upgrade from Verizon DSL Internet to a full Verizon FiOS Triple Play. My CSR was very friendly, but it took HOURS to set up the entire order (including the third party verification for the phone service). She kept finding new discounts to apply and whatnot, and when all was said and done, she told me my first year monthly service price would be only $49.99. Amazing, right? So we set up an instalation date.

• JUNE 16 - hurray, installation day! Oh, wait...installation scheduled for between 8am and 12pm, but no one ever showed up. Called Verizon and was told MY ORDER HAD BEEN CANCELLED and NO ONE EVER TOLD ME. I spent the entire day home from work waiting for an installation that had previously been cancelled BY VERIZON without notifying me. Apparently, it had something to do with an issue when trying to port my home phone number from my current service provider to Verizon. Had to spend additional HOURS on the phone submitting a NEW order from scratch. And, of course, this time, the final monthly price he came up with (different CSR) was $69.99. I explained that this was ridiculous, that it was $20 less when the other person did it, that I took a whole day home rom work waiting for an installation they canceled without ever telling me...he said he would enter an additional $20/month for 12 months credit due to the frustration and inconvenience. Gee, thanks so much for being so generous as to give me the rate I was originally quoted...so we set up a new installation date.

• Installation set up for June 28 between 8am and 12pm. I told them I could NOT be home in the morning, only afternoon. Regardless, email confirmation states 8am-12pm window. Called a few days prior to installation to again request afternoon, and CSR tells me it is in THEIR system for afternoon, so no problem. Day before installation, automated reminder call from Verizon says 8am-12pm. I call again, and CSR again tells me it's set up for afternoon in their system, so don't worry about it.

• INSTALLATION DAY #2 - call at 8am from installation tech that he's on his way to our house. NO. Explain to him that I have requested multiple times for AFTERNOON install, NOT MORNING. Shocker, he has me on his schedule for morning. Polite tech says he will adjust his schedule to come in the afternoon instead. Tech arrives and installs everything, and everything works. The only issue is that they never came and burried the FiOS line to our house, so he has to put in a temporary above-ground line. Polite installation tech leaves his card and says if we ever need a tech support person to come to our house, call him directly instead of setting up through Verizon because he can be there faster.

• 2 DAYS AFTER SUCCESSFUL INSTALLATION - nothing works! Discover the temporary above-ground cable has been accidentally cut by groundskeeping lawnmowers. Called Verizon Tech Support, who says they can send someone out on Saturday or Sunday with a 4-hour window, and we will have to be home at the time (this is on a Thursday and 4th of July holiday weekend). I argue that it's a holiday weekend, and we do not have to be home because it's the cable outside. It runs ONLY outside. Tech Support insists we have to be home. Hang up on useless Tech Support and call Installation Tech who had left his card - he comes out the very next day (Friday) and replaces the line, and agrees we do NOT have to be home at the time. Thank goodness for ONE good Verizon employee out of the MANY I've encountered on this journey...

• A few days later, the line still isn't buried, so I call Verizon. They cannot tell me when it is scheduled to be buried. Okay...then I can't guarantee it won't get cut again!

• Then I get a new Verizon Wireless bill for my cell phone account. But I had signed up for OneBill to combine everything and get an additional discount. Call Verizon...oh, they couldn't do the OneBill because I had a discount on my Verizon Wireless account for something else, and I can't get 2 discounts. Umm, no one EVER said anything about that. I explain that I would rather have the OneBill discount because it's a greater amount. They tell me I have to call Verizon Wireless to cancel the other discount. Seriously? So I do just that. Then call Verizon back again to add OneBill to my account. They say not a problem. Done. Yeah, right! Also, while on the phone, asked Verizon FiOS to verify my monthly service price. $69.99. What hapened to the additional $20 CSR had previously promised me? Ask to speak to a manager. Supposed manager gets on the phone and is nothing but rude, tells me there's nothing she can do, and provides NO explanation to any of my questions. WOW. Thanks for being so helpful...so now I'm out another $240 for the first year thanks to lies from Verizon.

• Get first Verizon FiOS bill of more than $240. WHAT?! Oh, no one ever told me that when I upgraded from DSL, my automatic payments from my DSL account would be cancelled, so now I'm behind on those payments. Also, there is NO additional $20 discount as promised by the CSR who entered entire new order #2, nor is there a OneBill discount.

• Get another Verizon Wireless bill, now higher since I cancelled my original discount AND still have not been set up for OneBill. Tried to do OneBill online and get message that it "cannot be completed at this time" with no real reason as to why. Called Verizon this morning and sat on hold for 32 minutes before getting disconnected.

Keep up the great work, Verizon...and don't worry, I'll be sure to tell ALL my friends and family and coworkers...

[DougVZ1]

I've had your post copied to an employee monitored board, where a Verizon representative can assist you.  You will be contacted by email, private message in the Forums and/or the billing telephone number on your Verizon account as soon as possible.

[lolagoetz]

We are sorry for the inconvenience.  This requires an agent that can review your account details. 

Please visit:  http://www22.verizon.com/content/ContactUs and choose “Live Chat”. If available, the chat link will become live after the page fully loads. 

[jillybean720]

No, I will not "Live Chat." Live Chat is USELESS. I tried it multiple times when trying to place my initial order, and they do nothing but repeat scripted responses. Heck, talking to people on the PHONE hs even been useless - a SUPERVISOR told me there was nothing she could do to help me.

I have not been contacted by Verizon at all since I posted this despite both a reply here and a private message sent to me stating that someone would be contacting me. I have, however, gotten an email (today) that my account is overdue despite the fact that I have signed up for EasyPay (and no, I did not just sign up today - I signed up previously).

Ugh, I have a feeling all this **bleep** will never end...

[gooddog23]

ABSOLUTELY {word filter avoidance}  USELESS !  third time in less than a year trying to FIND CUSTOMER SERVICE LINK. Verizon is letting the copper landline system deteriorate to raise my {word filter avoidance}  rate with FIOS upgrade ?

if they can't maintain the copper wire -- how can they betrusted with high speed internet ???

No links on website anymore.

The same mellifluouse cusrtomer service representatives passing the buck, transferring my call,," I can help you with that" {word filter avoidance}

NOW ABSOLUTELY NO LINK OR CONNECTION ONLINE FOR MY TELEPHONE BEING OUT AGAIN ???

VzInHome agent self help **bleep** tosses me back into the same empty wash cycle !!

..and I thought Comcast was bad....

Hello FreedomPop?

[ElizabethS]

If you are having an issue with your Verizon service, you can use the Verizon Troubleshooter to fix and report issues with your Verizon Phone, FiOS TV, or Internet Service, as well as to schedule a repair, here is the link:
http://www.verizon.com/repair
You can find tools on the Verizon Residential Support page that may help you diagnose your issue:
http://www22.verizon.com/residentialhelp

[danac1]

they are like a nightmare that never ends! I have made complaints with the BBB, The Attorney General's Office and the FCC. 

[veryken1]

Confirmed!

Now 6 for 6, every friggin rep that picks up the phone to "help" me when I call is an unprofessional **bleep**. They just seem like high school dropouts who can't figure out crap or understand a thing, just hanging up on customers when the going gets tough.

DISAPPOINTING would be profoundly understating their customer service. I'm appalled and shocked that they can stay in business.

[tns]

Always surprised that people slam Verizon Customer service support.

Its average of all the large companies not better or worse.

And although there may be some impolite service reps out there, I've never had one.  True you sometime get the rep who doesn't know how to fix things, if your polite you can usually get them to pass you on to someone who can.  And only once (when they really had most of their customers TV down, Did I have to wait more than 5 minutes to reach a live person on the phone.

[armond_in_nj1]

---

@veryken wrote:

Confirmed!

... every friggin rep that picks up the phone to "help" me when I call is an unprofessional **bleep**. They just seem like high school dropouts who can't figure out crap or understand a thing ....

---

With this approach it's indeed possible that you may encounter difficulties when contacting Verizon employees.  Maybe or maybe not, but the smart money is probably riding on your encountering a frigid reception.  Nonetheless I certainly hope you are able to resolve your issues with your service provider.  Best wishes.

[Tondeb24]

I just found this forum by mistake.  I have been a fios customer for a little over a year and have nothing but problems.  It is far and few between that I actually get a customer service rep. who knows what they are talking about.  Majority of themdo  sound like kids who do not have a clue how to help, and if they hear in your voice that you are getting annoyed, this seems to amuse them.

I have the silver multi room dvr box and had it replaced a few times because believe it or not all the boxes:  the picture freezes, takes forever for the channel to change and the box makes ticking noise.  The last time my account was charged $5.66 for "renting a dvr."  I never rented anything and it took 2 tries to customer service to get this removed.

So now I want the black dvr box and I am told since it is an upgrade it will cost me $40 plus an additional $20 shipping and handling. Shipping and handling fee - are they kidding???   I was bounced to 4 different people and none of them could help me.  So I went on live chat and the woman said she could "definitely resolve the problem."  Her resolution was not to charge $20 shipping and handling fee.  Thats it.  I was never charged a fee before so what the hell is this?  I am so disgusted with verizon that I wanted to close my account.  Cant do that because of **bleep** contract - so what I am stuck with this nonsense?   And whoever had my number before never paid their bills because I get calls from collection agencies.  So I asked for  my number to be nonpublished and verizon will charge me $3.75 per month.  I regret leaving cable.

And one more thing.  The charge for the silver multi room dvr box is the same as the black one.  So what is this $40 extre fee for???   I want out of this ridiculous contract.

[smokey81]

I would rather cut my pinky toe off then call them.

[Junmona]

I do agree about Verizon customer service is sucks! Do they even care about their customer? I doubt. I don't wanna say every customer service rep are sucks. Cause there is some that is nice but not much. I hope president or CEO of Verizon will see all of this comments. Unless, they don't care too.

[mdekker]

+1 

I agree.  Verizon customer service is terrible.  I have no complaints about individual representatives that I have dealt with. They have been very polite and personable.  The problem is results.  I am paying top dollar for 4 lines of service, and I feel like no matter how polite I am, or how much money I am willing to fork over, there is never a solution to my problem.  I think I will take my business elsewhere.  ATT has corporate discounts at my new job.  I will definitely perform an early termination on all 4 lines.  I am very dissatisfied.  

[mdekker]

Verizon needs to revamp their system.  I would assume the most expensive provider would have decent customer service. I am wrong.  Id rather be back with metro pcs..... they had decent results from a csr standpoint, and they were about half the cost.  Maybe Tmobile is better.... anyone with first hand experience please let me know.

[Blackstar0114]

I agree.  They suck.  I work overnights and their video on demand is constantly being "upgraded" and I'm not able to access it the entire night (which is my day).  The only explanation is that they is normally when their customers are asleep  and there is nothing they can do.  I would not mind it it happened once in  a while, but it seems like each week the VOD is down and I'm not able to access something that I am paying for. 

I waited on the phone for 30 minutes to speak with a supervisor, then tried calling back and was put on hold for another hour without being able to speak a supervisor. The moral of the story here is if you actally want to speak with someone, please go to another company because they don't care or want to speak with their customers. 

[Baddpinoy]

Bad Service, everything from customer sevice to technical and even your Engineers! im canceling all my major accounts@!

1. technician went through my backyard and drove his truck and ruined my backyard without permission.

2. one technician never followed through his work and never finished the job

3. one technician never finished a job to connect one of my houses to the box from the street after my house was built and that was a year ago.

4. everytime i call customer service im on hold up to a minimum of 1 hr at a time, and they never have the right answers for me.

I HOPE EVRYONE SEES THIS!!!

[ElizabethS]

Hello Baddpinoy

Your issue has been escalated to a Verizon agent. Before the agent can begin assisting you, they will need to collect further information from you.Please go to your profile page for the forum, and look in the middle, right at the top where you will find an area titled "My Support Cases". You can reach your profile page by clicking on your name beside your post, or at the top left of this page underneath the title of the board.
Under “My Support Cases” you will find a link to the private board where you and the agent may exchange information. This should be checked on a frequent basis as the agent may be waiting for information from you before they can proceed with any actions. Please keep all correspondence regarding your issue in the private support portal.

[Verizon_Support]

We have not heard back from you on this issue. If you have any other questions please open a new thread.

Josh B

[peteandpete1]

This one:

freespeech(dot)uservoice(dot)com

[NotUseful]

Ah, the joys of dealing with Verizon.  I was working for a small company called Contel that GTE (one of Verizon's predecessor companies) took over and destroyed while making their stock look better.  One of our VPs was assigned to determine which customer service system would be used after the merger, the GTE one or the Contel one.  In the Contel system, when you called customer service, the first person you reached would fix your problem.  Others might be called in, but you never lost the first representative.  Problems were almost always fixed immediately.  In the GTE system, the average caller was transferred twenty-seven times before reaching someone who could actually do anything for them!  Guess which system was adopted?

A year ago my mother, who was 95 years old at the time, was called by a Verizon sales rep who talked her into "upgrading" her fios service, which actually meant she would pay $49 more a month than she already did (she was paying $100 per month for phone/TV/internet).  Her mind was deteriorating, and she didn't really understand what was being said, but Verizon, good folks that they are, cheerfully ate up another $49 of her fixed monthly income that should have been used for groceries.  I tried to get the service rescinded, but no, there was a contract!  Can you believe that?  A phone call, and there is a contract?  In my day, if you did not have something in writing, you didn't have a contract.    I finally gave up and began supplementing her income with my own hard-earned dollars.

A year later...  My mom, now 96, has been moved to a dementia treatment center, where she will live out her remaining days.  In July I called Verizon to cancel her services.  I had just finished cancelling her power, gas, water, and sewer services, as well as moving everything out of her apartment and cancelling the lease.  Verizon put me on hold for over thirty minutes and I never did reach a service rep.  I called back a couple of more times and gave up.  I went on line, with my mom's account, and finally reached a service rep via Chat.  The service rep told me that she could change the service, add services, and cancel services, but could not cancel the entire service.  I would need to call the 888 number to do that. I told her that the service was officially cancelled, effective immediately, and she should find someone who could take that info and deal with it.  She disconnected.  I wrote a letter to their customer service department, letting them know the situation, and repeated my statement that the service was cancelled.

One month later I received a bill for the next month's service.  I tried calling again, got nowhere.  I refuse to sit around and wait for over thirty minutes for a poorly run, understaffed organization to decide to talk to me at their convenience.  By now, of course, all of their equipment was returned, the service was disconnected physically, and the apartment was up for rent.  Went to the Verizon web site, logged in as my mom, and found an address where I could send another letter.  I went to my mom's bank and discontinued the auto pay to Verizon.  I wrote to them, told them they would not be getting any more free rides out of a poor old lady whose remaining funds went to the dementia treatment facility to pay for her care.

I continue to receive bills (my mom's mail is forwarded to me) from these folks, and they now claim she owes over five hundred dollars for services she neither received nor could use, since she has been gone from her apartment for the past three plus months.  I tear them up and throw them in the garbage, where they belong.

Bottom line:  Be careful who you deal with.  This company is non-responsive and basically incompetent when it comes to supporting customer service problems.  Personally, I have cellular service from a reliable firm that has online reps who answer your calls immediately (and American reps at that!), and my TV/internet comes from a reliable cable company who has always be easy to reach and work with.

Just thought you would like to know, you are not alone with CSR problems.  After GTE was taken over by Bell Atlantic, their already poor customer service disappeared down the tubes.